Live music, food and winter activities filled the streets of downtown Kent Saturday, attracting residents and bringing visitors of all ages to the community.
Main Street Kent and the City of Kent presented their new ‘Snow Day!’ event in collaboration with North Coast Event Services sponsored by Talk On, LLC Speech and Occupational Therapy, Each + Every, Wright Heating and Hometown Bank.
“This event brings a lot of vibrancy to downtown; there’s a lot of people out today and we haven’t seen that in a very long time it feels like, so it’s really nice to see families out with the kids and doing the activities,” said Alicia Hall, 44, owner of Flourish Plant Market. “It’s been a really fun day.”
Live music artists featured at Hometown Bank stage were Grandpa Winnie, a solo artist from Kent, City of Invention, an independent band from Kent and Van Sailin’, a local band from Akron.
Independently owned businesses, bars, retail shops and restaurants such as Hippie Fox Rocks, Last Exit Books, Ray’s Place and Sun in Leo put on specials and activities for the event.
“I do a lot of events as part of the year and always thought January or February needs something, and Main Street Kent always kills it with these events,” said Amy Mucha, owner of Daisy Pops. “It’s been so fun to see the live band that went on, the high schoolers and to see a lot of people milling about going down to downtown businesses because this is a slow time of the year, so it’s a win win for everybody,” she said.
Local Kent resident Phebe Crouch, 28, came into town and met up with friends to explore what the event had to offer.
“I love how downtown Kent does these events to bring all the people in; it’s just great to see families together enjoying music and the outdoor environment,” Crouch said.
Businesses are commonly slower in January, and the event was aimed to help those businesses and attract crowds, according to Heather Malarcik, executive director of Main Street Kent.
“This crowd is really exciting in the middle of winter, and the goal is to get people to come here, check out some local live music, go to all of our businesses, spend some money and enjoy all of the activities that they’re offering too,” said Lesley Sickle, Marketing and Branding for Main Street Kent.
The family-friendly event welcomed the community to participate in a winter scavenger hunt around town, making s’mores over the fire and enjoying all downtown Kent has to offer as the city does not usually have city events hosted in January.
New hat, glove and mitten donations were collected for Neighborhood Bridges Kent, a charitable organization launched to respond to the growing rate of poverty in suburban and rural America.
“Main Street Kent exists to make downtown Kent a fun, vibrant and thriving place,” said Main Street Kent in their mission statement.
Lauren Bischof is a beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
