Still have some gifts to buy and running out of time? We’ve put together some ideas to help you find the perfect presents and take the stress out of your last minute shopping!
Kenmore Komics & Games is a comic book and gaming store offering an incredible selection of modern and silver age comics for all ages, role playing/strategy games and non-sport cards. You are guaranteed to find something for the comic book lover in your life at Kenmore Komics & Games.
Whether you’re looking to give someone their first beginner guitar, bass or ukulele, are in search of a higher end instrument for a more advanced player, or simply want to grab the guitarist in your life some of the essentials like picks, strings, cables, straps, etc., The Guitar Department has got you covered and is fully stocked with a range of instruments and accessories to fit any budget.
Specializing in hand-painted one of a kind vintage furniture and home décor, Marigold Sol also offers Wise Owl paints, painting supplies, stencils, stencil kits and gift cards for DIYers and hobbyists. If you’re looking for a gift that’s truly unique, stop by Marigold Sol – they will even package your gift in a bag so it is ready to give!
ManiKitchen is a family-run tea shop specializing in loose-leaf tea blends, tea sets, tea ware, and accessories. Perfect for the tea lover in your life, ManiKitchen is also offering special holiday tea blends including Pumpkin Spice Tea with notes of Pumpkin Pie, Christmas Tea with delightful Cinnamon and Orange flavors and Holly Berry Tea.
Open Thurs. 12/23 11:30am – 6pm; Closed Fri. 12/24
Kenmore clothier Ethicrace Clothing Co. designs and specializes in t-shirts, hats, hoodies, jogging suits, shorts, jackets, belts and accessories – including its popular jogging suits and short sets. Ethicrace also offers soaps, which make perfect stocking stuffers!
Just A Dad From Akron sells apparel printed featuring original designs and positive messages to empower the wearer. A portion of the proceeds go toward hosting free events and offer relief to the community through different outreach programs. Just A Dad From Akron’s goal is to continue providing service to the community in hopes to promote change, positivity and inspiration.
Kenmore Boulevard shops are full of unique gifts for everyone in your family, including these BLVD cardinal t-shirts available at Marigold Sol, 962 Kenmore Blvd., the proceeds of which support the ongoing revitalization of our community.
Check out all our businesses’ holiday hours and be sure to #shoptheboulevard this holiday season!
On Dec. 17 and 18, the Rialto Theatre and the Summit FM will present Kenmore Winter Break, a two-day festival featuring 12 bands and solo artists in the heart of Akron’s music row, home to five recording studios, two guitar shops, and many of Akron’s working musicians.
Youngstown-born and bred musician/songwriter JD Eicher and his band headline on Dec. 17, and Akron rock/pop/indie sextet Big Pop (whose lineup includes members from Time Cat, Fancy Legs, Free Black!, and The Dreemers) has the headlining honors on Dec. 18.
Cincinnati-based folk rockers the Heavy Hours, who released their first single “Don’t Walk Away,” a folksy anthem co-written by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys last year, Detention (who are now receiving regular airplay on SiriusXM and recently shared the stage with comedian/musician Fred Armisen and Gerald Casale from DEVO), emerging Struthers native Candace Campana, and Rialto staples A Band Named Ashes will also perform.
The event will also feature six Northeast Ohio singer-songwriters who’ll celebrate the grand opening of the Rialto Living Room, a “cozy” live music performance space serving food and drinks located in the front of the Rialto.
“We wanted to do something special in our new space and bring a lot of our favorite artists together for a new kind of music festival,” Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill explains in a press release. “By December, concert goers are really starting to miss festivals, and it’s been almost two years since we’ve been able to get ambitious and host a big event like this.”
The artists featured in the Rialto Living Room include Jeff Klemm, Jim Ballard, Brian Lisik, Madison Cummins, Chrissy Strong and Barry Carroll. Closing out both nights of the festival is DJ Vinnie G, who will keep the music going once the live performers have finished for the evening.
“This is the type of music event the Rialto and Kenmore can really own and grow,” says musician and Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance Promoter and Experience Manager Corey Jenkins. “The concept is repeatable and the addition of the new Rialto Living Room space enables the live music to remain constant from the moment the first solo act beings at 6 p.m. until the last band of the evening hits its final note in the theatre around 11 p.m. or so.”
Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival sponsors include Akron-based manufacturers SIT Strings and EarthQuaker Devices, as well as Kenmore guitar destinations The Guitar Department and Lay’s Guitar Shop. One hundred percent of sponsor contributions reportedly go toward paying the musicians performing during Kenmore Winter Break.
Tina Boyes and Corey Jenkins of Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance are working to promote businesses on Kenmore Boulevard. (Spectrum News/Jennifer Conn)
AKRON, Ohio — Move over Highland Square Porch Rokr, there’s a new music festival in town.
The first Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival, set for Dec. 17 and 18 at the Rialto Theatre on Kenmore Boulevard, is designed not only to break up the monotony of a dreary Ohio winter, it’s also part of a strategy by the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance (KNA) to shine a light on Akron’s “Music Row.”
With five recording studios specializing in singer-songwriters to hip-hop, an historic guitar repair store, an instrument shop and a live music venue with multiple stages, the music industry has deep roots in Kenmore, said KNA Executive Director Tina Boyes.
“We’re finally listening to our musicians and music businesses and saying, ‘What do you need?’” Boyes said. “I don’t know that anyone’s really done that in a concerted way. That’s what we’re trying to do. We already have the music businesses here.”
Since Boyes took the helm of the newly created community development corporation in 2016, KNA has focused on revitalizing the businesses still standing on the Boulevard, Kenmore’s sole business district.
KNA began by spearheading a Better Block festival in 2017, which is designed to show what’s possible in a community, while featuring what’s already great.
That three-day event morphed into Kenmore First Fridays in the summers, which brought food, vendors and music to the Boulevard, drawing thousands of Akron residents over the past few years.
Boyes also applied for, and was awarded, an historic designation for the Boulevard, whose listing on the National Register of Historic Places offers benefits to small business owners looking to make building improvements.
During the long months of the pandemic, 10 new, small businesses opened their doors on the Boulevard, filling in shop fronts and bringing more vitality to the neighborhood.
Now, with a strong foundation under the business district, and the pandemic easing enough for people to come out again, KNA is fine-tuning its focus to help the individual music businesses market themselves — a move that sparked the Winter Break Music Fest idea.
“The businesses need marketing help yesterday, everything from somebody to take a picture, and put it on Facebook to an advertisement,” said Corey Jenkins, KNA’s promoter and experience manager, and the mastermind behind the music fest. “Overall, most don’t know how to do any of that.”
But Jenkins does, having experience both as a musician with the band “Big Pop,” and in corporate marketing.
The Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival is set for December 17 & 18 at the Rialto Theatre on Kenmore Boulevard. (Courtesy of Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance)
KNA plans to begin promoting the core music businesses first, and expand to others on the Boulevard as she and Jenkins flesh out the best approach with the means they have to work with, Boyes said.
“There are people living within a block of these businesses that have not known for 15 to 20 years what these businesses even are,” she said. “That’s our job as the CDC here for this district is to make sure people know that this district is great. Magnify that visually, you know, marketing-wise [with signage] and branding. We want to make this affordable and accessible, but it cannot be free.”
The idea for a music fest was sparked when Jenkins began planning promotions with Rialto Theatre owners Seth and Nate Vaill for a relaunch of the theatre. The brothers bought the theater in 2010, and opened a performance venue, an event space and Just A Dream Recording Studios in 2015.
While working on a relaunch plan to showcase the theater’s newly created Living Room Stage for acoustic sets, Jenkins suggested a music festival.
“By December, people are missing the summer music festivals,” he said. “With the COVID stuff, there hasn’t been the opportunity for a lot of that, so I was like, ‘Let’s do something big.’”
The Vaills liked the idea so Jenkins contacted 91.3 The Summit FM, Akron’s original-music station, which agreed to participate. The Summit already refers to the Boulevard as Akron’s Music Row in ads, Jenkins said.
Once the other Boulevard’s music businesses agreed to sponsor the event the festival was on.
“It’s about giving Kenmore and the Rialto a signature music event that is unique and they can own,” Jenkins said.
Promoting the Boulevard as Akron’s Music Row makes sense, said Seth Vaill.
“To be honest, there’s a rich history here,” he said. “I think we start with the musicians and then the people come. I think that’s the key, getting the musicians to come down and play you know, and then people will follow once there’s a community of musicians that are here.”
Big Pop is scheduled to perform at Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival in December.
The Rialto is in good company on the Boulevard.
Lay’s Guitar Shop was opened by Virgil Lay in 1968, serving the likes of Jack Bruce, Phil Keaggy and Joe Walsh. Lay also founded SIT Strings (stay in tune), which is now located about two miles from the Boulevard.
Lay’s is now owned by Dan Shinn, who opened the Loft at Lay’s upstairs from the repair shop, and sells hand-made and custom instruments, vintage guitars, amplifiers and more. Shinn’s brother, Joel Shinn, runs a guitar refinish and restoration business and is working on launching Lay’s brand guitars.
The Guitar Department, a Boulevard staple since 2009, is a new and used consignment shop catering to players of every skill level and budget, and offering music lessons.
Among the recording studios is Thom Tadsen Live Album Recording Studio, in the former Cook Hardware. Tadsen operates a 24-track live and 128-playback music studio specializing in punk, metal, rock and rockabilly.
Boyes likens the services KNA could offer Boulevard businesses to agency work, where offerings would be on a project or retainer basis.
“We’re saying, ‘There’s a whole new group of people out there that could be paying attention to you, that want to pay attention to you, and we can reach them,’” she said. “Let us help you.”
