On Friday, July 1 from 6 to 9 p.m., everyone’s favorite six-string assemblage of wood and wires will be taking over Kenmore First Friday. Unofficially titled “Virgil Lay Day,” it promises to be a celebration for the ages.

Strumming and shredding a-plenty will resonate throughout the Kenmore Boulevard Historic District, with guitar heroes Big Pop and The Buffalo Ryders delivering their hard-hitting riffs on the SIT Strings Main Stage. Featured artists from The Electric Company will entertain in the McCutchen Courtyard, and local hip-hop legend King Locust will rock the mic hard in the Live Music Now Courtyard. Akorn Jammers Open Mic will feature local singer-songwriters in front of the Rialto Theatre.

The breadth of the music styles represent Kenmore’s musical history well, said Corey Jenkins, Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance’s promoter and experience manager.

“Kenmore Boulevard has held a special connection with guitars and the people who play them for decades ever since Lay’s Guitar Repair opened in the 1960s,” Jenkins said. In 1980, Lay’s founder Virgil Lay founded SIT Strings – a global guitar string manufacturing company – on Kenmore Blvd.

“Musician’s Bargain Basement hit the Boulevard in the 1980s and served as a destination for guitar lovers throughout the region until it closed in 2008. Then, The Guitar Department opened in 2009 and has become one of Northeast Ohio’s most popular guitar shops,” he explained.

Starting at noon, Lay’s Guitar Shop will hold an open house and present some of their favorite guitarists on the main stage, including Kenmore’s Jim Ballard and a workshop from Bedell Guitars. At 5:45 p.m., representatives from Lay’s Guitar Shop and SIT Strings will join Mayor Dan Horrigan and members of Virgil Lay’s family at the corner of 15th Street and the Kenmore South Alley to dedicate Virgil Lay Way. Then, at 9 p.m., thrash surfers The Beyonderers land on the The Rialto Theatre’s stage, followed by the classic mid-century instrumental surf and twang sounds of Purple k’niF, which features Waitresses founder Chris Butler on drums and Kenmore High School alum Johnny Teagle on guitar.

SIT Strings, Lay’s Guitar Shop, The Guitar Department and Staff Music (where Lay originally repaired guitars) will all have informational tables on the Boulevard with product, history, promotional items and more.

In addition, Kenmore-based guitar amp builder Custom Audio Mutation will team up with EarthQuaker Devices to host a demo room inside of Studio 1008 (the old Musician’s Bargain Basement), where visitors will be able to check out custom hand-built guitar amplifiers and demo an entire range of EarthQuaker guitar effects pedals.

The Kenmore First Friday Beer Garden will showcase Akron-based Lock 15 Brewing Company, and Kenmore Boulevard will be lined with dining options like Macho Nacho, Johnny Lóte’s Latin Street Corn, Dee’s Dogs & More and Kona Ice food trucks, along with The Nite Owl, Pierre’s Brooklyn Pizza & Deli and Kenmore Eastern Sports Bar, who will have specials running all night.

In addition to experiencing everything guitar, Kenmore First Friday visitors can check out the Torchbearers’ inaugural Community Volunteer Fair, the perfect opportunity to learn about community nonprofits and to find a local organization to get involved with.

“This event is really a culmination of so many things that are good about our community,” said KNA Executive Director Tina Boyes. “ And with all this great energy, I encourage everyone to check out the people and organizations who are making it happen: in Kenmore and throughout Akron.”

For more information about Kenmore First Friday, follow the event on our Facebook page or visit www.betterkenmore.org/first-friday.

Mayor, Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance to dedicate Virgil Lay Way at July 1 Kenmore First Friday event

Lay’s Guitar Shop has been a constant fixture on Akron’s Kenmore Boulevard since the 1960s. Founded by guitar repairman Virgil Lay, it is known around the world for repairing, restoring, customizing, and building guitars and basses belonging to everyone from Joe Walsh and Jimmy Page to The Black Keys. Soon, Lay’s name will adorn a street.

On July 1 at 5:45 p.m. Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan will join representatives from Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance, Lay’s Guitar Shop and SIT Strings in dedicating the Kenmore South Alley as Virgil Lay Way. Cutting the ribbon will be members of Lay’s family, including daughter, Patricia Speedy; granddaughter, Karen Speedy; and grandsons, Brian, Ryan and Eddie Speedy, who is president and owner of SIT Strings, which Lay founded.

The ceremony will take place at the intersection of Kenmore Boulevard’s South Alley and 15th St. and will kick off Kenmore First Friday, a night of live music in the Kenmore Boulevard Historic District featuring bands Big Pop and The Buffalo Ryders on the SIT Strings 15th Street Main Stage. Additionally, Lay’s Guitar Shop will host a guitar workshop and live music on the Main Stage from noon until 5 p.m., and The Electric Company recording studio and the youth-based nonprofit First Glance’s hip-hop program will host live music in the McCutchan Courtyard and Live Music Now Courtyard respectively. Along with live music, the event will offer family activities, food trucks including Macho Nacho and Johnny Lóte’s Latin Street Corn, the Lock 15 Beer Garden and Torchbearers Community Volunteer Fair.

The night will conclude in a surf guitar lover’s dream, when at 9 p.m. The Rialto Theatre is overtaken by local favorites The Beyonderers and Purple k’niF, a New York-based instrumental band featuring The Waitresses founder Chris Butler and Kenmore native Johnny Teagle.

“Before Kenmore Boulevard started evolving into Akron’s Music Row, Virgil Lay was pumping out guitars and strings from the basement of the old Kenmore Coffee Shop. Now, nearly 60 years later, Kenmore Boulevard is home to six recording studios, two guitar shops and a regional live music venue all within a stone’s throw of one another,” said Tina Boyes, executive director of the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance, the local community development corporation. “July 1 will be a fitting tribute to a legacy that continues to grow with time.”

Virgil Lay poses with Les Paul’s famous “Log” guitar.

Virgil Lay was born on January 2, 1927 in Vina, Alabama and moved to Akron in 1946. Lay was an exceptional steel guitar player and first went into business with his brother Ray Lay and Lee East in 1962.

The three founded Staff Music – a guitar retail and repair shop – on High Street in Downtown Akron, but before long Lay realized his business passions were limited to repairing and building guitars, while East’s interests were dominantly in the retail side of the business. Upon amicably dissolving the partnership, East kept the Staff Music name and moved to Canton Road in Ellet, while Lay would establish Lay’s Guitar Repair at the corner of 13th St. and Kenmore Blvd.

From left to right: Echoplex inventor Mike Battle, guitar legend Joe Walsh, and Virgil Lay.

In the late 1970’s, while operating his repair business, Virgil began developing a proprietary manufacturing process to enhance the tuning stability of guitar strings. He parlayed this invention into another successful company and founded the “Stay-In-Tune String Company,” or SIT Strings as it’s known today, in 1980.

Before long, SIT Strings had evolved into a global brand, outgrew its corner of Lay’s Guitar Repair and was demanding more and more of Lay’s time. By the end of the 1980s, Lay sold the guitar repair business to Dan Shinn – who had been Lay’s employee since 1979 and still owns the business today – and moved SIT a block away into the building now occupied by Pierre’s Brooklyn Pizza & Deli.

Today, SIT Strings sits on Romig Rd., manufacturers millions of strings per year and counts members of The Black Keys, Shinedown, and Rammstein among its current artists.

Lay passed away March 10, 2009, but his legacy of luring musicians to Kenmore has lived on through Kenmore’s many recording studios, live music venues, and guitar shops.

Visit betterkenmore.org/first-friday for the full July 1 Kenmore First Friday “Virgil Lay Day” schedule and more information.

Darius McCrary who portrayed Eddie Winslow on the ‘90s sitcom brings his one man show to the Blvd.

Actor, rapper, singer and producer Darius McCrary – best known for his role as Eddie Winslow on the long-running television series “Family Matters” – is bringing his one man show to The Rialto Theatre on Friday, June 17.

During his appearance, Darius will read excerpts from his one man show called “I’m Not Laughing” and visit with fans. Darius is encouraging all artists who can draw, animate, clay-mate, or have any type of creative vision to come to the show and hang out!

Darius began his career in Hollywood at the age of nine and in addition to “Family Matters” his acting credits include Bowie James on NBC’s “Committed,” Jamal in UPN’s “Eve,” Malcolm Winters on “The Young and the Restless.”

He has appeared on the NBC/Paramount miniseries “Kingpin,” HBO’s multi-award-winning “Don King: Only in America,” starring Ving Rhames and as Royce Slocumb in the classic comedy, “Kingdom Come” Other roles also include playing opposite to Robert De Niro in “15 Minutes” as detective Tommy Cullen, in the Oscar winning “Mississippi Burning” as Aaron Williams. and “Something to Sing About.”

Darius is a humanitarian at heart and is currently in production for his show and podcast Beyond Black, which is dedicated to highlighting that people are more than just the color of their skin and excellence doesn’t start or end at the category that others may place you. Alongside celebrities and up-and-coming actors & artists, he brings together incredible talents in the form of interviews, skits, reels, and short-films. The show will address important issues such as social justice & racial inequality, but also share an authentic look at the Real Darius McCrary.

Tickets are available now at therialtotheatre.com and include appetizers and one free drink.

Published June 3, 2022

By Jennifer Pignolet Akron Beacon Journal

PHOTO BY PHIL MASTURZO/BEACON JOURNAL

Za’Nyiah Miller was gracing the halls of Kenmore-Garfield High School before she was born.

Her mother, Sierra Senter, was pregnant with Za’Nyiah when she was a student there, graduating in 2005 from what was then Kenmore High School.

On a late May morning, Senter sat in the same red upholstered auditorium seats where she sat as a student and watched as her daughter earned one medal after another on Senior Awards Day. Za’Nyiah’s grandmothers sat behind her mother, gushing they always knew their granddaughter was smart but they didn’t know just how smart.

Za’Nyiah is part of the last class of seniors to graduate from the building after more than 100 years. Kenmore-Garfield will close this summer, bringing an end to a historic pillar of the Kenmore community, at least in its current form.

What’s next for the school? Read more from the Akron Beacon Journal.