After a decade in downtown Canton, one of Northeast Ohio’s best-known live music venues aims to bring their business to Akron’s Music Row.

On Sept. 24, Buzzbin Music & Art Shop will hold “Benefit for the Bin,” a multi-venue concert event to raise funds for what Buzzbin owners Chris and Julia Bentley hope will be their future home on Kenmore Boulevard.

Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance Promoter and Experience Manager Corey Jenkins learned of Buzzbin’s impending closure in The Canton Repository. He immediately contacted Chris to see if he’d have an interest in relocating Buzzbin to Kenmore and connected him with The Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill in hopes of offering a booking solution to Buzzbin’s displaced shows in the interim.

“I was contacted by Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance to come visit and see what was happening there and I stopped in on the July 1 Kenmore First Friday,” Chris said. “I was blown away by the location and the awesome sense of artistic/music community!”

The following week, Chris took a walk down the Boulevard and was given a tour of 952 Kenmore Blvd.

“I thought it was absolutely perfect for Buzzbin,” Chris said of the former bar located between 13th and 14th Streets. “It has everything that Buzzbin would need to be successful.”

Chris immediately fell in love with Kenmore and the space, and brought Julia to see it later that same week. She agreed it was the ideal new home for Buzzbin and they began working with the building’s owner to make a deal.

The building, which opened in 1916 as Morris Wiener’s furnishing and shoes, is perhaps best remembered as the Ideal Nite Club, which lasted from 1950 through the 1990s. Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance has been hosting pop-up music events there since the Kenmore Better Block in 2017.

“It’s the Better Block way of economic development,” said Tina Boyes, KNA’s executive director. “First, allow people to experience a space as vibrant. Inspire imagination and hope. Then, make connections. Keep inviting people in. After a while, it sells itself: The guitar shops, the recording studios. The music venues. The supportive residents and business owners. Kenmore is a great place for a business, especially a music business.”

The Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill sees the addition of Buzzbin as enhancing the Boulevard’s musical offerings.

“We’re all here in the same area trying to do the same thing, so it’s important to help each other out when we can,” Seth said. “The addition of Buzzbin to the neighborhood is going to be huge for Kenmore Boulevard and will help to bring more musicians and music lovers here.”

The Bentleys plan to have their new home in Kenmore at least semi-operational by Halloween.

“In all reality Buzzbin could be up and running and having shows in a few weeks,” Chris said, adding that “everything hinges on how fast we can obtain our licenses and permits.”

In the meantime, you can catch upcoming “Buzzbin Presents” shows at the Rialto Theatre, including Twin Lizard and Night Goat on July 30, and punk/metal band First Jason on August 23. First Jason is led by Ari Lehman – the first actor to portray Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th horror film franchise.

Help bring Buzzbin to Kenmore. Get your tickets for “Benefit for the ‘Bin” at buzzbinkenmore.com and therialtotheatre.com.

East Ave Market and So Fresh Used Auto Sales combine family tradition and creativity in one-stop shop

Near the corner of East and Carey Avenues sits a large building labeled “So Fresh Used Auto Sales,” which holds the dreams, ambitions, and entrepreneurial spirit of an entire family. You can get your tires there. You can get your car serviced there. And you can also view local art and shop for a gift crafted by a local maker there.

East Ave Market, the brainchild of sisters Charlee Harris and Louise Bane, who came up with the idea after realizing their family’s business, housed in a former Studebaker dealership at 2290 East Ave., only needed the back half of the space to operate.

“East Ave Market is a spot that we can give people in the community, an opportunity to share their wares, share their art,” Louise explained.

“So Fresh Used Auto Sales is the house that East Ave Market lives in,” said Charlee, the East Ave Market’s creative director. “The market is its own thing and gallery space is its own thing and they live in the storefront of So Fresh.”

Louise is East Ave Market’s gallery manager. She fills the space monthly with local artists’ creative works with the goal of creating space where they can “voice themselves through art.” She also owns Weezie Cakes Bakery, a consistent vendor at the East Ave Market.

And while you’d never know it, she’s also following in the family tradition as a mechanic.

“(I’m) getting older now and when I get up from the ground, working on a car, my back is hurting,” she joked. “I don’t want to do this for another 10 or 15 years. I want us to branch off and do the stuff we enjoy.”

Other East Ave Market vendors include Skinsations Body Essentials, which creates natural and customizable body butters and Sweetlycreated4u, which crafts food-inspired soy candles that look (and smell) good enough to eat.

The Harris sisters will bring these and more than a dozen other vendors, for an experience unlike any other as East Ave Market takes over Kenmore First Friday on August 5. Their vendors include four diverse food trucks offering cuisine such as barbeque and Jamaican.

Plus, you can enjoy live poetry from Hidden Tr3sures and locally made wine in the McCutchan Courtyard.

“We’re just here to have a good time and give people a platform to express themselves within their community,” Louise said.

Joining them will be their sister Charisse, an art professor, directing residents in a community mural inspired by summer and Impressionism. Everyone, regardless of artistic ability, is encouraged to contribute to the mural, which will ultimately be displayed at various locations throughout the community including the East Ave Market’s gallery space. “It’s going to be something different and it’s going to be a good time,” Charlee said. “I think we have the best musical act with Free Black! and I think what we have planned fits with the laid back brand of Kenmore.”

East Ave Market is located at 2290 East Ave. They are open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each month, they hold Second Saturday, events that feature a new local artist’s work in the gallery. Interested makers and artists can stop in or contact eastavefleamarket@gmail.com or (330) 784-4175.

Don’t miss East Ave Market live on Kenmore Boulevard at Kenmore First Friday, Aug. 5 from 6 to 9 p.m.

RSVP Now!

Coming at you live from Kenmore Boulevard, meet Abigail Stopka, a local radio veteran who joined the KNA team as an AmeriCorps VISTA on July 5.

Abigail has worked in radio for the past four years, first as a DJ on 88.1 WZIP. Now, you can hear her on 94.9 WQMX and 107.3 Alternative Cleveland. Abigail is also a senior at The University of Akron pursuing a degree in public relations, a proud Akronite who has spent most of her life in the Akron area. Now, she’ll be putting her experience to use on Kenmore Boulevard.

Abigail grew up in another one of Akron’s Great Streets districts, North Hill, where she graduated from North High School. After high school she decided to stay in the area, where has she spent years living in the heart of downtown Akron.

A huge music lover and passionate fan of live shows, Abigail usually spends her Friday evenings during the summer at Lock 3 for Rock the Lock. Now, she’ll be helping with outreach and marketing for Kenmore First Friday and other events the historic Kenmore Boulevard commercial district.

Abigail’s goals for KNA are to expand her knowledge in creative marketing, event planning and volunteer recruitment skills while helping to improve events and beatification efforts in Akron’s largest neighborhood business district, Kenmore Boulevard.

“With my passion for music and Akron, I am so excited to be a part of a team who shares the same passions,” Abigail said. “I am looking forward to getting to know Kenmore and the Akron area even better, I have already learned so much about the history of Kenmore and I am so excited to be a part of something as great as KNA!”

Be sure to welcome Abigail to Kenmore if you see her during the next Kenmore First Friday on August 5!