By Kabir Bhatia Ideastream Public Media

Tina Boyes, head of the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance, has been working since 2017 to make Kenmore Boulevard exciting again. For every new business, there are still spaces like the former Hairston Appliance store that’s quietly waiting for a new tenant. Boyes began consulting with Dallas-based Better Block five years ago on how to make the boulevard more walkable. They added bike lanes. They filled a vacant lot with art and turned it into a courtyard for community meetings. And then she came to a realization: Kenmore is a music neighborhood.

“We’ve got recording studios, [and] we’ve got the two guitar shops directly across the street,” she said. “The Rialto Theater [is a] regional music venue.”

The neighborhood alliance began hosting music events using nonprofit beer permits.

“Why couldn’t we take a vacant space and every couple weeks have an event that just happens to be two days long and has local artists playing?” Boyes said.

Boyes enlisted volunteers and local musicians for help: Zach Friedhof of Zach & the Bright Lights, Matt Garrett from the neighborhood’s Open Tone Music Academy, recording studio owner Thomas Kincaid and musician Jim Ballard.

Buzzbin presents

One of the spaces they used for the events has a vintage, art deco “Live Music Now” sign out front. When lit, people know to come in. That building will soon be the new home of Buzzbin, a well-known DIY and punk venue that recently closed its doors in Canton. The move is happening with support from another music venue, the Rialto Theatre, just a few blocks away. In 2010, brothers Nate and Seth Vaill began converting the Rialto from a derelict movie house to a music venue.

“I’ve been getting questions, ‘Is this going to be competition?’ No, it’s not going to be competition,” Seth said. “Nashville has got venues everywhere, and they’re all making tons of money with tons of opportunities.”

The Vaills are hosting a benefit for Buzzbin on September 24, and the new club plans to open near Halloween. Vaill says it will be good to have another venue for people to visit after a show at the Rialto, but the neighborhood needs more bars and restaurants.

“I want to walk along this boulevard and see people on Kenmore Boulevard at 10:30 at night,” he said. “I don’t want people to leave our place and then just leave the boulevard.”

Becoming Akron’s Music Row

A few doors down from the Rialto, Dan Shinn owns Lay’s Guitar Shop.

“My gut feeling is, this is going to become Music Row,” he said.

Lay’s was opened by Virgil Lay in 1962. He took on Shinn as an apprentice in 1979, and Lay passed away in 2009.

Behind the shop, a narrow strip of roadway is where guitars are constantly being picked up or dropped off for repair. Earlier this year, the city renamed that street “Virgil Lay Way.”

“I would say the bulk of my customers are probably anywhere from a half-hour to an hour-and-a-half away,” Shinn said. “I have a lot of guys that come from Michigan [and Pennsylvania]. I’d say the largest per-capita group of guys that come in here that are really good guitar players almost always are from Youngstown. It’s something in the water.”

Upstairs from Lay’s is the Loft, run by Steve Givens. It’s a cozy space with enough hardware on the walls that if every member of the Cleveland Orchestra suddenly dropped by and wanted to buy a guitar, they could do so – for a price.

“The Smithsonian recently did an article on the tree mahogany — this is from that tree,” he said. “The next one that I have ordered, I just got the retail price on it, is $22,000. This wood adds about $8,000 to the price of this guitar because it’s so rare.”

While most of Givens’ business is online, he says they still host visiting musicians who sometimes take a piece of Northeast Ohio with them. The Loft has a 1953 Les Paul Gold Top finished with wood from a demolished Goodyear building.

“The wood is older than the rest,” he said. “The wood on the top is from the 1800s.”

The inventory at the Loft complements the shop next door, the Guitar Department, owned by Ed Michalec and run by his son, Quinn.

“Every age group comes in looking for something completely different,” he said. “Teenagers and younger people [have] shifted from guitars a few years ago to now, oddly, bass guitars. And ukulele has taken over a big chunk of the younger sales we do.”

The Guitar Department was originally across the street when it opened in 2009. But they strategically moved next door to Lay’s a few years back.

As Tina Boyes with the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance surveys the street, she notes that some of the guitars from those shops end up in recording studios on the boulevard.

“We have seven down here now, and there’s three or four just in this block,” she said. “On the corner is the former Cook’s Hardware Building. That’s a live room downstairs and the acoustics are amazing. If you’re walking up and down here, you can hear drums being recorded there at all hours.”

Thom Tadsen owns the studio in the former Cook’s building and is currently working with Griphook (and its drummer, Wachovec). Tadsen said the addition of Buzzbin to the boulevard is going to be “huge” and is “exactly what we need.”

From rock to hip-hop

Drums are as essential to rock and jazz as they are to hip-hop – which is also getting its due in Kenmore. Ben White runs hip-hop nights at the First Glance Urban Youth Center in Kenmore and said that in 2019, he “met a group of eight to ten young rappers. We basically had a Wu Tang Clan of Akron. I’m like the Old White Dude: OWD.”

Although he grew up in the ‘90s listening to grunge and classic rock, he sensed there was an opportunity to connect with youth through hip-hop.

“We found out that it was a really therapeutic thing and helpful to kids to come in and just express themselves,” he said. “It’s like music therapy for them.”

White ran a hip-hop camp this summer in conjunction with South Akron Youth Mentoring (SAYM) at the non-profit Akron Dream Center.

Ronald Kent, executive director of SAYM, said this helps teens with expression.

“There’s a lot of social-emotional learning happening,” he said. “Telling people how you’re feeling about something is normally stigmatized. In hip-hop it’s okay to communicate [your heart and mind].”

White is expanding the camp to a weekly, Friday night free-for-all at the Akron Dream Center in Firestone Park, since it received a grant for a state-of-the-art

recording room. Boyes wants to attract those kinds of grants and businesses to Kenmore.

Boyes grew up in Kenmore, where her father owned a dry-cleaning business. She said recent development in Highland Square is an example of what could happen in her neighborhood.

“Think back 25 years ago, Highland Square wasn’t getting a Chipotle. That was a process. I don’t think we want to necessarily mimic what Highland Square did, but that gives us hope that some of these music-oriented businesses [are] going to attract food someday.”

Boyes said the neighborhood wants to stay true to its working-class roots, but her surveys indicate residents also want to see more restaurants and places to eat.

During the pandemic the boulevard has added 12 businesses. Half of them, like Ethicrace clothing store or Srina coffee house, are owned by people of color. And a third of the businesses, such as The Rialto, are owned by Kenmore residents. In the future, she’s also looking to attract more music-related businesses, such as a record store.

Maybe Kenmore Boulevard will someday be as lively as it was when former Kenmore activist Cletus Swords was growing up in the 1940s. He reminisced about it in a 1997 documentary on how to work with young people in an area suffering from economic decline and rising crime.

“Saturday night on Kenmore Boulevard was a big thing,” he said for the doc. “They had the dime store, [a] five-and-10-cent store. That was a big thing [on] Saturday night to go up on the boulevard and hang out.”

That documentary was made 25 years ago by Jim Ballard, one of the musicians who has been working with Tina Boyes. He’s lived in Kenmore since 1977.

“[Boyes] brought in business leaders, political leaders, foundation folks, all the entities you need to make these kinds of things happen,” he said. “Uniquely, she wanted to include artists and musicians from the beginning and take seriously their input. That’s what’s made the things that have been happening in the last five or six years on the boulevard happen.”

The Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance is celebrating five years of its work with Better Block on Friday, September 2. It’s part of the neighborhood’s ongoing First Friday series with pop-up shops, visual art, food and of course music. Boyes said they will also have “compare and contrast” demonstrations showing where the boulevard was five years ago.

By Kerry Clawson Akron Beacon Journal

Monaqui Porter Young, owner of the new SRINA Tea House & Cafe on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron, shows art of organic tea products that will be displayed on its walls. (Photo: Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal)

When you walk into the new SRINA Tea House & Cafe in Akron’s Kenmore neighborhood, a huge, colorful mural runs down the entire length of the business’s left wall, creating a bright scene of mountainous Sri Lankan tea fields, palm trees and vibrant, native Sri Lankan birds.

The back wall behind the tea counter is a rich green that coordinates with the verdant tea farm mural, which was designed by The Studio in New York.

“We wanted to transport the customer to a space that was green and natural,” said owner Monaqui Porter Young, 50. “It’s upscale but really warm.”

Akron native Porter Young has opened her first brick-and-mortar establishment for SRINA tea, the organic tea company she founded in 2002 that offers 52 varieties of tea from Paradise Farm in the rain forests of Sri Lanka. Porter Young, who moved to New York in 1994, where she lives with husband and three children, developed her business there and has a background in integrative nutrition.

Lee Porter, left, manager of SRINA; Monaqui Porter Young, founder and owner; and tea associates Naomi Boyes and Nina Cameron stand in front of the mural inside the new tea house on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron. (Photo: Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal)

This week, SRINA Tea House will host a public soft opening celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday. A grand opening will take place 4 p.m. Sept. 17.

The neighborhood has been anticipating SRINA’s opening for so long, soft opening hours will continue 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday-Monday and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday as the business finishes up preparations for its grand opening.

Tea has long been Porter Young’s passion. On Wednesday, she showed off some artwork depicting organic cinnamon and hibiscus that will adorn SRINA’s walls, representing the natural, organic products that she’s excited to bring to Kenmore with her teas.

Too many Americans think of tea as just Lipton, she said. All of the SRINA teas are loose-leaf and grown without chemical fertilizers or synthetic pesticides.

SRINA tea associates Naomi Boyes, left, and Nina Cameron work in the Tea Lab that will be available to patrons at the new SRINA Tea House & Cafe on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron. (Photo: Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal)

She’s trained her employees on the history and health benefits of tea. For example, her organic green tea with a ginger-lemongrass-turmeric blend helps with inflammation and joint pain.

“We spend a lot of time telling you to taste the tea,” said Porter Young, who encourages customers to drink the flavorful SRINA teas with no sugar or milk.

“Really good tea needs nothing but leaf and water. It’s very simple,” said Porter Young, a Central Hower High School graduate who earned a theater degree from Wright State University. “Just give us your palate and trust your palate to us. You’re going to drink something you’re not used to but this is tea.”

She serves tea from glass teapots into glass bowls, rather than English-style tea cups with handles, so customers can see the tea they’re enjoying.

“We love drinking tea out of a bowl,” said Porter Young, whose SRINA logo features three tea bowls.

The SRINA property is owned by the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance (KNA), which gutted the space a couple years ago in preparation for a coffee shop tenant that ended up not signing a lease two days into the 2020 pandemic shutdown. The SRINA project was completed by contractor Tucker Building & Design of Wadsworth and AOA architectural firm of Florida, with lantern-type lighting by Lumen Nation in Montrose.

SRINA’s exterior, which formerly had off-white vinyl siding when it was Zoe Ann’s hair salon, now is back to its original brick exterior. The building, estimated to be about 100 years old, also features original hardwood flooring in the back half of the cafe and a refurbished wood counter.

Opening SRINA Tea House & Cafe has been two years in the making, sparked by a Rubber City Match Program grant of $50,000 from the city of Akron that allows small businesses to apply for cash awards, technical assistance, private loans and help finding empty storefronts in need of revitalization.

SRINA had been slated to open in December but the process of gaining additional funding delayed the project, said Porter Young, who needed to raise three times the initial Rubber City Match grant to see the project to fruition.

“Things took forever,” said Porter Young, who said it took some work convincing private business lenders that a tea house would do well in the Kenmore neighborhood.

As the SRINA renovation project continued at 975 Kenmore Blvd., Porter Young started a pop-up cafe 18 months ago across the street inside the Rialto Theatre, which ran for about three months to establish a presence in the neighborhood.

The goal in choosing the predominantly working-class Kenmore neighborhood for the tea house was “to produce a revitalized Kenmore and create a place that would create value ― value to the community, value to the people and value to the other businesses and organizations,” Porter Young said. “We couldn’t do it without KNA.”

The public-private partnership has been the key to bringing the unconventional tea house business to the community, the entrepreneur said, including the active participation and engagement of both the city of Akron and the local community, represented by KNA.

Tina Boyes, executive director of the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance, said that through the 2017 Kenmore Better Block program, the No. 1 thing residents said they wanted on Kenmore Boulevard was a coffee shop.

“This is the perfect opportunity to give Kenmore what it wants,” said Boyes, who stressed that SRINA is a space where people of all socioeconomic backgrounds can connect.

According to a 2019 market study, the Kenmore Boulevard Retail Revitalization Strategy, a three-block area of Kenmore Boulevard can support up to four additional food and beverage businesses. It now has two, with SRINA as well as The Nite Owl across the street.

“We are hemorrhaging restaurant traffic,” said Boyes. “People are leaving our neighborhood to eat.”

Porter Young saw establishing SRINA Tea House & Cafe in a community underserved by restaurants and cafes as a good opportunity. In addition to serving food and drink in-house, SRINA offers a retail section of Sri Lankan teas and food ingredients, which include ginger, cinnamon honey spread, pineapple coconut chips and coconut chips.

Ginger chips will be sold at SRINA, a new tea house on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron. (Photo: Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal)

Porter Young is focused on hiring primarily women at SRINA. Tea associates are Naomi Boyes, Nina Cameron Jasmine Kirk, Jaquae Blair, Faith Perry and Stephanie Davis, all from Akron. Five of them have trained with the JOBS Culinary Program, a Kenmore nonprofit for at-risk young women ages 16 to 36 that teaches them culinary skills to manage a restaurant.

Lee Porter, Porter Young’s cousin, is the manager of SRINA.

SRINA offers a breakfast and lunch menu, with food prepared off-site by Chef Glenn Gillespie of Edgar’s in Akron. Breakfast items include lox bagel and tea or coffee ($7.90) and quiche with tea or coffee. Lunch choices include jerk chicken finger ($7.75), various salads and pulled pork sandwich ($7.25).

Sides range from vegetarian kale ($4) to quinoa ($4) and sweets include lemon and chocolate croissants ($3) and either champagne raspberry or passion fruit sorbet ($3). The menu is a soft-opening version that Porter Young expects to be tweaked.

Rotating organic coffees will include varieties from Brazil, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and U.S. cities such as Seattle.

One of Porter Young’s goals for her business is to bring in 2,000 subscribers at SRINA Tea House & Cafe by December, a 12-month program that costs $200 per year or $16.75 per month. The subscription makes sense for those who eat and drink at SRINA regularly, she said. It includes special tea gifts, as well as events several times each month with food and drink. Customers can join the Tea Club for free at www.srina.com to receive information on purchasing a subscription, which starts Sept. 17.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@kclawson. Photos by Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal.

SRINA Tea House & Cafe

Soft opening event: 4 to 6 p.m. Friday

Location: 975 Kenmore Blvd., Akron

Additional soft opening hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday-Monday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through Sept. 16

Grand opening: 4 p.m. Sept. 17

Information: 234-334-1599, SRINA Tea House & Cafe on Facebook, http://srina.com

It’s a coffee shop. It’s a tea house. It’s a café and a gathering space.

Srina Tea House and Café is finally here on Kenmore Boulevard, and they’re inviting you to test their products and provide feedback during their soft opening, which will run Aug. 12, 4 to 6 p.m., through Sept. 16.

Eclectic and healthy food is on the menu, which was released to the public during the August Kenmore First Friday event. The menu includes quiches, Jerk chicken fingers, street corn, sorbet and, of course, Srina’s organic coffee and teas responsibly grown in the farms of Sri Lanka.

Srina also features a line of pastries that includes Summit Croissants made in Kenmore by Sally Ohle, plus avocado toast, bagels and lox. And you can enjoy your food and beverages either in the cool rainforest décor of the dining room or at Srina’s al fresco streetside tables.

In addition, Srina is partnering with the Jump on Board for Success (JOBS) program, a Kenmore-based culinary training program which gives young and at-risk women a head start in food service, as well as Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance to provide subsidies to employ the young women locally.

“I am looking forward to working with these organizations to make Kenmore one of the best places to visit, eat and shop in Akron,” said Srina owner Monaqui Porter-Young.

Srina Tea House is located at 975 Kenmore Blvd. Starting Aug 12, they will be open Sunday and Monday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. RSVP for their soft launch event.

by Abigail Stopka

After Sharetta Howze suffered a brain injury, she found herself questioning her purpose in life. “When I became disabled, I felt like my life was over because I couldn’t do anything I loved anymore.”

As an African- American woman with a brain injury, Sharetta felt like a member of two underrepresented communities. “I used art through my occupational therapy which helped me heal.” That inspired her to found the nonprofit Hidden Tr3sures. Now, she helps others with disabilities or overwhelming situations heal through creative coping.

“Creative coping to me is an experience. It is a chance for people to just take a second to breathe and write down their thoughts. it is an opportunity to heal,” she explained. It’s this process that led her to create the nonprofit Hidden Tr3sures.

“The meaning behind the name Hidden Tr3ssures is that you are a treasure. Just because you are disabled or are facing struggles doesn’t mean that you are denied. You are still a treasure,” Sharetta said.

Hidden Tr3sures is a support group for people with struggles and disabilities. It is a safe space that provides the opportunity for disabled people to express themselves in a way that is accessible to them. It allows people to express themselves through multiple platforms such as painting, writing, dancing, singing or even just having a shoulder to lean on when times are tough. “It is important for everyone to know that we all have a voice, and every voice is special and unique, and it can make a difference,” she said. “I want everyone to know that they do have a platform for their voice here.”

Hidden Tr3sures will be hosting live poetry during Kenmore First Friday, this Friday August 5th at 6 p.m. in the McCutchan Courtyard. The Black Artist Guild will serve wine and visitors can expect to be encouraged and empowered. A variety of poets will be sharing their own journey of healing. There will also be a chance to participate in open mic. “We are all hidden treasures, and we are here to help bring that out of people. We are working on ourselves in hopes of bringing out the best in others,” said Sharetta.

To learn more about Hidden Tr3sures, visit their Facebook page or website at hiddentr3sures.com. To learn more about Sharetta, www.sharettalatrice.com/blog.

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!

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.