Observations from First Night Youngstown

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We will have to wait to see what the estimates are for the number of people who attended First Night Youngstown.  One thing to keep in mind, First Night was held in 17 different venues ranging from Trinity United Methodist Church on Front Street to the Arms Family Museum on Wick Avenue.  Events along the Federal Plaza area went from the Realty Building on the east to the Youngstown Mattress Company Art Center on Martin Luther King Boulevard to the west.  

I attended the performance of "The Frog Prince" in the SMARTS Center on the second floor of the Symphony Center.  Every seat in the room was filled, and as many as a dozen children sat on the floor near the front.  About a dozen more adults stood in the back.  This was a very entertaining performance that involved participation by the children.

Another venue were I stopped was in the basement of Trinity United Methodist Church.  I had never been in this building before.  They have a wonderful hall with a stage on which the Carmen Mico Orchestra played.  Couples from the audience actually got up and danced in a small open area to the right of the stage.

I drove past the Main Library on Wick Avenue where children's events were taking place.  The cars in the parking lot were all the way out to the front sidewalk.  It looked like any other busy day at the library.

By 8:00 p.m., the horse and carriage ride was totally booked up for all of the available time slots through 11:00 p.m.  

I stopped at the new Bean Counter Cafe in the Realty Building for a snack.  The place was packed.  One of the owners told me that they actually ran out of some of the food items that they usually have on the menu.  You will have to try their tomato florentine soup.

The performace by the Edsels in Powers Auditorium was also well attended.  There were five hundrdred or more people sitting on the first floor.  I couldn't see the balcony area.

The most reassuring aspect of First Night Youngstown was to see people walking up and down Fedaral Plaza West, at night, enjoying themselves.