By Mick Dillon / The Jambar
Downtown Youngstown’s Federal Street was blocked off over the weekend for the annual St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl. 17 local bars and businesses participated in the festivities.
Economic Action Group organized the event for the first time, and EAG Marketing Manager Kennedy Kish said this was an opportunity for the company to explore new avenues.
The crawl went from noon to midnight March 13, with the first four hours of festivities being held at Penguin City Brewing Co. Attendees arrived at the Federal Street brewery to get their free bar crawl wristbands and sign up for a raffle, which included two VIP tickets to Y-Live, a free voucher to stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton and $750 in cash prizes.
From there, attendees visited the rest of the bars and businesses downtown. Participating businesses included:
- Penguin City
- DOPE Cider House and Winery
- Youngstown Flea
- Windows On the Square Lounge
- Casa di Canzonetta
- Avalon Downtown Pizzeria
- West 34
- Twisted Roots
- Draught Haus
- Downtown Circle
- Ryes Craft Beer & Whiskey Bar
- Imbibe Martini Bar
- Yonder Brunch & Vibes
- The Social Bar & Tapas
- The Varsity Club Youngstown
EAG is based around local economic development and small-business support, doing work with various businesses around Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
“We do a lot of business engagement,” Kish said. “We’ve worked with most of the downtown businesses, if not all of them.”
With a downtown scene that feels to most like it is on a downward trajectory, Kish said community involvement is key to the city’s revitalization.
“Just having regular events that get all of these different businesses involved is kind of the key here,” Kish said. “The businesses are really feeling positive about the trajectory of downtown, and events like these where people are encouraged to come downtown … It just fosters a really lively and vibrant environment that makes it a destination and a place that people want to be. Downtown hasn’t had that for a little while.”
While community events are a point of emphasis for EAG, the company’s portfolio is diversified across several different avenues. One of the main projects of the collective is the Downtown Youngstown Strategic Plan — a collaborative effort with the City of Youngstown.
“It’s a plan that was, I guess, spurred by the Realty Tower explosion and all of the construction downtown … those hardships that downtown [Youngstown] has had to navigate,” Kish said. “The Downtown Youngstown Strategic Plan is going to go into more depth about how to get people downtown and how to set businesses up for success.”
Along with creating strategic action plans for local businesses, EAG also offers a summer internship program for Youngstown State University students.
“Interns are a big part of what we do, and we have a community-learning model that really focuses on providing valuable internship opportunities to students while also getting them involved with the community,” Kish said. “We definitely want to get more YSU students downtown and connect downtown with YSU.”
For those interested in EAG’s internship program, more information can be found on the EAG website.
Ryes Craft Beer & Whiskey Bar participated in the St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl along with 16 other local bars and businesses.