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STEUBENVILLE - First Fridays are back.
The Harmonium Project and Steubenville Young Preservationists are teaming up to bring the popular downtown monthly street fair back for a full season of fun, Harmonium President Marc Barnes and Young Preservationists President Therese Nelson said.
The 2021 season kicks off May 7 and, COVID regulations permitting, continue the first Friday of each month through November.
"For us, it's (always been) one of the most hopeful signs of Steubenville's revitalization," Barnes said. "To have it back, it feels like a lot of that hope is back again."
Nelson said there's no denying the sense of excitement, within the organizations as well as the community at large.
"I think the whole community is starving for things to start happening again," she said. "And, of course, First Fridays are everyone's favorite."
While they attempted one or two First Friday events in 2020, they had to pull the plug due to health orders prohibiting large gatherings.
"We did a few here and there," Barnes said, adding that since then they've "basically been watching every update the state health department gives."
"They got rid of the limitation on outdoor events, that was the real green light for us," he said.
First Friday's typically feature local food trucks and restaurants, with three or four musical acts, a big "kid zone" and craft breweries.
The theme of May's First Friday is "May Day."
"Sort of a spring festival with a lot of flowers, maypoles, singing and dancing," he explained.
June's First Friday will sport a storybook theme, and July's, in addition to celebrating America's independence, will also commemorate the "great flood of 1936," a nod of sorts to the trials and tribulations of the past year "and we do get to do a lot of cool, underwater-themed things."
"Pretty much every month we'd have people messaging us, asking if there was going to be a First Friday," Barnes said. "We really felt the love for the event, even during its absence. Finally being able to say, 'Yes, we can do it' is great."
Barnes credits City Manager Jim Mavromatis and the Jefferson County Health District with keeping them abreast of the ever-changing regulations.
"They met with us and continuously discussed the state regulations and changes pretty much every week, they helped us understand," Barnes said. "They did a good job explaining all the regulations in place and the ones that were rescinded. They do change every week, so it takes a herculean effort to keep up with them."
Large gatherings are still frowned on, so Barnes said they've been asked to keep groups at 10 or fewer.
"We have to tell people what to do, post the signs, and if we see egregious offenses, break them up," he said. "But it's clear we don't have the manpower to police (peoples' actions). I think it's really going to be up to us to be proactive about knowing what the regulations are and people being willing to act accordingly."
Barnes admits they're "a little rusty."
"It's been a while since we pulled one of these off," he said, "so we're going through all the jobs people volunteer for to make sure we have a willing body to do them. But we're really excited. We feel really blessed and grateful to be part of this community."