STEUBENVILLE — Friday’s First Friday “Eighties Night” is shaping up to be a special one.

“Usually I would call our Live Eighties Karaoke competition our ‘main attraction’,” Harmonium Project President Marc Barnes said Wednesday. “Contestants will be singing their hearts out to Toto, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, The Beach Boys, all with Mr. Fancy Pants, a rock band from Wheeling. The winner will be crowned the Karaoke King or Queen of Steubenville.

“But this year, through the help of Tri-State Financial Services and a revitalization action group called Strong Towns Steubenville, we managed to snag a roller-skating rink. We got it as an homage to Skateland, a rink that every local kid remembers as the ultimate birthday party venue, and to inspire some enterprising individual to open up a new rollerskating rink downtown.”

Barnes said skates will be available to people all night at the Market Street Intersection. “And beside that, we’ve also got our annual street soccer tournament, in which five-a-side soccer teams will duke it out next to the Downtown Bakery,” he said. “So I guess we have three main attractions.”

There will also be plenty of music to entertain festival-goers, he said.

Catholic Central High School’s marching band will kick things off on the main stage at 6 p.m., with Universal Funk Mob taking the stage at 6:20 p.m.; Mr. Fancy Pants Live Eighties Karaoke at 8 p.m. and Dear Other at 10:15 p.m.

Entertainment at the Pocket Park stage begins with Murphy Givens at 6 p.m., followed by Matt Hill Jazz Band at 7:30 p.m. and Plastic Lemonade, 9 p.m.

John Holmes, who wrote the book “Remembering Steubenville,” will also give a presentation on the history of vaudeville theater in Steubenville at Bookmarx Bookstore.

“We’re more crowded with vendors than ever this First Friday, so it seems like our expanded footprint might not be expanded enough. If this growth continues, we will have to look at utilizing a few parking lots and alleyways for the festival,” Barnes said.

“First Fridays continues to grow, and it’s not because we’re doing anything special or new. Everyone naturally (wants) s to meet their neighbors and celebrate their common life together in a friendly city center. All we do is provide that friendly city center, one night out of each month.”

Barnes has said their goal is to spark change in Steubenville, but said despite their successes they haven’t yet accomplished all they hope to.

“We’re seeing more people, and businesses, downtown,” he said. “Not just the new restaurants like Martoni’s and Fourth Street Standard, but an art studio and a pottery studio and a grocery store that will be open this fall. On the other hand, we’re still hoping that our city leaders will appreciate the message that First Friday, and really, every downtown festival, sends: that the citizens of Steubenville want a lively, fun, safe, walkable, family-friendly downtown. Things like re-planting trees, hanging planters, establishing pedestrian hours, developing downtown green spaces, and establishing a festive environment — -all of these simple policy decisions and investments in downtown infrastructure could give the citizens of Steubenville the city center they want.”