MOUNT VERNON — Thanks to last month’s rainstorm, June 6 marked the first First Friday celebration of the summer in downtown Mount Vernon. One could be forgiven for thinking that it was much later in the season, thanks to temperatures that edged into the 90s, announcing summer by turning the sidewalks hot enough to fry an egg.
Crowds of people poured into the downtown streets, which were closed from Gambier Street to Chestnut Street. On the square, as the sounds of Jerry Weaver’s Good Time Jazz Band floated by, Sophia’s Petting Zoo was entertaining both children and adults. Nine-year-old Thor Fox picked up a bunny and petted it, saying that he used to have a rabbit, but now he has other animals that he’s raising.
“I have a few chickens,” Thor said.
In the Very Short North, artwork by Ruth Bemis was on display in the back gallery at Little Chihuahua Antiques, while two doors up the hill, Tim Hussey’s paintings of cars were on display at the North Main Gallery. Asked if he was going to go visit the petting zoo, Hussey was adamant.
“No. I got bit by a rabbit once,” he said.
Mansfield artists Jeff Bell and Kate Westfall were in town to experience their first First Friday in Mount Vernon.
Bell said that he thought the event was fantastic.
“Mansfield has a small one, but it’s just limited to a couple of shops and a handful of people,” Bell said.
“I’m impressed by the amount of art,” Westfall said. “Now I want to go home and paint.”
Mansfielders Ray Gerrell and Iona Shawver were enjoying the festivities, though they were specifically in town to see “With Pen In Hand,” the play by Mike Petee about Dan Emmett which was playing to a nearly full house at ThePlace@TheWoodward.
“We’re going to tour the Woodward Opera House before the show,” Shawver said.
Between Vine and Gambier streets, a car show had drawn a lot of collectors and many spectators, while inside Sips Coffee House, The Jox were playing lyrical acoustic alternative rock from their new EP, “Silly World.” Lead vocalist Megan Jox has an expressive and smoky voice, something along the lines of an Edie Brickell or Natalie Merchant. Megan played keys while her husband, Ryan Jox, played acoustic guitar and filled in background vocals. Sips manager Russ McGibney was delighted with the band and said he plans on having them return to Sips in the near future.
Focus Studio offered sidewalk space to Randal Brown to do caricatures for First Friday. Randal said that he used to do caricatures at Cedar Point and will be doing them during the Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival later this summer. He also hopes to return to other First Fridays later this summer. Randal’s wife, Marlo, a high school art teacher, was there to assist him and collect money for the drawings.
A few doors further south on Main Street, the Root Art Gallery was premiering a show featuring works of artists Laura Alexander and Jennifer Radcliff. Several of Alexander’s striking works involved images painted in white or etched on layers of glass. The work “i changed my mind” featured simple designs on each piece of glass, but the five layers, each separated by a quarter-inch of space, cast a complex interplay of shadows onto lower layers, turning the simple designs into a complex web of abstract shadows. Radcliff’s paintings incorporated neo-primitive birds and animals with 1950s-era illustrated images of homemakers, Boy Scouts and other such pop-culture icons.
