FireFish Festival Returns To Lorain September 20-21

FireFish Fest: The 5th Annual FireFish Festival will return to the City of Lorain on September 20-21, 2019, transforming the downtown into a multimedia sensory experience of art, music, culture and fire. Known for its commitment to high-quality art and performance representing the wide array of talent in Lorain, Lorain County, and across Northeast Ohio, the FireFish Festival will again engage festival attendees with 3D art installations, pop-up galleries, interactive exhibits, a wide variety of musical performances and culminates with a parade. At the end of the parade watch the Burning of the Fish along the banks of the Black River.

The footprint of the festival remains the same as last year—on Broadway Ave. between Erie Ave. and Fifth Street—the festival hours have been extended based on past attendees’ feedback. Saturday hours are expanded from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and offers an afternoon market featuring local artists and artisans as well family-friendly free art classes for families to create hats, percussion instruments and costumes, and to learn dances for participation that night in the parade. Friday evening FireFish will open with three top acts on the main stage featuring IN2ACTIVE, The Grady Miller Band and local favorites Carlos Jones and the PLUS Band. Video projection artist Kevin Jackson is returning to transform downtown buildings into living, breathing works of art. On Saturday, the centerpiece of the festival will be 383 Broadway, the former Ameritrust Bank, where over 15 artists are working with the raw unfinished space that will eventually house a brewery. Schuyler White, nationally recognized founder of Ohio Burn Unit, will once again oversee the special effects and pyrotechnics with a finale of the burning of the 30 foot by 15 foot fish in a blaze of glory.

The mission of FireFish Arts, Inc. is to enhance cultural, civic and economic development in Lorain and Lorain County through visionary arts events, pioneering arts programming, community arts education and critical arts leadership. Kurt Hernon, co-owner of Speak of the Devil Cocktail Lounge, is one of the many small business owners who are champions of FireFish Arts and its approach to economic development through the arts. “As the Dalai Lama once said, ‘In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision,’ “ said Hernon. “The vision has become clear through the many incredible actions for FireFish Arts in downtown over these past few years. That said, I cannot be more emphatic in my support for FireFish Arts and the FireFish Festival, as a catalyst for the change that will revive and restore downtown Lorain and its waterfront in the long run, through the power of the organization’s approach to arts-based civic management and the arts itself.”

All concerts and exhibits are family friendly. Please visit our website for more information www.firefishfestival.com.