Kicking off the summer (WITH GALLERY)
Published 1:01 pm Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Third and Center hosts 4th annual festival
With a heat wave hitting the region, there was no doubt on Saturday that it was the first day of summer and, on the Ironton riverfront, an annual event made its return to mark the date.
Nonprofit group Third and Center hosted the Summer Solstice Music and Arts Festival, featuring 12 hours of activities for families and celebrating the arts in the Tri-State.
“It’s going great,” Amanda Cleary, co-founder of the group, said. “We are having a great fourth year and everyone is having a good time.”
Cleary said the day started off with a children’s fishing event, something the group began including last year.
“It went well and a lot of kids caught fish,” she said.
Throughout the day, the main stage featured music from Tri-State artists, while there was a juried art show near the entrance to the festival and children’s art activities along the floodwall.
Cleary noted that these art programs were one of the things funded by the Ohio Arts Council Grant that Third and Center received.
Nearby, one aspiring artist was selling her works.
Nina Shaffer, of Ironton Middle School had a tent, with many of her drawings and paintings on display, and was happily greeting everyone who stopped by.
“These are just scribbles and doodles out my brain,” she said.
Dozens of vendors were set up at the event, selling crafts, food clothing and other items. Cleary said many of them were repeat participants.
One who was working the event for the first time was Justin Tyler, of Huntington, West Virginia, who was selling 3-D printed items, including figures of cryptid legends, such as the Braxton County Monster, Mothman and the Jersey Devil.
Tyler said he was new to the craft, having started 3-D printing in October.
He said one of his most popular items was a key chain in the shape of a cicada, which he sells regularly through Cicada books in Huntington.
The event also hosted a community talent show and a songwriter’s round.
Artists who played the main stage included Kyleigh Pauley, What’s Up Betsy?, Wheelhouse, DJ Everman & Corey Nance, Sasha Collette and the Magnolias and String Therapy, who closed the event.
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