Open Mic tonight at Iron Town Coffee Lab

By Gina Collinsworth, for The Tribune

Last Friday, the Iron Town Coffee Lab hosted the first “FreeFest Connect aLive” event, to kick off a series of free events and activities for community members to attend. The series will encourage community members to get out and mingle with friends, fellow-residents and neighbors at specific events planned for various locations, including Spare Time Recreation in March, The GR8R Gaming Escape Room, and the Ro-Na Theater in April.

Every Friday, free tickets for the other activities will be part of the door prizes given out to participants and audience members who attend the Friday Night Open Mic Night, hosted by Impact Prevention Teen Impact Teams from local schools.

The Teen Impact Teams are comprised of high schoolers who are trained to encourage fellow students to live drug-free. They are mentors in their schools, often attending formal trainings and summer camp.

The fun activities and events planned for “FreeFest Connect aLive” are, as the name suggests, free and family-friendly.

The Friday Night Open Mic is open to all ages. Anyone who wants to share family-friendly music, songs, poems, stories and jokes. All attendees will get free coffee or milk as well as free cookies from the Black Bear Bakery. For the first event, there were singers, guitar players, storytellers and people sharing their poetry.

“Speaking for the Ironton aLive board members, I am proud and excited to work with the local businesses, recovery community and our residents, in partnership with the Impact Prevention group,” said Sam Heighton, executive director of Ironton aLive. “These events are possible as a follow up to the very successful Parks aLive event last summer.”

He said that in the next three months, they expect to touch the lives and perhaps open some new doors for hundreds of people living in recovery, and impact others in the community through prevention.

Freefest Connect aLive is presented through a nonprofit partnership between Impact Prevention Agency, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Ironton aLive organization. For more information, call 740-532-2269 or visit www.impactprevention.com.