AKRON, Ohio – With an active arts district, Barberton is looking to brand its downtown business district with the help of a Better Block festival this summer.
To learn what residents want in the Second Street business district, the Barberton Community Foundation, working with the city, the South Summit Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Barberton Merchants Association and other groups, will host a community meeting 6-8 p.m. March 2 at the Active Adult Center at the YMCA.
The best ideas will be activated during the Barberton Better Block to see if they’re doable in the long run.
Better Blocks, which have taken place in North Hill, Middlebury and Cuyahoga Falls, are festivals that showcase and reactivate neighborhoods, while introducing amenities that help them become more vibrant communities.
Previous coverage: Welcome to Better Block North Hill, Akron’s burgeoning international district (photos)
“We don’t want to just guess what everyone wants on Second Street; we want to hear different ideas and opinions,” said Amber Genet, the foundation’s marketing and communications director. “The merchants association is excited to hear those ideas so they can build upon what they’re already doing downtown.”
With Lake Anna in the center of town and the Magic Mile — a mile-long connection from downtown to the Towpath Trail — bikeabilty and walkability are among the city’s top amenities, said Jim Stonkus, president and CEO of the community foundation.
“About 300,000 people go down the Barberton stretch of the Towpath,” he said. “There’s so much opportunity here and you hear that from people starting to rediscover the city.”
With Lake Anna in the center of town and the Magic Mile — a mile-long connection from downtown to the Towpath Trail — bikeabilty and walkability are among the Magic City’s top amenities. Barberton Community Foundation
The Magic City’s arts district on Tuscarawas Avenue is increasingly active, with the newly renovated Magical Theatre Company, one of only six resident children’s theaters in the country, plus art galleries, restaurants and shops.
Barberton also hosts the annual spring Cherry Blossom Festival, and the fall Mum Festival. A series of well-attended Fourth Friday events, inspired by Barberton high school students, helps draw residents to downtown.
The city hopes to draw more of that energy to Second Street. To assist, the foundation is contributing $32,000 toward the Better Block, as well as two new bike initiatives:
- A bike share program – Launching in early summer, the bike share will build upon a program piloted in by the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition in Akron last year. The bike share will have three stations, each equipped with four bikes, helmets and locks. Bikes can be used free up to three hours at a time.
- Switching Gears – An Active Transportation Conference hosted by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transit Study, Switching Gears will take place July 26 and feature Jason Roberts of the Better Block Foundation and Charles Marohn of Strong Towns. The conference will focus on techniques that promote walking, biking and transit use in the city and lead to more vibrant neighborhoods.
Another popular Barberton bike event is the annual Bike 2 Barberton, a day of live music, food and bike education.
Formerly the Larry Bidlingmyer Bike Ride, in memory of a Barberton teacher, the event helps raise funds for the community foundation’s Bike Ride Fund, which pays for kids to attend a Barberton City Schools outdoor education camp Bidlingmyer started more than 35 years ago.
Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com’s Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
