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YOUNGSTOWN -- The Block Party has a new neighborhood.
The fifth annual event will take place at B&O Station on Saturday with a five-band lineup and other activities.
The event started at the now closed Soap Gallery and had expanded to close off the block of South Champion Street where the gallery was located.
"As the event grew and with the construction going on downtown, it was the right time to move to a bigger venue," said Alison Green, who along with Mikey Caraballo and Danny Svenson is part of The Neighborhood Events, the festival's organizer.
Music is the focal point of the festival, and let's just say that Neighborhood Events had an in when it came to headliner Spirit of the Bear, which started in Youngstown but now calls Columbus home (Svenson is Spirit's keyboard player).
Spirit released the EP "There's No Such Thing as Fire" last year with Shelter Music Group, the BMG-affiliated label that is home to Rock Hall inductees (Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Joe Perry of Aerosmith) and dozens of veteran and younger acts.
Also on the bill will be Ohayo (featuring Hayden Brooke and Lexi Kays), Madame Marlowe, Black Wolf & the Thief and a closing set by Unc D with Curli and Krypto.Divine.
All of the acts are getting paid, Green said, but organizers also came up with a unique way for festivalgoers to support the performers.
Tickets are $10 in advance through Eventbrite, and ticket buyers will have the option to leave a $5 tip for any (or all) of the bands at checkout. Tickets at the door are $15, and the additional $5 will be divided among all of the acts.
Green said Svenson told them about an early gig Spirit played, where the band members were required to sell a certain number of tickets in order to get paid.
"That doesn't make any sense," Green said. "We thought this would be a fun thing to try to see if people respond to it, but the bands like it, and that was our main goal. It's a fun way to have them promote without forcing them to. And it's a way for people to support the local music scene, since going to see the live music is the biggest draw and what brought us together as an events group, and we wanted to acknowledge that."
The music starts at 6 p.m., but attendees can get a chance to perform before that with Auto-Tune Karaoke starting at 5 p.m.
Gates open at 4 p.m. with a vendor's market with a dozen sellers and area food trucks. A beer garden will feature local brewers Modern Methods, Penguin City, Noble Creature and Biker Brewhouse pouring some of their creations.
"We really want people to connect and feel creative, make a new friend and maybe find their new favorite business as well," Green said.
In past years, The Block Party has drawn between 300 and 450 people, Green said, and they're hoping for between 400 and 500 this year. The organizers would like to see it continue to grow.
"Right now the event is ticketed," Green said. "We all have day jobs, and that helps us pay for the event and make sure the acts get paid, but we'd love to see the support to make it a free event, and instead of one day of music make it a two-day event where people can come to a local market and hear music for two days or for more than one weekend a year."