Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:

• A person could go to a different ice cream shop every day this summer and not come close to sampling all the options on The Ohio Ice Cream Trail.

This week, TourismOhio released its Ice Cream Trail list, which now boasts 150 locations statewide. That’s 10 times larger than the first Ice Cream Trail list released in 2018.

There certainly is some overlap — Warren’s Cockeye Creamery is obviously there but so is Franky’s Pizza & Deli in Warren and Ripley’s Scoop Shop in Brookfield, which both sell Cockeye’s creations — but there are more than 40 listings just in the northeast Ohio quadrant. Other local favorites, Handel’s and Katie’s Korner, only have single listings despite multiple locations, so there’s a bounty of options close to home. And you always can get a different flavor at each of those multiple locations.

Considering this week’s temperatures — and my home air conditioner deciding that lowering the temperature by 20 degrees is beyond its reach — ice cream is sounding pretty good right now.

For the complete list, there’s a link on the home page at ohio.org.

• I’m a big fan of ice cream. Fireworks? Not so much. I will never have enough money to justify spending any of it on colorful things that go boom.

But judging from noise in my neighborhood intermittently throughout the summer and the crowds that flock to fireworks nights, I’m in the minority. And fireworks fans can see an award-winning display this weekend without driving too far — about 45 minutes from Youngstown.

Western Pennsylvania fireworks company Zambelli Fireworks Internationale, which does many of the big displays in the area, won the Festival Grand Champion title at the 2024 GlobalFest International Fireworks Competition in Calgary, Alberta.

Zambelli will recreate that award-winning “Cosmic Connections” show for Beaver County’s Boom on the Bridge from 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday in Bridgewater, Pennsylvania. The 21-minute fireworks display includes more than 1,300 firing cues and is choreographed to the music of Queen, Coldplay, Andrew McMahon, OneRepublic and others.

Music, food vendors and other activities will fill the day until the big show.

Pittsburgh’s The Ghost Hounds, who opened for the Rolling Stones last summer in Cleveland, will perform right before the fireworks. Admission is free.

• It seems I’ve been writing a lot lately about Valley natives who’ve become theatrical producers.

Earlier this month I did a feature on Howland native Ryan Wonnacott Sparks, who picked up his first Tony nomination as one of the producers of “Gypsy,” which was nominated for best revival of a musical (it lost to “Sunset Boulevard.”)

Last weekend Liberty native Marc Routh — a 10-time Tony winner as a producer on such shows as “The Producers,” “Hairspray” and revivals of “Company,” “Oklahoma” and both installments of “Angels in America” — was back home to take part in the 100th Anniversary Gala for the Youngstown Playhouse, where he got his start.

This week Betty Jo Licata shared a link to a Playbill story that her son, Canfield native Joey Monda, has been appointed president of the Off-Broadway League.

Monda is a three-time Tony winner himself as a producer on the musicals “Hadestown” and “A Strange Loop” and the play “The Inheritance.”

According to its website, the Off-Broadway League was formed in 1959 to support productions produced in Off-Broadway theaters and assist in the exchange of information among members.

In a statement included in the Playbill story, Monda says, “Off-Broadway has always been the center of boundary-breaking work and where artists are empowered to take big risks and share stories that shape the entertainment industry. I look forward to working with our community to amplify our work and impact.”

Monda, like Routh, was involved in theater growing up at the Playhouse. He also got a mention in the gala program, along with Youngstown native Michael Moritz Jr., who served as music director on several Playhouse shows and also has a Tony as one of the producers on “Hadestown.”

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.