Staff photo /Chris McBride . . . Youngstown police Chief Carl Davis gives a performance of “I Believe I Can Fly” while accompanied by two puppets at the 25th annual Summer Festival of the Arts at Wean Park in downtown.

YOUNGSTOWN — As the summer heat beamed down on Wean Foundation Park in Youngstown on Saturday, about 15,000 people celebrated the intersection of creativity and community at the 25th annual Summer Festival of the Arts. From vibrant paintings to live music, the festival had plenty of mediums of artistry on display this weekend.

A longtime staple of the Mahoning Valley, the festival returned this year under new leadership with Katie Merrill, executive director of the Cultural Alliance, who said the festival had been taking artist applications since January for local and national talent to set up shop. This is the third year the event has been at Wean Park, after moving from the YSU campus.

“There’s a lot more space to fill since we moved to downtown. Being here there’s lots of grass and walkways, flat surfaces that make it easier to walk and easier for artists to display their work,” Merrill said.

She also said the added space allows them to discover new ways to grow. This year, Merrill said they’ve expanded to adding special programs for children.

“We’ve always had a children’s art tent on campus, but this year we added a children’s entertainment tent that was sponsored by the city of Youngstown,” Merrill said.

Walking around the space one minute you might be getting your face painted, the next watching a magician pull hundreds of scarves out of a hat or enjoying Youngstown police Chief Carl Davis as he gives a ventriloquism rendition of the song “I Believe I Can Fly” accompanied by two puppets on his arms.

The children’s space also included a bounce house and inflatable games like ax throwing.

“We wanted to go for the full family experience this year,” Merrill said.

The weekend’s festival features 70 vendors, 20 of which are for small businesses, craftsmen and organizations based in the Mahoning Valley area. Crafted items like ceramic mugs, wooden jewelry, refurbished and rebuilt guitars and stained glass art were displayed for sale.

Under the Market Street bridge were all of the food vendors cooking up smells of Cuban flatbreads co-mingled with wood-fried pizza, sausage sandwiches and lemon shakes.

At the core of the yearly function, Merrill said that community and culture are the heart.

“Youngstown is diverse in culture to where we don’t lack in anything,” Merrill said. “We have a festival every weekend for different cultures so this brings the fine arts.”

Merrill said she hopes the festival continues to bring awareness to what the community has to offer.

“We have one of the oldest community theaters in the country. We have a university with a massive music program, there’s always something here to do that involves the arts,” Merrill said.

A married couple from McDonald, Megan and Matt Cox, showed up for their fourth year at the festival. The couple sells their homemade ceramic goods, including decal mugs, bowls, plant planters, magnet and other functional pieces.

Megan Cox explained that the couple started the business after turning a six-week ceramic class into a business eight years later with a full studio in their home.

“I absolutely fell in love with it,” Megan Cox said. “It kind of gets in your blood and we just became fully invested.”

The festival experience isn’t new for Megan Cox, as she recalled coming to the festival as a teenager with her mother.

“So when we got into the pottery I knew that that would be a real safe space to try to put our big toe in and just try it out. And we just had the most wonderful experience our first year and so we just tell everyone this is our favorite show. So we’re glad that’s back and we love it,” Megan Cox said.

Another non-stranger to the festival, Joe Asente, 27, of Girard, who is the artistic director of the Millennial Theatre Company, was there promoting the nonprofit community theater’s 2023-24 season.

Asente said this year’s season will consist of a Spongebob musical that opens at end of July and beginning of August at the Youngstown Playhouse.

Since he was a child, Asente said the summer festival has been a constant in his life. As a member of the nonprofit group, he said he’s been there as a vendor since 2016.

“In a place like Youngstown, where we’re in a point in our development, where we’re trying to shift away from manufacturing and industry that defined us for so long, I think arts and culture is really the way that we go about doing that. I think other cities, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, had a really strong art scene. And that’s really what brings people into the city,” he said, suggesting that art has a significant role to play in bringing opportunity to communities like Youngstown and the Greater Mahoning Valley.