Valley City Firefighters' Association to host 90th annual street fair fundraiser this weekend

LIVERPOOL TWP. — The 90th annual Valley City Street Fair will take place Friday through Sunday and feature live music, contests, bingo and an auction. A new element of this year's street fair is performances by middle school and high school aged kids who are part of the Rock Academy. Sugar Rush, Luminescence, Running with Scissors and Double Helix will perform a range of genres like Top-40 pop, classic rock and metal from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Brad Gendics, who owns Ron Zehel Guitar Center of Avon Lake, came up with the idea for the Rock Academy when he saw students playing in the High School Rock Off at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame about 10 years ago. "What we do is we put students in bands, and we have a one-hour rehearsal a week right here at the guitar center," he said. "We teach them how to play in a band, get the vocals down, get the band tight, put a song list together, get gigs and set up equipment." Another part of the street fair is the Arthur E. Schumacher Memorial Scholarship 5K run and 1-mile walk, which will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters' Association President Kevin Laux said funds from the race will go into a scholarship fund that the association restarted for its firefighters. "The first couple 5Ks we're doing is to build the scholarship fund back up to where we need it," he said. "Then we're going to open the scholarship fund up for our firefighters, which gives them the opportunity to advance their careers at paramedic school, fire school or fire officer school." This year's street fair has the following schedule: Street fair opens with the national anthem by the Buckeye High School Marching Band, flag raising by the Valley City Veterans of Foreign Wars, a Cleveland Metro Life Flight flyover and bouncy houses open at 6 p.m. Friday. Bingo from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Caliber Band performance from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. Bouncy houses open at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Cornhole registration begins at noon on Saturday, with the tournament starting at 1 p.m. Pizza eating contest sign-ups at 4 p.m. Saturday with the contest starting at 4:30 p.m. Live auction at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Breakfast Club performance from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Water fight sign-ups at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, with the water fight starting at 11 a.m. Kids big wheel race sign-ups at 12:30 p.m. Sunday with the race at 12:45 p.m. Kids tractor pull sign-ups at 1:15 p.m. Sunday and the tractor pull at 1:45 p.m. Watermelon eating contest sign-ups at 3 p.m. Sunday and contest at 3:30 p.m. Pie-eating contest sign-ups at 4 p.m. Sunday with the contest at 4:30 p.m. BackTrack performance from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Weekend 50/50 drawing and SCAG lawn mower drawing at 10 p.m. Sunday "It's all about bringing the community together," Laux said. "If you come down to the street fair, you can see that it is community members packed shoulder to shoulder, having fun, listening to music, playing games and supporting the local fire department." The street fair is the firefighters' association's biggest fundraiser, and funds will go toward helping the department, he said. Donations are still being accepted for the live auction, and those who are interested can call the fire station at (330) 483-3811. Laux said the street fair also builds trust with the community. "When someone calls 911, it's the worst day of their life," he said. "They don't want to be meeting someone for the first time on the worst day of their life. You build trust with your fire department and know who they are by coming down and supporting the fundraisers for the fire department." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.