How to go
What: Rockin’ for a Reason
When: 2 p.m. today
Where: Governor’s Square park, Central Avenue and Broad Street, Middletown
Cost: Free
MIDDLETOWN — The Broad Street Bash rocks on every other Wednesday to give area residents a downtown party just for fun. Today, a new show joins the Bash called Rockin’ for a Reason.
The concert serves as kind of a thank-you present to hundreds of kids who have worked the past two days helping local residents in various ways. Working on behalf of SELF (Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families), the kids have helped with such tasks as cleaning out gutters and interior painting at residences throughout the area.
So the thank-you present the kids will get will be a “bash before the Bash,” as Adriane Scherrer of the We-Can Business Incubator called it.
The first group will be the Wee Can Sing Too choir from the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Also in the lineup are kids from Summer Youth Theatre, playing scenes from their upcoming show “Seussical” and a group called the Josh Mack Band.
The home repair project was part of a national effort called the Group Works Camp Project. Administered locally by SELF, the kids working in Southwest Ohio came from as far away as Virginia and Connecticut, said Jeffrey Diver, the executive director of SELF.
And they’ve been doing it in the sweltering heat to boot.
“They’re truly operating with their faith,” said Jeffrey Diver, the executive director of SELF. “They’ve been on top of metal roofs painting them.
Even before the heat wave struck, Scherrer set about finding some kind of reward for the kids, so she came up with this show.
“When we think kids don’t care, these kids do something spectacular,” Scherrer said.
The regular Broad Street Bash will follow at 5:30 p.m. featuring Stagger Lee. Beer will not be served during the Rockin’ for a Reason show, but will be served during the Bash as usual.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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