ASHLAND — Ashland Main Street’s back-to-school event will hit Downtown Ashland again this year.
The event is slated for Aug. 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. along Main Street, from Claremont Avenue to Center Street where there will be vendors, games, free haircuts and food.
The “Back-2-School Celebration” also doubles as a way for kids to get one of 1,000 free backpacks that were stuffed earlier this month with classroom essentials at United Way’s Stuff the Bus event.
“Last year we had around 750 backpacks,” said Sandra Hedlund Tunnell, director of Ashland Main Street.
She said the organization ran out of backpacks and food last year.
“It’s gotten bigger and so hopefully we can help more kids in the community,” Tunnell said.
She said there are more vendors, more people giving free haircuts and more sponsors involved — such as South Street Grille providing food and kitchen space this year and Substance Church handing out snack boxes.
There will also be a QR code to scan ahead of this year’s celebration, a move Tunnell hopes will cut down on time needed for registration.
“There were three entry points and the lines were just crazy,” she said, adding registration is only to keep track of how many students are helped. “So we’re trying to streamline this year.”
To register, click here.
The following dates account for the first day of instruction for school districts across the county. For more information, click on each district’s link:
• Aug. 17: Mapleton Local School District
• Aug. 17, 18, 23: Crestview Local Schools
• Aug. 23: Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools
• Aug. 22: Ashland City Schools
• Aug. 30: Black River Local Schools
• Aug. 30: Hillsdale Local School District
