August 26, 2015 — Downtown Lorain will become the stage for sizzling fire and arts performances and installations set to the rhythms of local and world musicians in the first annual FireFish Festival on Saturday, September 26 from 4 pm to 10 pm. Bringing vibrancy and artistic sensibility to downtown Lorain, FireFish will shine a light on the city's organic beauty, its majestic classic architecture, industrial heritage as well as its long history of support of the arts.

The free festival will present music, dance, theatre, magic and art in unexpected places - from the hidden alleys, empty storefronts and an abandoned parking deck on Broadway Avenue to the back of several firetrucks! Young artists from the FireFish502 Summer Youth Art Program collaborating with local artists like Ann Bort, Helen Wald and Daniel McNamara will create the centerpiece of the festival - a giant fish sculpture that comes to life spewing fire. With highlights including alley opera with the Great Lakes Light Opera; fire art, fire dance, fire eating, and fire juggling by fire performers including Ohio Burn Unit; a dramatic primordial procession of fire and dance; and the world premiere of the newly launched Cleveland Cabaret Project, FireFish will transform Lorain's downtown urban landscape into an fiery and exciting artistic experience that will engage all of the senses.

According to Executive Director James Levin, "The FireFish Festival will provide a glimpse of what is possible in the reimagining of downtown Lorain. Similar to what Public Theatre brought to Gordon Square and what the Ingenuity Festival brought to East 4th Street, this Festival will be the impetus for the reinvention of Lorain as a dynamic, artistic mecca. By bringing together local and regional visual, performing, and installation artists, some experimenting with the forms of fire in their art, presented in places that you may not expect, we hope to create an unforgettable one-of-a-kind arts festival that will attract thousands of new visitors to this Northeastern Ohio hidden gem on the water."

Says Joan Perch, founder of FireFish Arts and Gallery Coordinator at Lorain County Community College's , "FireFish is an exciting next step in our mission to enhance the revitalization/economic development in downtown Lorain, and ultimately impacting Lorain County. The festival will ignite downtown Lorain with high quality local, regional and international-caliber fire and arts performances and installations. Attracting thousands of attendees from around the region to downtown Lorain, this event will bring people of all ages and backgrounds together in celebrating our community and generating excitement about the potential of our beautiful venues like the Palace, our waterways, and our parks."

Executive and Artistic Director James Levin has a well-deserved reputation for developing high quality and innovative arts festivals and programming with a history of engendering economic and community impact. These include the Cleveland World Festival, Cleveland's Ingenuity Festival, the Wooster Jam Arts and Music Festival, Cleveland Public Theatre, and the Gordon Square Arts District.

"We are so fortunate that James is as excited about the potential of FireFish as we are," continues Joan Perch. "I have known and worked with James over the years, and was thrilled that he was interested in this Festival when we approached him. We didn't know then that he also has roots in Lorain and Lorain County. It was the home of his grandparents and an extended family, and he spent lots of time growing up right here in Lorain and Lorain County."

FireFish is the extension of Follow the Fish Art and Adventure Trail, Lorain County's first county-wide public arts project launched in May 2013 with the sponsorship of 87 artists who created fish placed in nine municipalities. This support sparked the launch of a series of artSHops organized by Follow the Fish across Lorain County in the summer of 2014. Artists, arts vendors, food trucks, and arts activities enlivened parks and public spaces, urban vstreetscapes, storefronts and sidewalks; connecting these places and communities to each other. Further collaboration between individuals and groups across Lorain County contributed to the installation of ECO ART: WATER, a large-scale public art installation at the Lorain Port Authority designed and created by Follow the Fish member artists Jim Gundlach and Ann Bort. All inspired the FireFish Festival!

The FireFish Festival is grateful for its Presenting Sponsor First Energy Foundation and for additional sponsorships from the Stocker Arts Center, , , , Ohio Arts Council, , , , , , , and .