Downtown Revitalization in Steubenville, Ohio - Mini Doc #130

When Sarita Asawa moved to Steubenville, Ohio, it was in a dire state. Now, she is the executive director of the Harmonium Project — a collection of people who are passionate about the city and want to help revitalize downtown through arts a culture.

"I've seen a shift in attitudes," she shares. "People seeing a glimmer of hope that maybe we can come back, maybe we can be different, maybe we can be a fun city again."

Connect with us on social media!

---
Meet Sarita: Downtown Revitalizer

Sarita Asawa: When I first moved here, probably one of the first things anyone ever told me was, “Don’t go downtown; you’ll get shot” — and I believed them. And if you had told me that I was going to be taking my kids to downtown Steubenville on Fourth Street and hanging out with them every month, I would have laughed in your face because there was no way I was going to do something like that. Night and day difference.

Steubenville, Ohio

I mean, at one point, Steubenville was in its heyday. It was considered “Little Chicago.” At that point, thanks to the steel mills, the city was booming, but when the steel mills started to close, people started leaving, the revenue dropped. And when I moved to Steubenville, it was definitely in the middle of the tired, dying steel-mill town.

The Harmonium Project is just a collection of people that are passionate about the city that want to help revitalize the downtown through arts and culture. And mainly, our primary event right now is First Fridays on Fourth — basically, a community-building event where all of the community can get together and where you can meet your neighbors, where you can have great food, you can have a great beer, and all of it’s local. And we want to help encourage business in the downtown.

For the first First Friday, we said let’s throw some sort of art/music thing, and maybe a couple hundred people will show up if we’re lucky. We advertised it, and we ran out of beer twice, we ran out of cups twice — over a thousand people showed up. And we were absolutely flabbergasted because it was not what we expected. It’ll take me close to an hour-and-a-half to walk two city blocks because as I’m walking, I run into everyone I know. Everyone from my dentist to the priest to the pastors — they’re all here. And you get a chance to just have brief conversations as you walk down, and it takes forever but it’s wonderful.

I’ve seen a shift in attitudes and not just my own. People are seeing a glimmer of hope that maybe we can come back. Maybe we can be different. Maybe we can be a fun city again. But the Harmonium’s not the savior of Steubenville — we’re doing this for and with the community. And I think that’s the only reason it succeeded. It’s not the Harmonium Project. This is Steubenville.

[semperfidelis]

Thanks for caring, Steubenville was a great place to grow up in the 60’-70’s nothing but very good and fond memories of a great cultural melting pot. What it has become is heartbreaking, but real life sometimes punches a town in the face.

[therifleman]

I lived there and around the panhandle for 25 yrs. I now live in South Carolina. I still love that city and area!

[rachelhilliard]

That wasn't the only rapes that happened there. I was walking downtown when I was 14 and 3 men grabbed me took me to a house where there where other guy. I was badly beaten and raped. They kept me for a week. I was finally able to get away. I was beaten so bad the nurses at the hospital cried. Nothing was done to them. Even though I took the police to the house and identified a few of them from a book. Sad how it took the football players case to shine a light on the police in that town.

[queenslander]

learnt about Steubenville from Nick Torches book on Dino, painted a interesting picture of the town .. but hey, it looks great now .. cool video 👌

[eliseolopez]

Steubenville Ohio i will give you joy without end

[garyreynard]

This is glamorized. Not to mention that who ever not her not to go downtown or she would get shot must not be from there . The hill tops are where you get shot !

[eliseolopez]

You are my race for humanity is one race the wonders of the world my heart is eager to give you my pain turns into tears i love you so much

[brentoncode]

I would have laughed in the people's face for telling me not to go to Downtown Steubenville because I would get shot.

[PokeTube]

Steubenville downtown is still shitty. 4th street is the only street they’re revitalizing. They aren’t building anything new on any of the other streets. It’s too late these days. Trust me, I’m a resident of Steubenville. Market Street is still full of abandoned buildings, no one is going to buy them. First Friday is not working to bring things downtown. The only new thing downtown is the truck stop.

[brentoncode]

I've been to Downtown Steubenville and it's about 5 blocks long. What is there to be afraid of when it comes to mingling in a downtown of a city whose downtown is that small? If she would have moved to somewhere like Youngstown, Cleveland, or even Pittsburgh which is closer I would have believed her. But don't try to make it seem like Steubenville which only has a population of under 20000 is much dangerous than what it really is.