Booster Link: Alliance boosters to do downtown cleanup

Laura Kessel | Review Editor

Chrystal Robinson-Shoforth is focused on downtown Alliance.

Shoforth, formerly attached to Jupiter Studios in that area of the city, now is working to tell Alliance's history while also helping to attract and boost area artists.

As part of her efforts, Shoforth is working on a documentary sparked when she "became obsessed with the history and beauty within Alliance's decayed downtown about six years ago."

While working on the documentary, she is searching for the proper building for an art gallery all her own.

"It began as a documentary highlighting the history and future of downtown Alliance and has now expanded due to the massive amount of community members interested in being interviewed," she said. "It has been expanded to be a full 12-episode reality documentary series. The documentary is funded in part through the Ohio Arts Council Artists with Disabilities Access grant."

She hopes the documentary will be released next year.

Shoforth also wants to promote more art pieces that dot the landscape of East Main Street and its side streets.

"I see downtown Alliance as a beautiful piece of our history, an empty canvas waiting to be painted by the people of our community," she said. "We just need someone to bring them together and show them how important our history is and how it can impact our future. I am trying to do that with the documentary and series of community projects in 2021."

One project in 2020 will be happening Friday, when Shoforth has asked area residents to help her perform a cleanup of East Main and its alleys, hoping to eliminate trash and unsightly overgrowth in advance of filming.

Shoforth and her company, GhostRighterz Artists Services, will join with workers from Pocket Change Antique Mall, 426 E. Main St., which she said is supplying trash containers, garbage bags, rakes and pizza, and work through the downtown area to clean up in the alleys and throughout the area.

Volunteers will gather at 11 a.m.

Alliance Mayor Alan Andreani is happy to get the help.

“We are always grateful for citizens volunteering to help our city," he said. "Our Keep Alliance Beautiful Director Marti Steiner does an excellent job of removing litter from our downtown area while she is watering the planters on Main Street. She is always very appreciative for help in maintaining Alliance litter free.”

Ed Albert, owner of Pocket Change, got involved because Shoforth's activities match his own dreams for downtown Alliance. He moved his business from College Plaza on State Street to downtown, as part of his efforts to help lead a revitalization of the city's center.

Pocket Change moved into the former Mountain of the Lord International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

"When I moved there, I invited business owners in downtown to dinner," Albert said of an evening he hosted in his shop.

The dinner spawned a group of downtown business owners who began meeting once a month to work on business plans for the downtown area and develop events to bring people into the area.

That was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans that had been made for this year have been rescheduled to 2021, including car shows and events that Albert said have vendors from southern Ohio set to take part.

The 1994 graduate of Marlington High School said he follows his father Steve's memories of what downtown was like years ago, and hopes he and other caring individuals such as Shoforth can spark a resurgence.

The group has set up a Facebook page called Beautiful Historic Downtown Alliance, where events and other plans will be updated. He said his own business is an ode to the past, with items such as a soda jerk counter and the old East Canton Post Office wall set up inside.

He said soon he'll be touting the downtown with a vintage 1961 Chevrolet Apache pickup that will be detailed at a shop in Canton.

"It'll say 'Follow me to downtown Alliance,'" he added with a laugh.

Shoforth's past efforts have followed this same script, working to help boost community members and ensure a high quality of life.

She and some friends, including Jackie Bertolette, CEO of Haute Ohio Magazine, created FashionAlliance Project, which initially worked to help girls attending Alliance High School's senior prom have a top-notch experience with help on hair, nails and makeup, in addition to working with the school district to start a dress collection.

"FashionAlliance Project's mission is to make the arts and fashion accessible to underrepresented and economically challenged communities across Ohio," Shoforth said this week. "We aim to advocate and encourage inclusion in the fashion and arts industries for all people through the power of art, encouraging an alliance within the Ohio arts community."

As the era of COVID has impacted Shoforth's ability to stage events locally, it has affected her family as well. Her husband's business, MoonShineQ Smoked Meats, has officially gone mobile, popping up at businesses around the area. She said the truck will be at Buzzbin in downtown Canton on Nov. 7 for an event she's planning there called Love Ohio Stages. Details will be forthcoming.

Until then, her attention is focused in downtown Alliance and working to create a place where everyone can see the beauty she hopes will lure more business and foot traffic.

"I can relate to the abandoned buildings," she said. "Just as those buildings are beautifully damaged, so am I. As my body fights disease and falls down, I cannot stop my body's deterioration, but I can bring people together to stop these buildings from falling down and see downtown thrive during my lifetime."

"I want to give the world a look at this special town that has adopted me, with no discrimination and open arms, give the world a look at a town that gave me a chance to begin my art career, a town that became my passion. I want to give the world a look at the inside of a small town, a small town with special artists, musicians and amazing people and history, who have become my community. I want to show the world a look at Alliance through the eyes of the artists and musicians."

Shoforth said she's eager to have more people join the team, and urges those interested to reach out at mystikchrystal@hotmail.com. She also will be featured in an Oct. 30 event at The Cleveland Symposium of Art at Case Western Reserve University. She'll discuss art and her activism via a Zoom conference. To view the event, contact Katie DiDomenico or Mackenzie Clark at clevelandsymposium@gmail.com.