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The Power And Light Of Dow Thomas

January 19, 2012 By J.T. Ryder Leave a Comment

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Dayton And The World Loses A Comedy Icon

 

Dow Thomas: Comedian & Musician 1953-2012

Sifting through scattered memories, most of which are second hand recollections that occurred before my time, I find myself overwhelmed by a life lived with a manic exuberance. I found out about comedian Dow Thomas’ passing from a friend and regular customer of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub who called to inform me of the news. I stayed up until around 2:00am poring over the condolences that poured out from all over the country, cascading down from Dow’s Facebook page and other social media outlets. I looked through pictures that I had of Dow, read through transcripts from interviews I had done with him and reflected on conversations that we had had in the past. While many around me knew Dow longer and were closer friends than he and I were, Dow possessed the ability to make you feel that you were the only one in the room. Even during performances where there were a hundred or more people in the room, he made you feel as if you were within his inner circle, that this was an intimate gathering of friends and not just a group of people watching a performance. Even beyond his unerring talent and exuberant imagination, this was his true gift.

Born in Chillicothe and raised in the Akron/Cleveland area, Dow moved to the Dayton area in 1971 to attend Wright State as a theater major, a fitting field of study for someone who had been familiar with the stage for much of his youth. Even though Dow was not a native ofDayton, he embraced the area with the fervor that a lifelong resident should have.

“I didn’t originally come from Dayton. I just kind of adopted the city in 1971. I moved to the area to go to Wright State and I just stayed.” Dow said during one of our conversations. “I ended up living in downtown Dayton. I used to hang out at the Arcade a lot there. I’m a downtown kind of guy.”

Dow Thomas as Cléante in Molière’s Tartuffe

Dow was very active in the drama department while at Wright State, performing in several theater productions, such as Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet and a pair of Molière’s plays; That Scoundrel Scapin and as Cléante in Tartuffe. In the latter drama, he caught the eye of a fellow student, Rob Haney, which signaled the beginning to a lifelong friendship.

As his hair grew, so did Dow’s creative yearnings. He began playing music around town, playing at venues that are but a mere memory to most Daytonians.

“I started my shows at the Upper Krust on North Main St. for ten dollars a day. I liked being up on North Main because I liked to go to shows and Gilly’s used to be up on North Main and there was also The Tropics and Suttmiller’s, which was fun for me to go see supper club type comedians like Jerry Van Dyke or Pete Barbutti and those kind of guys.”

Even though many venues and stages were opening themselves up to Dow’s music and acting, this was still not enough to contain Dow’s imaginative energies. He started sneaking his oddly skewed humor into his songs and banter with the audience.

A poster from 1972 for the Upper Krust

“I was actually doing comedy in 1972, but at that time there weren’t any comedy clubs, so I was just doing comedy along with music. I would get hired as a musician/entertainer and just add in the comedy in between songs.” Dow reflected. “I would always put on masks and stuff…I just can’t help myself from clowning around. I’d have the gig and eventually I had bands, but when I clowned around, everyone clowned around with me. What was always part of the show was me being stupid. It was what I said in between songs and me ruining songs, like singing like a dog and getting a ‘bark along’ going.”

In those days, you may have seen Dow tooling around town in his hearse, decked out like a Bohemian undertaker, black clad and sporting his ubiquitous top hat, running from gig to gig. He played with Astrid Socrates for seven years (creatively billed as Astrid & Dow) as well as drummer Doug Buchanan Tim McKenzie on lead guitar during yet another incarnation of his ingenuity. He was a featured act at The Trolley Stop, Clancy’s, the Iron Boar and Bogey’s.

Comics don’t need to spend actual time together to feel like brethren or family.  We are constantly accruing that common experience that instantly bonds us all separately and continually.  But, few of us are as pure, kind, original, and superbly funny as Uncle Dow.  I feel forever indebted to him for making it possible for me to ever start and I know that anyone who knew him feels like they, too are some of the luckiest people alive.  Uncle Dow made people laugh, but even more so he made them feel alive and always made them smile. ~Ryan Singer

“I’ll never forget the day Dow Thomas and my path crossed. I was part owner of a night club called Bogey’s onWatervliet Ave. in Dayton when Dow and Jeffro stopped in after buying guitar strings at Ace Music.” Mike Adams reminisced recently. “Things weren’t going very well at the bar and we couldn’t afford a barmaid or a cook so I was working. Dow Thomas ordered two drinks and asked for a menu and ordered a sandwich. Upon serving him he asked who owned the place and I confessed. He asked how things were going and I said not to well. He said he could tell. He asked if I had ever heard of Dow Thomas and I said yes but had never seen him and he told me I was talking to him. He offered to do a show one night a week for free as long as I didn’t interfere with him trying new material. I lost a lot of money owning that bar but memories like this makes the money seem irrelevant.”

Dow also frequently played in a bar onPatterson Road called the Iron Boar and becoming steadfast friends with the owners, Dan and Jodi Lafferty.

“We used to do a Gong Show at the Iron Boar and it was fun because we’d have some guy come up and go, ‘I’m going to do my imitation of a lobster’ and we’d go, ‘Good!’  So he’d put claws on and hop around like a freak…it was just so stupid!” Dow began chuckling to himself on the phone before going on. “I used to do a thing called Punt The Fish and I’d yell out, ‘It’s time to…’ the audience would scream, ‘Punt the Fish!’ I had this rubber fish and audience members would come up and kick this fish and we’d measure it off with toilet paper and the one who kicked it the farthest won. One night I had this woman up on stage and she kicked the fish and it went into the propeller of the ceiling fan and came back and smacked me in the face. Everybody was just laughing and I stood up and screamed, ‘Disqualified!’ It was all just so stupid, but you’ll never be able to have a moment like that ever again.”

In ’91 when I took over Jokers Comedy Café, Dow was running the open mic night.  I’d never heard of Dow and looking at this man in a black trench coat and top hat, I have to admit my first impression was not great-   he’s gonna be dark and sarcastic and egotistical, I thought.  I could not have been more wrong!  Dow loved being on stage and his joy radiated through the crowd. He would have an audience pounding their table to Power & Light, and tossing paper plates across the room as he sang Sail Cats. ~Lisa Grigsby

The comedy began usurping the music and Dan Lafferty began booking ventriloquists, jugglers and other oddball acts to fill out the shows.

“I used to have people like Jay Haverstick, who owned Jay’s Seafood, he would come and see my shows. So would Mike Peters. They would be out late at night and they would just say, ‘Hey! Let’s go and see what crazy Dow is doing!’” Dow said during another conversation. He went on, describing another huge change that was bout to occur in his life. “But there wasn’t a comedy club, so I left forL.A.I gave them (the Lafferty’s) a one year’s notice (laughing) and said, ‘In a year, I’m going toL.A.’ and that’s when we turned it into a comedy club.”

Eventually, the Lafferty’s decided to change not only the whole format of the club to comedy, but the name itself. In an unexplainable instance where someone could legitimately name a comedy club Lafferty’s, Dan decided to use his nickname instead, dubbing the newly restructured club Wiley’s.

Dow, true to his word, eventually left forLa-LaLand, seeking his fame and fortune, both of which proved to be elusive in the land of silicone and sunshine. He found that the venues that were available to him were less than conducive to his creative talents. At one point, he found himself doing sets between bouts at a boxing match and, towards his triumphant return toDayton, he was unceremoniously replaced with disco music at a Newport Beachclub. Yet the comedy scene was heating up nationally and Dow was riding the cusp of this chaotic wave. The shows were not the structured tight sets that we witness now in the clubs, but were given to more improvisational melees and surprise guests.

“There were these guys like Rich Purpura, who was a comedy/magician, and Tim Walko, a guitarist, and they were both fromChicago. We’d do a show, just packing the place, but at the end, we’d just get up there and jam and kept the show going and clown around with each other.” Dow said. “By then, we were just trying to make each other laugh, and that’s what the audience liked. It was kind of like. It was kind of like having the Rat Pack or something. It was that kind of feel, where everybody’s in the groove. Back then I could have Emo Philips come in and do twenty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. Then maybe Judy Tenuta would come in and do twenty to thirty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. For me, I thought it should go on all night.”

Rob Haney

Another person that benefitted from the burgeoning comedy scene was Rob Haney, a newly touring comic and future owner of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub.

“Rob Haney came up to me one time and said, ‘Can I get up and do some time? I just got back from The Comedy Store.’ He had just done some showcasing there…which surprised me because Rob was a bouncer in a bar I used to work at.” Dow recalled that, “When I first met him, he was a doorman at a place called The Bar inWest Carrollton. It was a rough little joint that ended up being Omar’s for a while. It was an old basement bar and the family that owned it was pretty rugged. I actually had guns pulled on me in that bar. I’ve seen him mace guys and throw guys out…he’s a pretty tough guy. He had like shoulder length hair at the time and pretty well built, so it was a different Rob Haney that came up to me with short hair and asked if he could do like twenty minutes and I said, ‘Sure!’ I let him up at the Trolley Stop and I had a gig there like six nights a week…it was crazy.”

Another iconic staple of the Miami Valley that Dow had a huge role in was with his friend Dr. Creep (Barry Hobart) and Shock Theater. The inception of Shock Theater was supposed to be actually scary, as an accompaniment to the B-rated horror flicks that they screened, but the campy ineptness and irrepressible humor of Dr. Creep and the people that worked on the show quickly made the show a campy carnival for all of those late night viewers.

“I ended up getting on just about every television show in Dayton, but I got with Dr. Creep in the late seventies when it was called Saturday Night Dead because they had him on after Saturday Night Live, so it was kind of a neat spot.” Dow went on to say, “So I wrote The Ballad of Dr. Creep and went on there with my girlfriend at the time, Astrid Socrates and also with a bunch of my friends and we did skits.”

Barry Hobart (Dr. Creep) And Dow

“You know, what’s funny about that whole thing is that they became the number one, locally produced television show while I was writing for them. They would go, ‘Okay, we’re showing Dracula: Prince of Darkness’ and we made up the Bat Photo Studio and all of the prints would come out really dark, and customer’s would comment, ‘Wow! These prints are really dark!’ and I’d go, ‘Well, I am Dracula: Prints of Darkness! Sometimes I accidently cut their heads off!’ and I’d hold up a severed head. It was just stupid stuff like that.” With a tinge of regret, Dow added, “Of course, Joe Smith said, ‘No, you can’t do this and you can’t do that.’ He was an integral part of the studio there, so I got censored quite a bit and got into a little bit of trouble. I remember John Riggi and I getting yelled at because we changed the weather map one time. We got up there and started putting a bunch of tornados around Xenia…they were just little magnetized things back in those days. We were hippies in a studio that had rules.”

Dow played some forty different clubs in the MiamiValley the years that he was here and developed a huge fan base locally as well as in other cities that he performed in. In 1997, he moved to Florida with his wife Kay and they took up residence at some of the local clubs near their new home. Even after his departure, Dow was voted Dayton’s Best Comedian for two year’s running. He would still make frequent sojourns to Ohio, usually performing at Wiley’s one to two times a year, creating comedic chaos with his skewed humor and especially with his song Sailcats, in which he would cajole the audience into throwing paper plates in lieu of flattened kittens as the song implied. The staff would usually find the last paper plate stuck in the rafter shortly before Dow’s next scheduled appearance.

Dow Thomas At Dirty Little Secret Sanitarium Show

I contacted Dow in February of 2011 to ask if he would perform at my upcoming Dirty Little Secret Sanitarium show in May. He was eager to do the show because of the variety aspect of the event, but was reluctant in some ways, feeling that it would be a conflict of interests with his Wiley’s appearances. Rob Haney assured him that there would be no conflict and he agreed to do the show. That evening became an impromptu reunion of sorts in honor of Dr. Creep as not only had Dow worked closely with him, but so had some of the other performers slated for that evening. Thomas Nealeigh from FreakShow Deluxe had worked with Dr. Creep as had A. Ghastlee Ghoul. Our emcee for the evening was Dr. Creep’s protégé  Baron Von Pork Shop and some of the members of Team Void had recorded music for Shock Theater’s DVD’s. Dow had a blast at the show and had garnered yet a few more fans for his cult of comedy.

I contacted him again this past December to see if he wanted to be part of the Dirty Little Secrets Sick Of Santa Show and he readily agreed. We spent the rest of the conversation talking about old horror movies and other trivialities. On the night of the show, December 28th, 2011, his wife Kay showed up at the club saying that Dow was really sick and would be unable to perform. Seeing the look on her face and knowing Dow’s penchant for performing, I knew then that it was ore serious than she was letting on. The next evening, Dow arrived at Wiley’s to do his Thursday night set and we could all tell that something was wrong. The current owner, Rob Haney, and other staff and friends finally convinced Dow he needed to seek medical attention. He was admitted toMiamiValleyHospital and, two days later was released. He performed the New Year’s Eve show as well as the shows the following week.

His last show on January 7th, 2012 was astounding. Offstage, he seemed somewhat fragile, but as soon as he was on stage, that glimmer came into his eyes and the casual smirk shown across his face. He performed Sailcats and wheedled the audience into throwing the paper plates once again, daring any one of them to land one of them on his top hat. It was a picture perfect performance where someone actually landed a paper plate onto his top hat. The show ended with a standing ovation for our Uncle Dow, with audience members shouting out their approval and appreciation for Dow’s show.

After the show, Dow was surrounded by family and friends, well wishers and fans. It was the way of Dow: that feeling that you just needed to be near him and everything would be alright. You would be safely ensconced in his world.

Shortly after returning to Akron, Dow was hospitalized. He died January 18th, 2012. The outpouring of condolences and memories was immediate and Dow’s Facebook page became a makeshift memorial for a legion of stunned fans and friends to share their grief as well as their memories.

I think now of the boarded up Upper Crust, the warped wooden floors of the Trolley Stop, the comfortably worn carpet of the Wiley’s stage and I can hear the clank of glasses against the cascading laughter and see Dow with a mischievous gleam in his eyes as he dons a mask and unleashes a dialogue of absurdity in the voice of Lon Chaney. I can see him on stage doing what he did best: fashioning a world without limits, pushing the envelope until it bent and combining chords to nonsensical songs that bring laughter to all who are compelled to bang their glasses on the table and sing along. I see him smile down from the stage wearing a paper plate atop his felted hat, an improvised halo for our imaginative jester.

Read my previous article from 12/2010 – “Dow-Town Dayton”

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Filed Under: Comedy, The Featured Articles Tagged With: Clancy's Bogie's, comedian, Comedy, comic, Dan Lafferty, Dayton Music, death, Dow Thomas, Dr. Creep, guitar, Iron Boar, Jodi Lafferty, Jokers, obituary, passing, Rob Haney, Sailcats, Shock Theater, trolley stop, Wiley's Comedy Niteclub

About J.T. Ryder

"There is nothing that can be said about me that hasn't already been said about Britney Spears' mommy parts: I'm bald, scarred and crave an inordinate amount of attention. I have no clue what to say about myself. There are times when I would write something humorous, wherein you would have little or no idea about my motives or personality, and yet there are other times when I would write something so personal that you may turn away. I really have no illusions, personally, as to the type of person I am, but no one person who has ever met me has seen more than a few facets at any one given time, therefore, opinions differ greatly as to who I actually am."

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Free
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8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Q+ Card Supports Area LGBTQ+ Youth Center

June 3 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Q+ Card Supports Area LGBTQ+ Youth Center

Q+ Youth Center in Dayton is run by a group of volunteers dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive space...

12:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Schmidt’s Sausage Truck

June 3 @ 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Schmidt’s Sausage Truck

2:30 pm - 9:30 pm Recurring

Bargain Tuesday: $6.50 Movie Day

June 3 @ 2:30 pm - 9:30 pm Recurring

Bargain Tuesday: $6.50 Movie Day

Tuesday at the Neon in Downtown Dayton movies are just $6.50

$6.50
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Cloud Park Food Truck Rally

June 3 @ 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Cloud Park Food Truck Rally

Get ready for a delicious summer in Huber Heights! Join us every other Tuesday starting May 6th through September 9th...

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

The Little Exchange Summer Kickoff Party!

June 3 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

The Little Exchange Summer Kickoff Party!

Join us for an evening of summer fun, food, and shopping on Park Avenue at The Little Exchange Summer Kickoff...

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Yoga for You with YaYa Yoga

June 3 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Yoga for You with YaYa Yoga

Basic Yoga Class-Yaya Yoga is a space where community, self-care, and personal growth come together through the practice and principles...

6:30 pm

Summer In The Valley Wine Dinner

June 3 @ 6:30 pm

Summer In The Valley Wine Dinner

There’s nothing quite like the magic of a summer evening in Napa or Sonoma Valley the golden light, rolling vineyards,...

$60
7:00 pm

Music Bingo

June 3 @ 7:00 pm

Music Bingo

Come out for a great night of Music Trivia with Dayton Pub Fun every Tuesday at Wing's Beavercreek!

+ 4 More
5:00 am - 9:00 pm

Free Wednesdays in June at the YMCA!

June 4 @ 5:00 am - 9:00 pm

Free Wednesdays in June at the YMCA!

🎉 Free Wednesdays in June at the YMCA! 🎉 No membership? No problem! Every Wednesday in June, you're invited to...

Free
9:00 am - 11:00 am

New Sheetz Grand Opening

June 4 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

New Sheetz Grand Opening

Join us Wednesday, June 4th for the grand opening celebration of Store #888! We will cut the ribbon for our...

9:45 am - 3:00 pm Recurring

ILLYS Fire Pizza

June 4 @ 9:45 am - 3:00 pm Recurring

ILLYS Fire Pizza

We are a mobile wood fired pizza company that specialize in turkey products such as Turkey pepperoni, Italian Turkey sausage,...

10:00 am - 1:00 pm Recurring

Fairborn Farmers Market

June 4 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm Recurring

Fairborn Farmers Market

The Fairborn Farmers Market was established with the intent to provide the Fairborn community access to fresh and wholesome products...

Free
11:30 am - 1:00 pm

Freakin Ricans Food Truck

June 4 @ 11:30 am - 1:00 pm

Freakin Ricans Food Truck

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Dementia Support with Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County

June 4 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Dementia Support with Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County

Dayton Metro Library is proud to host Public Health- Dayton & Montgomery County. Dementia Support is a specialized class designed...

5:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What the Taco?!

June 4 @ 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What the Taco?!

Chipotle Chicken Taco GRILLED CHICKEN, SHREDDED LETTUCE, PICO DE GALLO, CILANTRO SOUR CREAM & MONTEREY JACK $10.00 Ground Beef Taco...

5:30 pm - 8:00 pm

The Lumpia Queen

June 4 @ 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm

The Lumpia Queen

1 Lumpia Crispy Filipino Spring Rolls Perfectly hand rolled and served with Sweet Chili Sauce. Choice of ... $2.50 3...

+ 6 More
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Lebanon Farmers Market

June 5 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Lebanon Farmers Market

The Lebanon Farmers Market is open 4 pm to 7 pm every Thursday mid-May through mid-October.  We are located in...

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Thursday Night Wine Tastings at Meridien

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Thursday Night Wine Tastings at Meridien

Our reps choose a handful of great wines every week for tasting.  Purchase individual tastes or a flight.  If you...

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Grapes & Groves

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Recurring

Grapes & Groves

Join us every Thursday to Taste Wine at your own pace. Each Thursday we will have one of our highly...

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

RIP RAP FARMERS MARKET

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

RIP RAP FARMERS MARKET

We already have quite a few vendors who have said they will be there (keep reading to see some of...

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Rolling Easy

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Recurring

Rolling Easy

Mobile food trailer w/ freshly made street food: crispy wonton rolls filled with fresh ingredients, prime rib sliders, grilled cheese...

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

What The Taco?!

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

What The Taco?!

Chipotle Chicken Taco GRILLED CHICKEN, SHREDDED LETTUCE, PICO DE GALLO, CILANTRO SOUR CREAM & MONTEREY JACK $10.00 Ground Beef Taco...

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

First Thursdays Street Fair

June 5 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

First Thursdays Street Fair

We’re kicking off our summer events this Thursday, June 5, with the First Thursdays Street Fair—a great way to start...

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Sand Art Air Plant Terrarium Workshop

June 5 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Sand Art Air Plant Terrarium Workshop

Get creative and bring nature into your space with our Sand Art Air Plant Terrarium workshop! In this hands-on session,...

+ 4 More
10:30 am - 1:30 pm

ShowDogs HotDogs

June 6 @ 10:30 am - 1:30 pm

ShowDogs HotDogs

American Choice of Relish, Onion, Mustard and Ketchup $4.00 The German Kraut, Onions, Mustard $5.00 Memphis Bacon, BBQ Sauce, Cheese,...

11:30 am - 5:00 pm

Generation Dayton Day 2025

June 6 @ 11:30 am - 5:00 pm

Generation Dayton Day 2025

Join the Dayton region's largest service outing for early career professionals to "Get Out & Give Back." Each year, Generation...

12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Recurring

Sisters: A Cyanotype Series by Suzi Hyden

June 6 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Recurring

Sisters: A Cyanotype Series by Suzi Hyden

The Dayton Society of Artists is pleased to present Sisters, a cyanotype series by our member Suzi Hyden. This show...

Free
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Recurring

PEACE TALKS: DSA’s Spring Juried Exhibition

June 6 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Recurring

PEACE TALKS: DSA’s Spring Juried Exhibition

The Dayton Society of Artists (DSA) proudly presents PEACE TALKS, our annual spring juried exhibition. This timely exhibition reflects on Dayton’s...

Free
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Xenia Food Truck Rally

June 6 @ 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Xenia Food Truck Rally

4:00 pm - 10:00 pm Recurring

Cruise In at the Roadhouse

June 6 @ 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm Recurring

Cruise In at the Roadhouse

Cruise In at the Roadhouse is taking place at Rip Rap Roadhouse, which is located at 6024 Rip Rap Rd. in Huber Heights....

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

First Friday at the Dayton Arcade

June 6 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

First Friday at the Dayton Arcade

Join us this First Friday at the Dayton Arcade for an evening of local art, music, and community vibes! The...

5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

First Friday Art Hop at Art Encounters

June 6 @ 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

First Friday Art Hop at Art Encounters

Looking for something fun and inspiring to do in the city?Have an empty wall that could use a little art...

Free
+ 8 More
8:00 am - 11:00 am

Dayton Cars and Coffee

June 7 @ 8:00 am - 11:00 am

Dayton Cars and Coffee

A community of car enthusiasts and gearheads across the midwest that love to make real connections over a good cup...

Free
8:00 am - 12:00 pm Recurring

Yellow Springs Farmers Market

June 7 @ 8:00 am - 12:00 pm Recurring

Yellow Springs Farmers Market

For over 20 years this market has been made up of a hardworking group of men, women and children, dedicated...

8:30 am - 11:30 am

Kettering Summer Flea Market

June 7 @ 8:30 am - 11:30 am

Kettering Summer Flea Market

The parking lots around the Lathrem Senior Center and Adventure Reef Waterpark will be transformed into a lively outdoor market...

FREE
8:30 am - 12:00 pm Recurring

Downtown Franklin Farmers Market

June 7 @ 8:30 am - 12:00 pm Recurring

Downtown Franklin Farmers Market

Join us every Saturday through Sept 13, 8.30 a.m. - 12 p.m. for local products including fresh produce, honey/jams, and...

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Oakwood Farmers Market

June 7 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Oakwood Farmers Market

The 2025 Oakwood Farmers’ Market will be held Saturdays, June 7th thru October 11th, from 9 am until 12pm. The...

9:00 am - 1:00 pm Recurring

Greene County Farmers Market

June 7 @ 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Recurring

Greene County Farmers Market

The outdoor Farmers Market on Indian Ripple Rd. in Beavercreek runs Saturdays, 9-1 even during the winter months. Check out...

9:00 am - 5:00 pm Recurring

Ralph’s Mystery Food Truck

June 7 @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Recurring

Ralph’s Mystery Food Truck

Ralph’s Corn Dog A traditional corn dog but with Ralph’s from scratch batter recipe. Available gluten free upon re... $6.00...

10:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Sculpt with Speakeasy

June 7 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Sculpt with Speakeasy

Sculpt is a low-impact, high-intensity full body workout that combines elements of barre, pilates, and various body weight exercises. Each...

+ 23 More
8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Jewish Cultural Festival

June 8 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Jewish Cultural Festival

Temple Israel’s Jewish Cultural Festival, set for Sunday, June 8, 2025 from 11:00AM – 6:00PM opens the door to Judaism...

Free
9:00 am - 11:00 am

Running with Pride

June 8 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Running with Pride

We’re celebrating 10 Years of Running with Pride! We are incredibly thankful for our wonderful sponsors! This milestone reflects the...

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Make A Stained Glass Garden Stake

June 8 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Make A Stained Glass Garden Stake

Pick Your Project: Bunny, Cross, or Succulent Sunday, June 8, 10:00-1:00 OR 2:00-5:00 Yellow Cab Tavern: 700 East 4th Street,...

$75
10:00 am - 2:00 pm Recurring

The Grazing Ground Market

June 8 @ 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Recurring

The Grazing Ground Market

Welcome to The Grazing Ground Market, your local destination for farm-fresh eggs, seasonal produce, and handcrafted items. We take pride...

10:00 am - 6:00 pm Recurring

Ohio Valley Indigenous Music Festival

June 8 @ 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Recurring

Ohio Valley Indigenous Music Festival

Join us for a weekend of world class award winning music featuring the Native American flute. This year's performers include...

Free
11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Rally for Relief – a PTSD Awareness Food Truck Rally & Fundraiser

June 8 @ 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Rally for Relief – a PTSD Awareness Food Truck Rally & Fundraiser

Come to the VFW Post Sunday, June 8th from 1 to 4 pm for our Rally for Relief - a...

11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Bourbon on the Street

June 8 @ 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Bourbon on the Street

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Mozzarella & Mimosas

June 8 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Mozzarella & Mimosas

$30
+ 16 More
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