By Tricia Hall
The Truth Reporter
The community gathered to celebrate both Art Tatum’s birthday, a Toledo-native and jazz pianist legend, and the renovation progress of his childhood home. The celebration was called, Art Tatum Zone annual Tatum Town Porch Fest and was held on warm and sunny Sunday, October 1, 2023 in the backyard and along the side of Art Tatum’s childhood home, located at 1123 City Park Road in Toledo. The house is located in the Junction neighborhood and remained vacant for 50 years before ATZ began the restoration project.
The Art Tatum Zone (ATZ) president and co-founder Calvin Sweeney, PhD, and executive director and co-founder Christine Sweeney, both lead pastors at The Tabernacle church, opened the celebration with greetings and gratitude.
“Thank you, to our community, for coming out to join us today. I want to say thank you to Dr. Barnett for being so community-minded and also University of Toledo Athletic Department for their partnership,” said Calvin Sweeney.
“We’re excited to have everyone here today. We’ve made so much progress on the house. There are new windows, new foundation, landscaping and leveling of the yard, new fence, and new doors. The community can truly see this place coming together. Now we are concentrating our efforts on the interior and the creation of a museum,” shared Christine Sweeney.
Two of the early neighborhood partners, Jones Leadership Academy and the University of Toledo Athletic Department, have provided key services that moved the renovation project forward. Representatives from both organizations were on-hand to unveil a plaque to honor those contributions. Jones Leadership Academy partnered with Toledo Arts Commission of Greater Toledo to create panels to cover space where new windows would be installed, and the University of Toledo Athletic Department completed a different project by planting seeds on the property.
“The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, especially Megan Richardson, worked with our students after school to create a template, work out the color scheme and make the design that you see here. The students added all of the colors to the panels,” said Ward Barnett, EdD, Jones Leadership Academy principal.
The Porch Fest continued with various entertainers, jazz performers and other artists including: Mike Williams, Rocky Steady Band, H-Factor, and Gregory Buchannan Jr. The festival included food vendors, a health clinic that provided screening and tips, and also the Toledo Museum of Art which sponsored a children’s art station, glass blowing and assorted demonstrations.
According to the sign posted on the property, ATZ’s Art Tatum House Restoration project is in partnership with ProMedica, EverDry WaterProofing, Transition Design Studio and City of Perrysburg.
