5chw4r7z:: the ethos of downtown Cincinnati

It just so happened I was home in Youngstown the same day they held The Youngstown Flea. I thought it would be a good opportunity to see what the scene is and maybe compare and contrast where Cincinnati's Flea is and has been.
Its easy to forget just where OTR was back in 2011, a few buildings away from losing 50% of its historic building stock, Japp's had just reopened and Vine St was still a long ways from where it is today. OTR and the Flea have come a long way since then.
Now, the Youngstown Flea is only in its first year and second event and still have growing to do. They had a healthy mix of vendors, food trucks and attendees. The two things they could probably address right away would be finding a grass lot, and a beer truck to loosen up wallets.
The other glaring issue, which is a Youngstown problem city wide is there are no businesses near the lot the flea was held. At it's core, a flea is about place making, and that place is important, it should feed foot traffic to existing businesses. But if there is no there there, some effort is wasted. I'm just trying to offer some constructive criticism. Everything else I saw I liked, everyone was super friendly and engaging. And for only the second event I would think the organizers have to like where they are.