Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Engartner
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was in high school in 2011, and I was beginning to meet a lot of friends with common interests in music, that were in bands that were too young to play in many places at the time. During this time, I was helping clean out a store front in Boardman and I asked if I could start booking shows there until they find a new tenant, as I saw there was a need and market for an all ages concert venue. So we did that for a little over a year. The former business there was called “Backyards & Billiards” so this venue became known as the Backyards. We stopped operations there in early 2013. Years passed and I still had the itch to do it as I met so many close friends through my operation there, and for me being on the introverted side it was my form of going out. But I was venue-less, until 2015 when I heard of this opportunity with this former funeral home inside an early 20th century mansion in Youngstown and I jumped at the chance. I was attending Youngstown State University at the time so it worked out great for networking. Anyway I opened it much the same as I did the original Boardman venue; roughly one concert per month for our first several years in business. Our first concert was March 2016, and we named it The Wickyards as an homage to both the name of the original venue, and our new location on Wick Ave. As time went on you connect with bands, and attendees that come to shows and they always have unique ideas on events they want to see. I graduated from undergrad in 2019, and took pause during 2019-2021 to attend grad school at Ohio State. This was convenient timing as this was of course during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, we started hosting events again in summer 2021 and we were back better than ever. Ever since we have been doing 1-5 concerts per month, and have added so much more to our services. We offer the building as a location for photo and film shoots, paranormal investigations, comedy shows, drag shows, and miscellaneous events like our estate sale, couple’s nights, trunk or treats, birthday parties, and meetings. Biggest of all though was our Haunted Attraction in 2022 called Nine Lives. Took all year to prepare for that but it was so cool to see come together as the architecture of the building lent itself well to such an experience. It attracted nearly 700 attendees across the 8 nights and was reported on by national outlets.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not always. The first few years are rough as I was still finding my footing in the industry, and struggling to make connections, but now I can’t stop making connections! Obviously the pandemic was an obstacle, but like I said I was planning for a slow down in our operation anyway so it wasn’t the worst thing. The hardest part is definitely just doing all of it myself. I don’t have staff of any kind. I did briefly during the haunted house but that was isolated to that. I occasionally pay someone to help me with the door, or run sound but many times I’m doing both myself while serving concessions, answering questions from patrons, making sure bathrooms are clean and more. That;s just all the day of event stuff, and not even including any of the cleaning, booking or marketing. In the world of only a handful of events a month that all usually cost $5.00-$10.00 there isn’t much money to be made after I pay entertainment the vast majority, and you pair that along with utilities, property tax etc it becomes quite the effort. However I am usually able to find a few volunteers, to help me with various things from time to time and I can’t thank them enough. Working full time in addition to my responsibilities with the venue, they make my life easy!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We primarily host concerts of all genres, inside the unique ambience of an early 20th century mansion that was a former funeral home. We really sell the former funeral home side of it brand wise, as it was a funeral home for over six decades prior to our operation in the building, and why try to hide from it when you can embrace it. Certainly get some weird looks from unsuspecting patrons when they come in expecting a dive bar, and they’re treated to caskets, fine wood work, and green carpeting. The unique atmosphere of it all is our biggest calling card I think. I mean our green rooms are former funeral director offices, and show rooms. And to think this was once home to noted Youngstown Industrialist, John Tod. Because I have so few events, I’m able to monitor just about all of them pretty closely and make sure I do everything I can to make them successful. On top of concerts, we offer the space for film and photo shoots, as well as paranormal investigations, parties, meetings, comedy shows, practice space, and more. We are only open for events so we don’t have regular business hours. Check our Facebook and Instagram for events. Contact us on those channels, or email if you’re interested in booking an event with us.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have fond memories growing up in the greater Youngstown area. I was always pretty introverted and shy, and only spoke when spoken to or when given the chance to talk about my special interests. An average day when I was 9 was spent watching Nickelodeon, vibing with my cats, playing Zoo Tycoon, or playing catch with my dad and my younger brother. Loved traveling from an early age usually visiting Florida, big cities, or historic sites ( I have a goal of traveling to see the grave site of every US president). I was always terrible at math and science, but thrived especially with social studies. So my main interests were usually music, NFL, video games, animals, and history/geography. I developed my music love for playing video games like Guitar Hero in middle school, and eventually joining a band. Our first gig was my brother’s 11th birthday party, an iconic introduction if you ask me haha. But music scene helped me come out of my shell quite a bit by giving me something to talk about in conversation when socializing doesn’t always come natural to me. As far as schooling goes, I graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School in 2014. I have an undergrad degree in a major I created myself called Tourism and event management from Youngstown State in 2019 as well as an MBA from there in 2023. I also have a master’s in city and regional planning from Ohio State in 2021.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickyards/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wickyards
