Local artist returns to play in hometown

Steve Geroski V and his SugarCreek bandmates have earned opportunities to play in many different locations and for a lot of people. Sometimes, though, as the famous movie line goes, "There's no place like home." Geroski -- and, to a certain extent, the others in SugarCreek -- will be able to feel that next Saturday when they take the UrbanWoody Brewery Stage at Market Square Park at 7 p.m., at Heritage Day, Featuring the St. Wendelin Mini-Festival in Fostoria. The country band has played in Fostoria several times since it formed four years ago. And bass guitar player Geroski, who graduated from the former St. Wendelin High School in 2004 and now lives in Portage, enjoys the opportunities to play where he grew up, in front of many people he knows. The band includes another area musician in drummer Andrew Lewallen, an Elmwood High School graduate who lives in Wayne. "It's exciting to come and play in a nice hometown spot," he said. "The grassy area is wonderful. People get to bring their chairs. It's going to be a good time, returning to a reunion type of deal." Last year's appearance at the festival came just ahead of the release of SugarCreek's first album, titled "Bad Business." While the band mixed some of its album material -- mostly written by singer/guitarist Bobby Withers, into last year's playlist of covers, this year's performance of them won't fall on entirely unfamiliar ears. "The album's a year old now and that's been very good for us," Geroski said. "We broke well over 20,000 streams on Spotify. ... Basically, what we're doing now is promoting the album and push that type of show. At the festival, we'll be playing five or six originals. All of them have been receiving really good feedback, and it's always been a different song. It's not been just one song off the album that's been the driving force that everyone's seemed to flock to. It's been pretty cool how we've gotten feedback on a wide range of songs that we wrote that are very different." Geroski, Lewallen and Withers are joined in the band by vocalist Megan Francis and multi-instrumentalist/singer Paul Valdiviez. Withers, Francis and Valdiviez reside in the Columbus area. While the band members aren't always around each other, there's a chemistry between them that makes for strong friendships and working relationships, Geroski said. That absence of discord has helped enable SugarCreek to make a name for itself to the point where it is headlining the Kuntry Jam at LA-Z Acres Campground in Nashport this weekend after a few weeks ago playing at the American Made Country Music Festival in Zanesville with Hank Williams Jr., The Cadillac Three, Aaron Lewis and Sammy Kershaw. Bookings are already being made for 2024, Geroski said. "We've got some exciting gigs for next year," he said. "We're working on focusing our energy to support touring acts that roll through Ohio. It looks like next year will be a good year for us to do that." While there's no telling where the future may take SugarCreek, it is firmly scheduled for Fostoria next Saturday. "It's so much fun seeing people you haven't seen in a while," Geroski said. "... It's so nice to reconnect with folks on a very happy note instead of a funeral or something like that. It's a wonderful time, to see smiles and to laugh and have some beers and hang out."