Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Chrissie Hynde and Jerry Lee Lewis performed at a concert to benefit a local theater and celebrate the upcoming opening of Hynde’s vegetarian restaurant. Hynde, an Akron native and the lead singer of The Pretenders, presided over a weekend-long celebration of VegiTerranean, her eatery that will feature a blend of Mediterranean and vegetarian cuisine when it opens here in October.
The events started with a Friday night acoustic performance, continued Saturday afternoon with the restaurant’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and ended Saturday night with the concert.
Hynde handed out bean salsa and other hors d’oeuvres from a silver platter at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Save animals and stop all of the violence,” she told those gathered at the ceremony.
Proceeds from the concert benefited the Akron Civic Theatre. Hynde lives in England and will partner with Dan Duplain, owner of Fedeli restaurant in downtown Canton, to operate the eatery.