File Photo Bellaire council member Bill Schmitt will participate in the dunk tank at the fifth annual R.L. Strength and Conditioning Summer Bash on Thursday from 2-10 p.m. He is shown here participating in last year’s event.

BELLAIRE — R.L. Strength and Conditioning will host its fifth annual summer bash at 2 p.m. Thursday.

R.L. Strength and Conditioning owner/operator Rick Leigh said that for the fifth anniversary, he wanted to make it the biggest event yet.

The free event will be at Union Square Park. Leigh said he plans to create a block party-esque atmosphere for not only the children who partake in his classes but for everyone of all ages.

Mon Valley Wrestling will kick off the festivities by having multiple matches in a full-sized ring that will be at the event.

Bellaire council member Bill Schmitt, McGee properties owner Ben McGee, Useless Reality owner ​​Brady Sheppard, and Holistic Cloud staff member Matthew Cooper will be sacrificing their dryness for the day to sit in a dunk tank while attendees attempt to drop them into the water.

Ryan Dodds, The Hollow, Lil Rodd, Isaiah Keez, J Nice, Kidd Krazee, and more musicians will be performing from 5 p.m. until the event ends at 10 p.m.

The event will also have a wide variety of free activities for its attendees to partake in, such as face painting by Natalie Lucidi, cartoon portraits by Megan Moore, balloon art by Johnny Kazemka, fire photography by Amber Singer, and free cotton candy by Stacey Littleton.

The Bellaire Volunteer Fire Department will be parking one of its fire trucks and turning its fire hose to a mist setting to give the attendees the chance to cool off.

Eden’s Classic Cars will be lining the street with several classic cars for attendees to admire while at the event.

In addition to the various free activities and snacks, Uptown Flavor, the Dairy Jean, Rolling Griddle and Shreff’s Food Truck will be selling food all day of the event.

Leigh said that he started doing the event since he created R.L. Strength and Conditioning as a way to celebrate the hard work that the children have accomplished throughout the program.

“I wanted to reward these kids and let them know that hard work and dedication always pays off,” Leigh said. “When you reward somebody you don’t want to make them pay, so I make sure it’s free for the kids.”

He added that another reason he makes sure the event is free is because a lot of the children who participate in his program have large families and their parents may not be able to afford taking everyone in the family to a carnival or get all of their children’s faces painted.

“No matter your job, you have to work hard to be successful. If you’re the janitor or if you’re the CEO, you got to work hard, so I want to instill that into them,” he said.

Leigh added that he is proud of the growth of his festival throughout the years and believes Thursday’s event will be the largest one yet.

The first year of the event, he held the Summer Bash at a covered shelter at Olgebay Park with only 20 people attending. Fast forward to last year’s event that was located at the Hidden Hills Event Center had roughly 200 people in attendance.

Leigh said that since day one, he’s wanted to host his Summer Bash right in the heart of the village and is incredibly proud of being able to achieve his vision.

He added that he was once a kid who needed guidance, and now that he’s made positive changes to his life he strives to provide guidance to the children in his community.

“If I had this as a kid, it could have saved me. I made a lot of mistakes before I was able to turn my life around,” he said. “I wanted to create something to at least guide them and give them an opportunity to change.”