Downtown Tifton hosts their First Friday concert series annually during the summer months. Local bands headline the event with multiple vendors joining in the fun.
Hillery Culpepper, who organized the event, is the Downtown Tifton Mainstreet manager. She said, “It’s just a night filled with dancing, music, and supporting local.”
Two local bands were performing for August’s show: Georgia Overdrive opened the concert and Ten Mile Bay headlined.
Georgia Overdrive is a three-piece band based out of South GA, who perform a mix of country, rock, dance, and original music. Liz Faith is the lead vocalist and guitar player who also plays and sings solo at other local venues. Brian Trusow plays the bass, and Brent Pipkin plays the drums with both providing backing vocals.
Ten Mile Bay is a five-piece band that is also a local group performing rock and country music. Emma Mendieta is the lead vocalist, Ricky Morgan plays the keyboard, Arthur Massey plays the drums, and ABAC student Jesse Mathis plays the guitar.
Tim Griffin is a local in Tifton and surrounding counties and enjoys the atmosphere Tifton brings. “I just like supporting local events, the community, the bands, and the businesses. It’s a good thing for all the families to come together, and there’s things for the adults as well,” said Griffin.
Several local businesses like food trucks and vendors sell their products at these events.
Culpepper said, “Whenever we host these events, we have our downtown businesses join us in the street. It’s great exposure for them to reach out to the communities. It’s a win for our merchants and the community.”
“Our goal through that is maybe a food truck who sets up can potentially open their own restaurant in downtown. We hope that ripple effect continues so we can host more events like this,” continued Culpepper.
As an ABAC graduate herself, Culpepper said, “We try to plan something for everyone, and we keep ABAC students in mind. My friends and I were always looking for something to do. It’s nice to have that ripple effect to make things happen for our community.”
One thing about all the events that are organized by Downtown Tifton is that they’re free to attend. “We just encourage you to spend your dollars locally,” said Culpepper.
Blakely Perkins is a current student at ABAC. Perkins said, “We didn’t have anything to do, and there [are] a lot of vendors and cool things to see. We decided we were going to support our downtown community.”
The First Friday concert series isn’t the only entertainment that downtown offers. Second Saturday is another public event offering live entertainment with downtown businesses offering exclusive deals. Another option for local entertainment is Rhythm and Ribs, an annual event on the first weekend in March.
Stay up to date with all the events that downtown holds by following their Facebook at Downtown Tifton. If any vendors are interested in participating in future events and selling their merchandise, they can reach out through their Facebook page as well.
PHOTOS | JALEN EDMONDSON