06/24/08
FIRST FRIDAY GOES FOURTH!
7 - 4 - 2008
Downtown Gadsden Offers More Bang for July 4th
July 4th is a special time for families and friends to get together and
enjoy great food, fun activities and certainly fireworks.
First Friday is a celebration in downtown Gadsden on the first Friday of
each month where businesses stay open extended hours, merchants host wine
and beer tasting events, musicians add to the festive environment and
vendors offer hot dogs, lemonade, ice cream and other tasty treats.
This year the calendar brings these two events together for a truly special
time in downtown Gadsden: First Friday Goes Fourth!
The City of Gadsden will be closing the historic Broad Street Bridge Friday
evening and people are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs for a
spectacular vantage point to view the fireworks display over the Coosa
River.
Downtown merchants and vendors will be on hand to give the crowd plenty of
great options for shopping and dining. And even the pooches can get in on
the fun with a patriotic pet parade down Broad Street.
“First Friday has been growing each month and we wanted to keep the momentum
going for July,” said Kay Moore, executive director of Downtown Gadsden,
Inc. “When we realized that our July date was the 4th, we knew we had to
make it extra special and give area families plenty to enjoy downtown
leading up to the fireworks show,” she added.
Downtown merchants are also excited about bringing a July 4th event to the
local residents and visitors. “I have talked to so many people who are
absolutely thrilled to have something special to do in town for July 4th,”
said Sylvia Smith, owner of The Stone Market in downtown Gadsden. “We had a
great crowd downtown on June’s First Friday and many of them said they would
be back for July 4th,” she said.
First Friday activities will begin around 6:00 pm. The Broad Street Bridge
will close at 7:00 pm and the fireworks will begin at 9:00 pm.
06/23/08
Rock Band @ The Mall
Saturday Night, the Gadsden Public Library and the Gadsden Mall put on a Rock Band the game, competition. The contest was located in an empty store that is located next to Belks. The contest had over 10 bands and the crowd size varied all night.
If you enjoy "Rock Band" I suggest you come out on the third Saturday in July and support your local teens.
06/18/08
Stevie B's Pizza
Have you been by to try out the new Pizza Place in town?
If not then you definately should, I visited a couple of weeks ago on a sunday afternoon and it was great. Very clean, employees were extremely helpful and the food was good. Heck the pizza was not even greasy and for $5.49 all you can eat. It can't be beat, or at least it not in my book.
I will say that the following Friday I went by and got the carry out buffet, which was not near as good as eating inside. I recommend the Hot Wing Pizza, it's my personal favorite. If they don't have it out just ask for some and they will put one in the oven for you, you will be given a number and they will bring it to you when its ready.
06/16/08
What I thought about Riverfest 2008
Riverfest 2008, was an experience. As always I have heard many different opinions from people who love it, to people who want it cancelled. I personally dont hate it, yet I do believe it could be better.
First off, I feel that since Riverfest is a smaller festival in comparison to say City Stages, that we should wait until City Stages announces their dates and be sure they do not conflict. However I do understand this may not always be possible but I believe this would help. Then of course there is the tradition of the weather being bad. Perhaps we should change the name to "RainyFest" ok that was bad but anyways.
Now that I have my two biggest negatives out of the way I guess I should talk about the things that I do love about Riverfest. First off with gas as high as it is, it is going to cost you more than $30.00 to travel to any other festival and get this quality of entertainment. Some people are never going to be satisfied.
I spent Friday Night, sitting in the rain with a poncho and my family and I had a great time. The Last Goodnight performed their big hit which was great, and of course Billy Ocean and Sister Hazel gave great performances.
Saturday Night was not my favorite genre of music but if you enjoy that type of music I feel it was probably worth the $30.00. Since Saturday night is never my favorite, I spent it on the River in one of my friend's boats and once again had a great time.
So in my opinion everyone's view of Riverfest is going to always be different, some will love it, some will hate it. I do wish that the ones who hate it would just suck it up and understand the fact that some people do actually enjoy Riverfest. If you dislike something in town quit griping about how bad things are in Gadsden and do something to better the community.
Anyways if you have any comments or rebuttles please post them in the Message Board.
06/07/08
First Friday Appeared to be a big success, It had been several months since I have been to one but I must say the June First Friday was a fun filled event for all. I even noticed some people from CMT (Country Music Telivision). If anyone knows what they were doing please start a topic on the message board.
Anyways I loved having the street blocked off, it allowed for everyone to mingle better and kept the sidewalk from being so dang crowded. If you have not made it out to a first friday, you should really go during July. First Friday is one of the best things to happen in Gadsden in a long time.
I personally feel as if First Friday will continue to grow, for several reasons. One its free, Two its family oriented, and three it happens more than once a year like most events in town such as riverfest and bigmen blues & bbq. By having it each month, it provides some consistency that people will remember.
