Residents Can Listen to the Music at a Variety of Local Events
Thomasville City Council member David Yemm founded a program in 2009 that is music to the ears of his fellow residents.
Yemm established the Third Thursday Music evening concert series that occurs once a month from May through September. The concerts are free and open to the public, and attendance has jumped from about 30 people in May 2009 to 400 during this season’s final concert in September.
“It was simply an effort to get the word out during the inaugural 2009 season, and the series got more and more popular as the months rolled on,” Yemm says. “Many towns offer a similar music program, so I decided to start one here in Thomasville where I live and work. Concerts were performed by local acts such as Shane Key, along with Greg and the BBQ Band, and I hope that they and others will return in 2010.”
The 2010 series will again take place from May through September, with all concerts staged at a downtown outdoor amphitheater that opened in 2009. The amphitheater was funded by a Thomasville action group called P.A.C.E., an acronym for People Achieving Community Enhancement.
“I was on the Thomasville Historic Preservation Commission prior to the city council, and I have always wanted to see our downtown area succeed,” Yemm says. “Free music concerts are part of a thriving downtown atmosphere because they create energy. The Third Thursday Music evening concerts help to reinvigorate our downtown district.”
But Thursday night summer music concerts aren’t just heard in Thomasville. A program called Alive After Five is a once-a-month, Thursday evening concert series in Lexington that has been held annually since the late 1990s. The concerts occur from May through September in the parking lot behind Lanier Hardware.
“As many as 600 people attend the Alive After Five concerts, and there is no charge for listening to quality musical entertainment on those five warm-weather evenings,” says Radford Thomas, president and CEO of the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce. “The concerts vary in themes, including beach music, top 40, oldies rock ‘n’ roll and pop. It’s a family event.”
Meanwhile, other musical get-togethers staged in Davidson County each year include Sunset Sounds in downtown Thomasville in July, and Music on the Lawn during Uptown Lexington’s Summer Strolls. The nonprofit Arts United for Davidson County organizes both the Sunset Sounds and the Music on the Lawn musical celebrations.
In addition, Childress Vineyards in Lexington features Music in the Vineyards from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from the first weekend in May through the last weekend in October. The winery also hosts the Wine Down Thursdays music series from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from April through August.
“If it sounds good, it’s probably a live performance taking place somewhere in Davidson County,” Thomas says. “There are plenty of talented musicians and performers who live in this part of North Carolina, and residents are lucky to have access to so many quality musical events – many of which are free.”
