Music, arts fest coming downtown this weekend

ALBANY, Ga. — The city of Albany, in collaboration with the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority, is getting ready to kick off for a downtown music and arts festival this weekend.

The two-day event will feature local bands performing just about every genre of music, Parks and Recreation Director Suzanne Davis said.

“We have blues, country, R&B … so there’s something for just about every musical taste,” Davis said. “And on Sunday, we have some of the area’s best praise and worship groups and secular inspirational songwriters coming downtown to wrap things up.”

The first-of-its-kind downtown event was originally the brainchild of Assistant City Manager James Taylor, who first pitched the idea to the ADICA board of directors earlier this year.

While the concerts will be a big part of the festival, they won’t be the only part, Davis said.

“This is a music and arts festival, so we will have an arts village set up where people can browse hand-made, lampwork jewelry, upcycled art and a variety of creative things,” Davis said.

The event will also include a culinary component to highlight what Davis said is one of the South’s best attributes.

“We’ll have good food, good music and, hopefully, great weather, so we believe this will be an example of the South at its finest,” the recreation director added.

The festivities will officially kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday with the final round of Albany Star, a local singing competition that started this summer.

The praise festivities will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and feature various groups from the community.

All of the events will be at the Veterans Park Amphitheatre on Front Street downtown. For more information, call Davis at (229) 430-5222.