Get Down Downtown, a festival hosted by Main Street Searcy, begins tonight with live music, art, vendors, food and family-friendly activities in the downtown Searcy square.
“Main Street Searcy started Get Down Downtown six years ago as a way to promote the downtown area while providing the community with a fun, family-friendly event,” said Amy Burton of Main Street Searcy, director of the event. “While some festival attendees visit locally owned retail businesses over the festival weekend, our ultimate goal is to get people downtown so they’ll see what we have to offer. There are some great shops and restaurants that thrive in the Main Street district.”
Several Harding students are involved with the planning and execution of Get Down Downtown. Student interns Kristi Soto, junior, and Jess Boyd, senior, for Main Street Searcy help Burton directly while student interns Blake Lewandoski, junior, and Megan Giddens, senior, are assisting senior graphic designer Waylon Howard of Think Advertising with all of the design elements of the festival.
Soto said Burton is extremely focused on relationships with everyone involved in the event. For this reason, Soto said she thinks Harding students, with their emphasis on compassion and courtesy, are a good fit for the Main Street Searcy programs.
The event is targeted toward the Searcy community, but Soto and Burton both said Get Down Downtown also has much to offer to Harding students.
The festival begins at 6 p.m. with three contemporary bands on the Hoffmann Architectural Stage. Burton said approximately 100 vendors will line Spring and Arch streets downtown, Zion Climbing Center will have a rock-wall on site, BHP Billiton will have football games streaming on a jumbotron, and music, children’s activities and shows will take place all day Saturday. Soto mentioned a few names Harding students will recognize; Four West, Belles and Beaux and Good News Singers will all be performing during the two-day festival.
Howard is in charge of the design work for Get Down Downtown including T-shirts, banners and promotional materials. Think Advertising volunteers all hours spent on work for Get Down Downtown and local Searcy citizens volunteer to help Burton plan the event. Howard said Get Down Downtown is a natural fit for Think Advertising and said he appreciates the sense of community and involvement that Get Down Downtown encourages.
“(Get Down Downtown) gives the student a chance to see what Searcy is like outside of the Harding ‘bubble,'” Giddens said. “Searcy is full of interesting people with stories that students just don’t get the chance to know.”
Get Down Downtown is tonight from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and again tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, go to searcy.com/mainstreet.
