Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series kicks off in Valdosta

May 6, 2019

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) -- The City of Valdosta is using mid-day tunes to pick up the mid-day blues.

On Monday, the Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series kicked off in Valdosta. Live music and local food vendors filled the historic courthouse downtown during lunch time.

The event is organized by Valdosta Main Street. The department continues to add to the city's event calendar, and those events continue to add up for local businesses.

The Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series has been around for about 20 years, but it continues to bring the crowds and the traffic to downtown.

"It's bringing feet on the street," said Ellen Hill, Valdosta Main Street director. "We want the community to come out and enjoy downtown, and if it's just walking around and enjoying the events that we have, that's a win for us because it gets the community out, it gets people excited about downtown."

The concert series is just one part of the city's effort to kick start downtown. This year, Valdosta Main Street started the Makers Market. Held the first Saturday of each month, the market is a spin off of the city's old farmer's market, with a focus on creative vendors.

"The more events we have downtown, the more people we have, and it absolutely has boosted sales in businesses, it's boosted, even the attendance in the events that we have," Hill said.

The Goodtime Jr. Music Shed performed Monday to kick off the series. The venue, located on S. Patterson Street, hosts live music every first and third Friday.

Owner Alphonso Johnson Jr. said events like this help to bring more people in the door, and help the music scene continue to grow and thrive in Valdosta.

"The awareness with musicians, the singers that are here, we have a chance to get involved and make our city vibrant and musical, and we're just having musical fun right now," Johnson said. "The more the city does and plans more events like this, it's just a wonderful thing for families."

The Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series runs 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Every Friday will feature a different live band. The Makers Market will then take over the courthouse square on Saturday.

The concert series is in celebration of National Historic Preservation month.