Center Street Jam gets ready for season debut
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on April 30, 2006 2:00 AM
Dust off those lawn chairs, clean out your coolers and put your dancing shoes on.
The seventh annual Center Street Jam kicks off Thursday, as the widely recognized Band of Oz will perform in the Waynesborough House parking lot on South Center Street from 5:30 p.m. until 8.
After Thursday's event, the Downtown Goldsboro Devel-opment Corp.-sponsored after hours music festival will continue every two weeks throughout the summer featuring a number of headlining bands.
Sherry Archibald, promotions coordinator for the DGDC, said she hopes the events will provide an opportunity for Wayne County residents to get a glimpse of the progress being made downtown and to familiarize themselves with businesses they might not have seen otherwise.
"Our primary purpose is to bring people downtown," she said. "And Center Street Jam can definitely do it."
And Mrs. Archibald is confident that attendance will be high, as it has been in years past. Some events in previous years have brought thousands of people downtown.
"I'm hoping to see our typical numbers, which is around 3,000," she said, adding some bands could bring in as many as 5,000 residents.
This year will feature many of the same amenities as past jams. All of the concerts are free to the public and plenty of food, soft drinks and alcohol will be sold by different vendors.
Money brought in from alcohol sales will go back to the DGDC to help fund future events. Coca Cola will donate all of its profits to the Wayne County Boys and Girls Club.
But despite the similarities to previous events, Mrs. Archibald said there will be something new this year -- multiple genres of music. Upon request from many residents, country rock, beach music and bluegrass will be featured this summer.
"This is our seventh year and this is the first time that we have some different kinds of music."
After Thursday's show, the line-up includes Dakota Rain on May 18, The Shakers on June 1, Liquid Pleasure on June 15, Mardi Gras on June 29, Barefoot Manner on July 13, Craig Woolard on July 27, Main Event Aug. 10 and The Embers Aug. 24.