City has plenty set for summer
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on May 14, 2014 1:46 PM
Summer in downtown Goldsboro kicks off this week with the first of the annual Center Street Jams on Thursday evening. The band Spare Change will lead off the concert series.
Also, on Saturday, the grand opening of the downtown farmer's market at Cornerstone Commons will be held.
The concerts will begin in a new location, in the parking lot off John Street next to the Flying Shamrock.
The concerts are being moved from their former location in the parking lot of the Waynesborough House to accommodate Streetscape construction on Center Street.
Kicking off the summer schedule is Spare Change, sponsored by R.A. Jeffreys, with seven more shows running every other Thursday until Aug. 21, when the band Liquid Pleasure finishes out the schedule, sponsored by GO Wayne County Magazine.
"It's a a new location this year, but everything else is basically the same as past years," Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Promotions Director Meg Gernaat said. "There is no admission charge and no personal coolers or pets are allowed."
Mrs. Gernaat said that not having pets is more about the animals safety when its hot than behavioral issues with pets.
The concert will run from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., with food and drinks sold at the event.
R.A. Jeffreys and Coca-Cola will supply beverages for sale Thursday with the Wright Sisters Concessions and Eat Roadkill providing food along with Zaxby's and Pizza Inn.
"We try to rotate vendors out so they don't do more than about four. We don't want to have too much competition out there," Mrs. Gernaat said. "We try not to have three hot dog vendors out there at once ."
Zaxby's and Pizza Inn will return each concert.
New this summer, starting in June, sprinklers will be operated at Cornerstone Commons on Thursdays from 3-4 p.m., prior to the concerts.
The downtown farmers market at Cornerstone Commons will open Saturday at 8 a.m. and run until noon on Saturdays, with the Goldsboro Fire Department operating sprinklers the first Saturday of each month.
The market will run the same season as the Wednesday market at Herman Park which will end, tentatively, in September.
"If the farmers want to keep going, that's fine," Goldsboro Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard said. "It's not a tremendous amount of work to set it up, some, but not much, so we don't mind keeping it going."
The Goldsboro City Council approved $4,000 from the Municipal Service District Fund to purchase eight colorful tents for the downtown farmers market.
The tents will be provided at the Saturday market because merchants cannot drive up on the brickwork at Cornerstone Commons and to give the market a bright colorful facade.
The Center Street Jam schedule for the rest of the summer includes:
• May 15 -- Spare Change, sponsored by R.A. Jeffreys
• May 29 -- Blake Kearney Band, sponsored by Taphouse 108 Restaurant and Oyster Bar and 107.9 WNCT
• June 12 -- The Monitors, sponsored by Goldsboro Metal Recycling
• June 26 -- The Malpass Brothers, sponsored by The Goldsboro News-Argus
• July 10 -- Jim Quick and Coastline Band, sponsored by Jackson and Sons
• July 24 -- The Embers, sponsored by RAGS
• Aug. 7 -- Band Of Oz, sponsored by the North Carolina Community Federal Credit Union
• Aug. 21 -- Liquid Pleasure, sponsored by GO Wayne County Magazine