Kyle Mills / Post Independent
Beginning this afternoon downtown Glenwood Springs will come alive with the sounds of live music at 7th Street and Grand Avenue as Fridays on 7th kicks off the summer season in the lower Roaring Fork Valley.
Pat Miller, city of Glenwood Springs events and marketing coordinator, and other city officials want to bring a little excitement and live local music to the downtown corridor as the seasons change and people begin to fill Glenwood Springs.
“We want to give people an opportunity to kick off their weekends in downtown Glenwood Springs. Hopefully it brings people to Glenwood to experience the music and what the downtown businesses have to offer,” Miller said.
The Roaring Fork Blues Project will take center stage 4 p.m., under the Grand Avenue bridge in the newly named Bethel Plaza.
Miller said every Friday from 4–5:30 p.m. there will be a music activation under the bridge, running for 10 straight weeks until Aug. 2.
“We want the vibrancy of downtown to start coming alive, and with people coming to town and strolling around town, they want to see more and more here,” Miller said.
Officials hope the event grows and with community involvement brings more activations and possibly larger festivals.
“We want to use this as a bookmark to where we want to see the future of Glenwood Springs events. The sounding board will be the community and the patrons,” Miller said.
Starting next Friday, June 7, there will be a complimentary Zumba class from 8:30–9:30 p.m. in Bethel Plaza, and the class will run through the summer.
On the last Thursday of June the city will begin a five-week ’80s-themed movie night, bringing back classics including “The Goonies,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and more.
The next night Friday, June 28, local entertainer Jammin Jim will start his Troll Theatre under the bridge. The Theatre will run every Friday ending Aug. 16.
“We want to create the vibrant downtown feeling, starting early in the summer and running through the entire length of the season,” Miller said.