Six down and only two to go. The sounds of blues funk will echo throughout downtown Jacksonville tonight as a staple of the Chicago music scene takes the stage.
Maurice John Vaughn with the Freddie Dixon Band goes on at 7:00 tonight as the Jacksonville Main Street Summer Concert Series begins to wind down for the year.
Executive Director for Main Street, Judy Tighe says, tonight’s show brings a special feel from up north to the square in Jacksonville. She says don’t let the blues term fool you, as this performance is all about the funk.
“I think it’s just boogie- it’s just fun! It’s not sad, you know a lot of people think the blues is kind of a bummer theme. But no it’s not, it’s fun and upbeat and I think everyone is going to enjoy it.”
Tighe says the summer concert series has become more than just a concert each week, as they have seen more and more people coming from out of town, as well as using the events for reasons to gather beyond the great performances.
“This season in particular we’ve seen a lot of out-of-town fans and sometimes family members. We forget how global our world is and how interconnected. So there’s a lot of time you’ll have a fan or a family member of our performer that is coming from more than fifty miles away.
We’re also seeing more and more businesses using this as an employee kind of team-building, spirit-building opportunity. So a lot of them are using this as sort of an employee appreciation night.”
Tighe says the concerts have also been used as a gathering spot for family and class reunions.
The many downtown businesses, which have long enjoyed the concert series according to Tighe, are now teaming up to help the Jacksonville Food Center have enough on the shelves.
She says now through the end of August, participating stores with a Pack the Food Center Flier are giving discounts, specials, or prizes to any customer who brings in non-perishable food items to donate to the food center.
More information can be found on the Jacksonville Main Street and participating business’s social media pages.