The first Friday of each month is once again a time for music and festivities in downtown Lewisburg. First Fridays After Five saw clear skies, a big crowd, and kids running through the Greenspace fountain on June 4.
“This is a perfect First Friday, you could not ask for better weather,” said Lewisburg Mayor Beverly White. “I thought it was going to be raining. Hopefully people get into our shops, come back Saturday and get to the ones you don’t get to this evening.”
First Friday’s were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic shut downs, looking to control the spread of the virus. However, with vaccinations on the rise and the recension of many executive orders from Governor Jim Justice, the city moved forward with restarting First Fridays in May.
“I’m very excited,” said City Administrator Misty Hill. “I think the merchants and the citizens downtown are really excited to see everything starting to come back to normal. … The merchants have different things planned. With the music downtown and people venturing out to every store, every place is going to be unique. It’s why we’re the coolest small town. … I think it was a great decision, supported by our Health Department and our merchants. They really got behind that to reopen First Fridays.”
It has been long enough that the shopping and dining landscape of downtown has changed, with the introduction of several new businesses, such as the Briergarten.
“We have four new ones and the Little Black Box moved [downtown],” White said. “She’s really excited about her new space. To do that during a pandemic really speaks volumes of our city and the commitment that people have to being here. It just makes us feel good that this is where they want to be, and we’re excited they’re here.”
Shops are not the only thing reopening to the public – shut down throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greenspace fountain is once again on for children to run and play in.
“I heard the fountain, but it didn’t hit me that it was on, even though I saw the kids playing in it,” White said. “Then [all the sudden I thought] ‘Oh the fountain is on!’ I just had a moment.”
Hill noted it was brought back by popular demand.
“The kids have missed it,” Hill said. “I never thought it was staple piece of the community, but so many community members and citizens have reached out really wanting that fountain back on.”
As the kids played, two attractions came to the Greenspace. First was music provided by the Music Performance Trust Fund, in cooperation with the American Federation of Musicians Local 674. This included local musician Jim Snyder, who posted to social media afterwards.
“Thank you for such a warm reception on the Greenspace!” Snyder wrote. He was joined by Don Drummer on pedal steel, Nathan Seldomridge on electric guitar, with Butch White and Gary Williams adding percussion.
Second was a rally in support of broadband internet infrastructure. Despite the frustrations explained during the broadband rally, Hill pointed to the excitement First Friday gave to the event.
“You can feel the energy, how happy everyone is,” Hill said. “Even on a subject like broadband that is really sensitive and hits home for everybody, with the aggravation that comes with not having broadband and the internet being so [unreliable]. The energy doesn’t feel like a rally of discouragement or anything. They’re serious about broadband but you can tell everybody is excited to be outside and at First Fridays.”
White celebrated being able to see unexpected faces again.
“I ran into two former coworkers and I didn’t think anything of hugging them,” White said with a smile. “They’ve moved back, … so they’ll be a part of the community as well and they love Lewisburg. To know that they came back here means a lot.”
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