Friday Night Live! News

Friday Night Live! Doing What It Promised
The Herndon Observer

Downtown Herndon is obviously the place to see and be seen on Friday nights this summer, judging from the crowd of nearly 1,000 young adults who were there last week.

Friday Night Live! was lively indeed on that most sweltering evening of the summer. Few older people ventured out in the heat, leaving the revels on the new Town Green to exactly the age group - 21 to 35 - targeted by the originators of the event.

The formula of free live music, as well as beer, soft drinks, pizza, Mexican food, ice cream and other eatables, all to be enjoyed in the open air, is a winner. While the on-street parking in the downtown was filled for blocks around, there were still spaces available in the garage adjoining the Municipal Center. No one had far to walk.

The only disappointment is that participants are arriving later than had been expected. While it was originally thought that people would come directly from work, that has not proved to be the case. There was not a business suit or high heel to be seen at the party that begins at 5:30 and ends at 9 p.m. Everyone seems to have stopped and changed to shorts and T-shirts, the better to chill out.

Volunteers who checked photo IDs for newcomers were kept busy right up to the cut-off time at 8:45, attaching the wrist bands that allow the purchase of beer.

It was obvious that for most, this was only the beginning as they were heard making arrangements to meet in a few minutes at favorite area restaurants and watering holes.

Doug Downer, president-elect of the Chamber of Commerce, came up with the idea of Friday Night Live! because of a similar program he had enjoyed in Norfolk while a student at Old Dominion University. The goal, he said, is to bring people into the new downtown who wouldn't ordinarily be here.

That goal has been accomplished and there is proof in hand through the names and addresses culled from entries filled out for a drawing each week for two free up-front tickets to shows at the Nissan Pavilion.

A tally of last week's entries show that 22 percent came from Herndon; 13 percent from Reston; 12 percent from Sterling-Ashburn; 14 percent from Centreville, Chantilly, Fairfax and Vienna; a surprising 35 percent from as far as Woodbridge, Leesburg, Arlington, Falls Church and McLean; and 3 percent from Maryland and D.C.

Upcoming entertainment includes The Emptys on July 21; BS&M on July 28; and YNOT? (aka Dead City Radio) on August 4; Bobby Messano on Aug. 11; and The Reactors on Aug. 18. The last three dates, Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 and 8, are rain dates and one of those nights will feature Street Life, which was rained out in June, and other groups yet to be chosen.

Congratulations to Doug Downer, the Chamber of Commerce and its volunteers and the generous sponsors - Nissan, the Town of Herndon, Budweiser, SallieMae and Virginia Power - who have brought a new dimension to the downtown with the successful Friday Night Live!