Everybody’s weekend brings music, shopping and a century of history to Thomasville
Friday’s concert leads into Saturday’s downtown festival, continuing a community tradition that began in 1908.
Downtown Thomasville will host two days of music, food and shopping Sept. 25-26, pairing Everybody’s Night with a street festival whose history stretches back more than a century.
Friday’s Everybody’s Night is scheduled for 5:30-10:30 p.m., according to the Thomasville Housing Authority’s September community calendar. Everybody’s Day follows Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown, the Thomasville Area Chamber of Commerce says. Friday schedule, Saturday festival information.
The weekend offers different ways to experience the city’s center: an evening built around live performances and downtown food and beverage businesses, followed by a daytime festival featuring arts and crafts, music, carnival rides and food.
Thomasville Tourism lists The Catalinas and The Bennett Hall Band as Friday’s featured performers. Live music is free, with food and beverages available from participating businesses and vendors. Everybody’s Night details.
The tourism office also says Thomasville’s social district has expanded to both sides of the railroad. Its event guidance points visitors toward the tunnel adjacent to Memorial Park Drive off East Main Street as a connection to Cross Ties. Visitors planning to carry alcoholic beverages should check posted district boundaries and rules. Thomasville Tourism.
For downtown businesses and festival vendors, the events put shopping and dining alongside the entertainment. Whether that activity produces higher sales or repeat customers will require reporting after the weekend.
A gathering with roots in 1908
Everybody’s Day began with an effort to bring Thomasville residents and their neighbors together downtown.
A resolution adopted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2008 credits then-Mayor W.O. Burgin with organizing the first festival in 1908. Lawmakers recognized its centennial and described its founding purpose as a community and regional celebration. Resolution 2008-22.
The resolution also records celebrations during the 1920s and 1950s and says the Thomasville Area Chamber of Commerce had operated the event since 1984. That record establishes the festival’s long history without suggesting it has taken place every year since its founding.
This year’s gathering comes 118 years after the first Everybody’s Day, returning the celebration to the downtown setting at the heart of Burgin’s original idea.
Planning a Saturday visit
The Chamber lists accessible parking immediately behind City Hall, 10 Salem St., with entry from Thomas Street.
Accessible permanent restrooms are near the railroad depot at West Main Street and Trade Avenue. The Chamber says accessible portable toilets are identified on the festival map, and first aid is planned at Main and Randolph streets. Parking, restrooms and first aid.
People traveling with older relatives, young children or anyone who needs mobility assistance should check access arrangements before leaving home. Saturday’s listed services should not be assumed to cover Friday night.
For current event information, consult Thomasville Tourism’s Everybody’s Night page and the Chamber’s Everybody’s Day page. Check for schedule changes and street-access notices before traveling.