Hundreds of people showed up to the second “First Fridays” of the year sponsored by the Gilmer Chamber of Commerece (GCC), Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association (GAHA), and Better Home Town (BHT) program on Friday night.
“First Fridays” is an collaborative effort of the GCC, GAHA, and BHT program, and its goal is to bring more people to the downtown area to support local businesses. The effort will be a seasonal one, and will occur every month until December with each month having a different theme.

The June 1st theme for “First Fridays” was “Country and Western Night” and allowed for locals to break out their cowboy hats, dust off their cowboy boots, and enjoy some good ol’ fashion country music.

“I thought it was another fun sucessful evening,”

said Karleen Ferguson, the GCC’s Tourism and Special Event’s Coordinator,

“There were more kids this time, which was fun, and the music was fantastic. We are exicited to keep on going until the next one on July 6th!”

Performing at the event were Justin Stover, Justin Godfrey, this year’s Gilmer Idol competition winner Sarah Bryan, and hometown musician Eb Reece. The event also included local vendors and other downtown artists.

The next “First Fridays” is scheduled for July 6th and will be a “Bicycle Rodeo” where everyone is asked to ride their bikes to the downtown area. The Cartecay Bike Shop will help with the event, and on the day of the event, North Main Street will be closed for all riders from the beginning of the street to where the street goes in front of the Cartecay Bike Shop.

2012 JUN GILMER COM First Friday June 1, 2012 from Fetch on Vimeo.