Downtown Sounds ends for the year with further success in year three

After a rocky start and a few more weather-based cancellations than anyone would have liked, the third installment of Downtown Sounds in Anderson comes to a close tonight.

Downtown Sounds started in 2007 as a way to entice residents and tourists in Anderson to the downtown square for a night of music and fun under the sun and stars of the Electric City. Coordinated by Main Street Events in Greenville and modeled after similar, successful events in that city, Downtown Sounds has seen mixed results and mixed reaction since arriving.

“It’s always been a good event and has certainly met some of the goals we had for it,” said Kevin Meyer, new executive director of Main Street Events. “I think a big one of those has been improving the quality of the downtown scene.”

Meyer said , from a financial perspective, Downtown Sounds has proved viable in the past three years. That almost didn’t happen this past May when the group was struggling to find sponsors in a down economy. In fact, Downtown Sounds wasn’t even confirmed to go on until mere weeks before the scheduled start.

“The feedback we got this year was positive,” Meyer said. “Matt Morrison of Matty’s said he was very pleased again this year and felt it was worth his becoming title sponsor of the event.”

Other businesses, he hoped, had similar impact on their business.

As for whether or not Downtown Sounds will return next year with a full three-month lineup? Meyer said that has yet to be decided. Each event Main Street Events conducts goes through an evaluation at the end of the run and they gauge the interest in it coming back.

But based on the return visitors he saw at Downtown Sounds, it certainly is possible that will happen.

“We really look for the familiar faces and the people who look forward to the event week after week,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things we look forward to from year to year as well.”