Main Street Laurens’ planned music fest wins $5,000 grant

During a luncheon earlier today, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, Main Street Laurens was again named as one of two winners of a $5,000 Hughes Investment grant, which will help fund its inaugural year of “The Piedmont Blues & Roots Music Festival,” slated for May 9, 2020.

Main Street Laurens had already been named, along with Main Street Clinton, as among the five finalists, who this morning made final grant presentations for the 2019 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Vibrancy Grants. 

At this 10th Anniversary Ten at the Top luncheon, Laurens and Powdersville were the two cities selected for the top funding prizes.

“And today there will be no losers,” announced Phil Hughes of Hughes Investments. “I still wish to give you $1,000 to the other finalists as long as you  continue on.”

This is not the first time that Main Street Laurens has won the Upstate Vibrancy grant funds. In 2017 it was selected as a winner for its Food Truck Plaza, and several years before it won the $5,000 to begin its Finally Friday summer series. All of the projects have been designed to get more people into the historic downtown area.

 “This will help us begin to make concrete plans and now we will start reaching out to sponsors,” said Main Street Laurens Director Jonathan Irick. “We are talking about having multiple smaller performers and we will have to cover costs of travel and lodging for some of them, so with the $5,000 already offered by the City of Laurens, this will help us begin to make those plans and form our committees.”

Irick said with the exception of Powdersville, all the other finalists were Main Street South Carolina cities. 

“And it’s exciting because four of the five finalists are from right here, with Greenwood, Fountain Inn, Laurens and Clinton,” Irick said. “They all had great projects and it says a lot about our region and what all our Main Street communities are doing.”

Mayor Nathan Senn was among many who represented Laurens and Laurens County at the luncheon, and he said he was very pleased that Main Street Laurens’ hard work is paying off.