Soulfest, Downtown Saturday and Desoto celebrations today
♦ Entertainment selections abound on Broad Street and at Ridge Ferry Park.
Music and theater will dominate the weekend in Rome, from gospel sounds to soul to alternative rock, as well as both stage and silver screen activity focused at the Desoto Theatre.
The annual Soulfest at Ridge Ferry Park, the Downtown Saturday concert at Bridgepoint Plaza, and the Robert Stevenson Memorial Gospel Concert at the City Auditorium are all on the agenda Saturday as well as activity to mark the 90th birthday of the Desoto Theatre.
The annual Robert Stevenson Memorial Gospel Concert will be held Saturday evening at 5 p.m. in the City Auditorium
Stellar Award winners Doc Mckenzie and the Hi-lites will be featured artists along with and Lisa Knowles and the Brown Singers. Other performers include The Gospel Legends, Slim’s Supreme Angels and Darrell Mcfadden and The Disciples.
Tickets for the show are $30 and will be available at the door.
Top performers at the annual Soulfest include Maze with Frankie Beverly, the Infinity Show Band, Something for the Soul along with Tara Sabree and The Seduction Band.
General admission for the show is $60, however children 10 and under are admitted free.
The gates at Ridge Ferry Park open at 10 a.m., however the on-stage entertainment will not begin until 2 p.m.
Little Known Letter, an alternative rock band, will be the headliners for the Downtown Saturday Concert on the Green at Bridgepoint Plaza. The concert is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and there is no fee for the event.
The Desoto Theatre was opened in 1929 as the first movie house in the South built for talkies.
“This is a proud moment for our region, so let’s honor that as a community,” said Jim Powell, vice president of the theater’s foundation.
The Historic Desoto Foundation, along with the Rome Little Theater groups, will host a “Happy Birthday Open House” at 1 p.m. Birthday cake and ice cream will be available until around 2:30 when the cast of the upcoming production of “Mama Mia!” will be introduced. That will be followed by the presentation of “Mama Mia!” the movie.
Free tours of the iconic Clocktower are also scheduled from noon until 2 p.m. Saturday. Donations are accepted to help defray the cost of maintenance of the historic building.
A walking tour of the 500 block is already sold-out. Local historian Selena Tilly said some of the interesting facts about the block include the fact that the law offices of Daniel Mitchell, one of Rome’s founding fathers, were located near the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Broad. The building, which now houses the Seven Hills Fellowship Church, once housed an automobile repair shop — on the second floor.