Fifth Friday draws hundreds

Hundreds of people made their way to downtown Aiken on Friday to enjoy an evening that proved to be fun for all ages and embraced the concept of community living.

"Your family. Your Friends. Your City" was the theme of Fifth Friday, a brainchild of the Aiken Young Professionals (AYP) in conjunction with the City of Aiken.

The event kicked off at 6 p.m. in The Alley and on Bee Lane, both of which were blocked off by street cones and Aiken Department of Public Safety officials.

Children and adults walked up and down both streets and laughs and cries of excitement blended with the sound of live music from local band Anybody's Guess.

For the adults, drink and food specials were offered by several restaurants around the festival area and, for children, a "Fun Zone" provided game tents that lined Bee Lane and two large inflatable bounce houses could be seen near the intersection of Bee Lane and Richland Avenue.

Melissa Murdaugh, marketing coordinator for the event committee, and AYP chair Jason Rabun expressed how pleased they were with the amount of people that came out to the event.

"I think the turn out is great," Murdaugh gloated, shortly after Anybody's Guess began performing at 7 p.m. "The City (of Aiken) decided we needed to do something to bring people out - not necessarily downtown - but just to get people together ... something to get everybody out and enjoying their town."

The event proved to do just that and was a complete success with all who enjoyed the games, food, drinks and company of their neighbors in downtown Aiken.

Keith Price recently moved to Aiken from New York and expressed a love for the town and the new event.

"This is a good thing," he nodded, looking around at passers-by in The Alley.

"It's good for the community, it's good for the city and it's good for the people. Everybody works hard, and they should get a chance to come out and enjoy themselves."

Murdaugh and Rabun said the committee plans to hold the same event on the next Fifth Friday, which takes place in September. While they said no Fifth Friday plans are in motion for December due to a holiday conflict, those who are looking forward to more can be sure the event will be back in 2012.

Contact Ashleey Williamson at awilliamson@aikenstandard.com.