Transcript:
Melea Hames: [00:00:01] You're listening to the Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama Podcast, part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network.
Welcome back to this week's episode of Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama. I'm so excited for this episode because I'm a girl that lives for the weekend. I'm going to be talking about all there is to do on a Friday night. I have a great guest to help me. Dede Quarry is here to talk about Friday events. Dede, thank you so much for being here with me today.
Dede Quarry: [00:00:36] Thank you for having me.
Melea Hames: [00:00:37] Yeah. You're in charge of the 3rd Friday Downtown Decatur. Now, later on we'll talk more about that event. For now, can you explain how you got into this position?
Dede Quarry: [00:00:48] Oh gosh. Really got into it and not planning to be in it. It was kind of something that pretty much got thrown in my lap. I opened my mouth too much and gave too many of my ideas and they were like, “Here you do this.” It has actually turned out to be really fun. I find myself like you Melea looking forward to the weekend. Looking forward especially 3rd Fridays, trying to get all the fun new things going on.
Melea Hames: [00:01:26] Yeah. Well, they picked a perfect person to do this and you're doing a great job.
Dede Quarry: [00:01:32] Thank you.
Melea Hames: [00:01:33] We have a number of other really exciting things to do on Fridays, but before we get going, we asked our Facebook followers what question they wanted us to answer today. The question this week is what Downtown's host Friday events. Well, we're about to jump right in and tell you. Hang on.
In North Alabama, we have a lot of events that happen almost every Friday of the month. One of the 1st Friday events happens in Downtown Gadsden Broad Street. This is where the fun happens. Most of the local shops are open late for shopping and the restaurants are open for dining and there are food trucks too. This 1st Friday is always a fantastic event to hear live music and lots of vintage cars. You can see a lot of cool rides there. 1st Friday Gadsden goes on from May through October each year.
Now there's another 1st Friday in Downtown Florence. The main difference between Florence's 1st Friday is that it has more artists and live musicians that line the streets in sidewalk exhibits and performances. Of course, they've got restaurants and their shops are open later than usual. It's a lot of fun there. Now, Dede, you're a small business owner in Downtown Decatur, Miss Muldrews. If you’re in Decatur. do you want to drop by? Tell us what these Friday events mean for a downtown area.
Dede Quarry: [00:02:57] Oh gosh. Well, a lot of people think that it's just all these phonic activities going on but it is so much extra revenue generated for our businesses downtown. It's foot traffic. It's getting them down there, getting them into your store and creating that reoccurring shopper coming down and not only coming on that 3rd Friday or 1st Friday. It's trying to make them have that habit of coming back downtown again.
Melea Hames: [00:03:30] Yeah. Those repeat customers and maybe come back on a Saturday when they've got some more time to do some shopping. Yeah, that's really cool. That's good that it benefits the whole area there. We've talked about some 1st Friday events. How about a 2nd Friday in North Alabama?
Downtown Boaz has some car shows that are a great option. You can find vintage and new cars and of course food and music. Their 2nd Fridays in Cullman also. Now, Dede, you got some ideas from Cullman when you took over managing 3rd Friday Downtown Decatur. What are some of the things about 2nd Fridays in Cullman that you wanted to emulate in Decatur?
Dede Quarry: [00:04:13] Cullman actually has a great 2nd Friday. Cullman is not very far from Decatur of course. We looked to see what everybody around us that did similar events, what they were doing, and how they had their set up. One thing that we really noticed from Cullman was that they put a map out every month showing where everything was going to be located. It stays there in the same spot every single month. That was a big thing for us. Also, the way that they do their sponsorships but also some of the different activities that they have, they bring in. They have a pet contest every month. It is really neat.
And the mechanical bull. We can't forget the mechanical bull.
Melea Hames: [00:05:01] Yes.
Dede Quarry: [00:05:02] We brought that to Decatur. Cullman is really neat and how it has grown their parks and rec actually put theirs on and whereas ours is put on by our Merchant’s Association, but parks and rec for them put it on and they actually have beer tents up and down the street. They've expanded it to make it go further down their downtown to where they're getting more to have more of the small businesses that are involved because they were like, “Hey, this is, we're missing out on something good here. We want to be open as well and have things going on in front of our stores.”
Melea Hames: [00:05:40] Yeah, that is so cool. I know there's a brewery in Cullman like there is here in Decatur. There's Goat Island Brewery in Cullman. I'm quite sure that they sponsor those beer tents.
Dede Quarry: [00:05:51] Yes, they did.
Melea Hames: [00:05:54] Cullman also does like a Farmer's Market too, and that was one thing that you wanted to implement with the Decatur 3rd Friday. Right?
Dede Quarry: [00:06:03] Yes. Cullman, their Farmers Market is at the very end of the warehouse district. It just works perfectly. It's on the same street. But for Decatur, our Farmers Market is just one block off of 2nd Avenue. We are actually going to bring in our Farmers Market down to where our vendor booths are. We have a lot of people that have lived here in their entire lives and have never been to the Farmer's Market. This is a good way to get them exposure and see what they're missing on Saturday mornings.
Melea Hames: [00:06:40] Yeah, that is so cool. Maybe even for some of those people who don't like to get up really early on Saturday mornings. I'm looking at myself here.
Dede Quarry: [00:06:53] Same to you. I don't like Saturday mornings either. I'm not a good early Saturday morning person.
Melea Hames: [00:07:03] Yes. Yeah. That'll be good. At least one, yeah one Friday night a month, I can go to the Farmers Market early so that's perfect.
Dede Quarry: [00:07:12] Our Farmers Market is doing late nights on Tuesday nights so plug for that.
Melea Hames: [00:07:19] Oh.
Dede Quarry: [00:07:20] Yeah. That way for people that do work that you're able to go but that again --
Melea Hames: [00:07:23] Okay.
Dede Quarry: [00:07:24] -- that's kind of the whole thing we are trying to get them down here for during 3rd Friday as well.
Melea Hames: [00:07:30] Yeah, that's cool. Okay. I did not know that, now I know that. Okay, well we've talked about 1st Friday, 2nd Friday and now here we are with 3rd Friday Downtown Decatur. I think I know the perfect person to talk about that. Dede, tell us what we can expect at this event.
Dede Quarry1: [00:07:50] Oh gosh. On a normal 3rd Friday as we have completely changed it up this year is totally different. Before it was just the classic cars down the street and then there were a couple of lots where there were some kid’s activities and stuff. Then there was always a little live musicians sprinkled around 2nd Avenue. Now we have a full-blown map and we have a stage. We brought the stage back that is sponsored by the City of Decatur. We have either live music or this month we're actually going to have, well, so in April we actually started out with Buddy Jewell who was an award-winning artist from Nashville. He was fantastic.
This month we're going to be having our Decatur Youth Symphony that's going to be down there. Our theme is Make Some Noise. They are going to have a bunch of the kids down there playing the drums and the bongos. They are going to play for probably, I think they said they're going to play for about a little over an hour and a half. It's kind of a community stage. It is basically what it's going to make that. We have Food Truck Alley. Gosh, we have a kid zone with face painting, balloon animal artist and inflatables. Of course, we have our mechanical bull. We have our car show -- as well. It's a lot of our vendor alley with our Farmers Market who is going to be there.
Melea Hames: [00:09:35] That sounds like a ton of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's every 3rd Friday through October. Correct?
Dede Quarry: [00:09:44] Yes. Okay. 5:30 to 9.
Melea Hames: [00:09:46] Okay. From 5:30 to 9. Awesome. Yeah. I always look forward to these. These are so much fun. You get out. You get to see people that you haven't seen in a while. I know it's that way with all of the Friday events in all the downtowns that you get to get out and mix and mingle. It's a lot of fun.
Now there's another event called Friday’s After Five in Downtown Athens. This is basically a 4th Friday event. They just call it Fridays After Five. It's very catchy. This event is around the square in downtown Athens. Of course, their shops stay open later till about eight p.m. They have specials and sidewalk sales. Their restaurants have food and drink specials. Athens also is an arts and entertainment district. The square is so that you can enjoy your beverages from the restaurants that you purchase while you stroll around the district enjoying the music. Now Downtown Decatur is also in the arts and entertainment district too. Right, Dede?
Dede Quarry: [00:10:48] Yes. We are.
Melea Hames: [00:10:51] Okay cool. You can get a drink. You have to have a specific cup though, right?
Melea Hames: [00:10:56] We actually have a 3rd Friday cup that whenever you purchase whatever if you want a cocktail or beer, either one, has our logo on there and whoever sponsors it has a special cup for it.
Melea Hames: [00:11:07] Okay, cool. That's awesome. Now there are some other events that happened on Fridays throughout the month. One of those is Food Truck Friday on Bank Street in Decatur which happens on the 1st Friday of the month. I mean it's pretty self-explanatory. There are a lot of food trucks that line up almost in front of the old State Bank on Bank Street. There are usually a lot of really good food trucks to choose from. There are picnic tables or you can take a picnic blanket. Those are fun. Huh?
Dede Quarry: [00:11:40] We love Food Truck Friday. We say the way that we're going to taste what we're going to eat for 3rd Friday because one of our food trucks that come on Food truck Friday are the ones that come on 3rd Friday night. I try to eat something different than I normally do.
Melea Hames: [00:11:56] Yeah. That's a good way to test them all out too. What's your favorite food truck?
Dede Quarry: [00:12:03] Oh.
Melea Hames: [00:12:04] It's a hard question. Huh?
Dede Quarry: [00:12:07] I love FED. This is fairly new.
Melea Hames: [00:12:11] Yeah.
Dede Quarry: [00:12:12] As like the Catfish and Hush Puppies and stuff like that. I had her fried chicken. It was phenomenal. Bricks and Ambers. You can't go wrong with Bricks and Ambers.
Melea Hames: [00:12:22] Yes.
Dede Quarry: [00:12:23] It's so good. Happi Pappi.
Melea Hames: [00:12:27] Oh. Yes.
Dede Quarry: [00:12:28] I mean you can't go wrong with the beignets.
Melea Hames: [00:12:29] No. I went to Happi Pappi three different times over the last year or so. Every time I went, they were sold out. The last time they were at 3rd Friday, I just skip dinner. I just went to Happi Pappi and got beignets and that's what I had for dinner. That was my dinner. I'm not ashamed to eat it.
Dede Quarry: [00:12:53] Eat dessert before you have dinner. I totally agree with you.
Melea Hames: [00:12:56] That's right.
Dede Quarry: [00:12:57] We had six food trucks at 3rd Friday this last month. This time we're going to have between 8 and 10.
Melea Hames: [00:13:04] Oh wow.
Dede Quarry: [00:13:07] I try to use it. We're actually the Merchants Associations over Food Truck Friday also. I try to use that as, let me see what, what's really good.
Melea Hames: [00:13:19] Yes.
Dede Quarry: [00:13:20] Use what we have on Food Truck Friday and then those people might be back for a 3rd Friday. It's a lot of food trucks.
Melea Hames: [00:13:27] Yes. I love food trucks. Whoever thought of that idea is a genius. I mean, what a cool concept just to have food trucks that just line up and you can go grab your friends on a Friday afternoon. Whatever and just take your pick. No one has to decide where are we going to eat. You can all make your own decision.
Dede Quarry: [00:13:49] Now, they just need to put a margarita machine.
Melea Hames: [00:13:52] At Third Friday, not during lunch though because we got to go back to work.
Dede Quarry: [00:13:57] I don't know where you might need to get one for.
Melea Hames: [00:14:05] Oh, my goodness! Oh, that is so true. Well, this has been such a fun episode and I knew it would be. I love talking about the fun things to do on the weekend because like I said, I live for the weekends. It was so fun to have you on the episode. Dede, thank you so much for being here.
Dede Quarry: [00:14:25] Thank you for asking me to be here.
Melea Hames: [00:14:27] Yeah. Now tell us our listeners where we can find 3rd Friday Downtown Decatur on social media.
Dede Quarry: [00:14:35] We have a 3rd Friday page on Facebook. We also have a 3rd Friday page on Instagram. Both of those have all the information that you need to either sign up to be a vendor or also have the maps on there. You can see where everything is going to be located.
Melea Hames: [00:14:54] Yeah. Make sure you give that a follow. You'll know what's going on. Look up these other events, too. They are on Facebook and Instagram as well. Look those up. Make sure you're following them so you'll know what's going on. North Alabama social platforms are linked in the description. We also have a blog post about these fun events. Check it out at northalabama.org and thanks for joining us. We will be back next time with more about Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama.
This has been another episode of the Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama Podcast, part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network, hosted by Melea Hames and produced by Relic.
[End of transcript]
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