Hundreds of Auburn community members gathered in the downtown streets well before the 2017 SummerNight parade started.
The hot and humid summer air was beating down upon the crowds of dog walkers and stroller pushers as they looked east toward Pebble Hill.
Local business owners and craftsmen put up a wide selection of merchandise as they set up their tents stretching from Cheeburger Cheeburger on South College Street all the way to the front of Langdon Hall on Magnolia Avenue, some with string lights and others with colorful advertising banners.
As the Samford clock tower struck six, a wall of families and sightseers gathered on the sidewalks to the edge of Magnolia Avenue to see the parade commence.
Joyful shouting of children erupted as the procession came into view, led by an Auburn Fire Division truck that was tailed by kids on scooters and a mass of volunteering parents pushing strollers.
Members of the Auburn Area Community Theatre were dressed as medieval knights and resembled a LARPing club, while the Charming Oaks Clothing Company drove behind them in a black pick-up that blared hip hop music as women dressed as bees tossed t-shirts at the admiring crowd.
The parade ended with a literal bang as confetti cannons fired off when members of the Variations Dance Studio finished performing their routine on Toomer’s Corner, littering the street with tiny, colorful pieces of plastic.
With the sun yet to go down, lines poured out of the doors of many downtown businesses like Taco Mama and Steel City Pops, who sold cool, refreshing treats to the city’s sweaty inhabitants.
Piles of small shoes from energetic children lay beside the inflatable bounce house and giant slide that were set up in front of Biggin Hall, while toddlers danced to the rockabilly tones of the Electric Rangers as parents recorded videos on their mobile devices.
Volunteers for the SummerNight event could be seen pacing among business stands and driving a golf cart through the urban core wearing comfort color yellow t-shirts marked by honeybees and honey dippers, outlined by a black hexagon and designed by Stamp employee Emily Stevenson.
“They were like, ‘It’s bee themed, do whatever you want,’ so I did,” Stevenson said as she served hotdogs on the street in front of Stamp. “I kind of wanted it to be a hipster look, so I looked at some inspiration and the kind of imagery I liked.”
The Downtown Merchants Association had a stand set up across the street from Stamp, where the newly-hired Downtown Coordinator Jessica Kohn sold t-shirts promoting the event and downtown as she networked with passerbys alongside her daughter.
Kohn said this year’s SummerNight exceeded her expectations, and a greater amount of people had attended this year’s event in no small part due to the additional parking that Auburn University provided.
“I have not had a chance to talk with any of the downtown merchants yet, but I can already tell just by the amount of people in the line coming out of the Popcorn Company that it is definitely benefitting them,” Kohn said. “I think that events like this allow people to see Auburn as so much more than just a college town."
Colorful chalk drawings of flowers and bees filled the parking spaces in front of St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, where a stand offering face paintings of snakes, tigers, dogs and butterflies for tips until 8 p.m. was set up before a long line of parents and eager children.
A small group of children played and swung around light poles in front of Toomer’s Drugs while Katie Forster, Auburn resident since 1980, watched over them.
“My kids have loved it," Forster said. "They’ve gotten ice cream, they’ve danced with the band…It’s a safe environment where the kids feel like they can roam around and be independent."
Auburn University students who stayed over the summer could also be seen, many of whom took advantage of the open container policy that goes with the Entertainment District Event.
“I really like that fact that there are vendors who are able to come out and sell things like pottery or ceramics that may not usually have the venue to do that,” said Peter Strickland, senior in Theater. “And also it’s just a nice event to be able to come downtown and enjoy the atmosphere without any sort of traffic coming through.”
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