This Friday, June 10, the City of Auburn will be celebrating its 10th annual Summer Night Downtown Art Walk from 6–10 p.m. This year’s event includes interactive attractions such as an opening parade where all can attend and be a part of, a cookie baking contest and vending or booth opportunities to sell products.
This year's Summer Night will take place downtown, spanning from parts of South College Street down Magnolia Avenue. The art walk is for all ages and includes children areas for crafts, face painting and other activities.
The Auburn Arts Association local non-profit started the event ten years ago. The drive behind the event stems from the lack of city-wide events that take place in the summer
Being a college town, many Auburn city events take place around school time during the fall and spring semesters when Auburn University has the most students for the year.
Summer Night was created for the students and Auburn citizens that are here for the summer as a way to break the monotony of spending a low-traffic season in a college town. The event started off as a small sidewalk event and grew over the years into a multiple-street-spanning block party.
“We focus on other events throughout the year being a college town,” explained Cari Cleckler, Summer Night co-coordinator. “ [Summer Night] gives us a chance for the residents and students here to have a good time and promote the arts within our city.”
This year’s Art Walk will start with a parade. The parade is interactive and open to everyone.
A pre-parade party will be hosted at Pebble Hill house on South Debardeleben Street. Come early at 5:00 for the pre-parade party to get parked, painted and dressed up for the parade.
“It’s for the public. If you and your family want to come over and decorate a stroller or a bicycle to walk with us … feel free, the parade is for everyone,” Cleckler said. “I’m really excited about the parade. … You get to start off the event with a fun and unique activity."
The pre-party crowd will then head downtown for the main event.
“We will walk from Pebble Hill to downtown [after the pre-party],” said Suzanne Norman target-demographic intern of the Summer Night Event.
Another interactive event on Summer Night will be a baking contest.
“We are going to have a cookie contest that will be done in advance and the winner will be announced on [Summer Night],” Cleckler said.
The winning cookies will also be available for public purchase. Proceeds from the winning cookies will go toward a fundraiser for the Auburn Arts Association.
There will be over 50 artists expected at this year’s Summer Night Downtown Art Walk. Prices will vary depending on the vendor and market price. Prices can range depending on the product: $10-30 for smaller items to $50 and above for larger pieces.
As an interactive event for the public, the Summer Night Downtown Art Walk coordinators are open to suggestions to make next year better.
“We are very interested in hearing feedback," Cleckler said. "We will be wearing Summer Night t-shirts and name tags. We are very interested in creating quality programs for the Auburn Community."
For those attending Summer Night Downtown Art Walk, the event is free and parking will be available in the Municipal Parking Deck, Regions bank, BBVA bank and local nearby churches that have partnered with this event.
Parking will also be provided at Pebble Hill at the pre-parade decorating party, and street parking will still be available.
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