Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities

Finally Fridays!

City of Fredericksburg’s Finally Friday Event Series Comes to an End

July 7, 2010

After a fourteen year run the City of Fredericksburg has ended the Finally Fridays/First Friday event series.

The series began in May of 1997 and was held along Sophia Street between the American Carpet building and the Wings on the Water property, both of which have been demolished to create the Riverfront Park. Two years later it was moved ― it’s new location spanned Charlotte Street and included the Visitor Center Parking lots on both sides of the street. The First Friday series was successful at this location through 2006. Starting in 2007, the First Friday event was held in the municipal parking lot on Sophia Street at the end of George Street. The change in venue helped make the 2007 season one of the biggest ever for the event. The event continued as First Fridays until July of 2008, when it was moved to the last Friday of the month and became known as Finally Friday. It continued as Finally Fridays through June of this year.

In 1996, the former city manager asked the Director of Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities, Robert Antozzi, to develop an event for downtown Fredericksburg. At the time, no events of this type were occurring on a regular basis. With the help from sponsors like Fredericksburg Distributing Company, and the Star Radio Group, the First/Finally Friday event provided an opportunity for families and friends to gather together downtown to celebrate the weekend and listen to live music. Local non-profit organizations provided volunteers to staff each event and received a portion of the profits in return.

“Today”, says Antozzi, “the void in special events downtown no longer exists. On a given Friday, several events may be taking place at the same time. The upside of ending the series is that it allows the City’s reduced resources to concentrate higher priority services.”

In an effort to determine if other opportunities for special events downtown exist, the Department is conducting an survey. Please take the time to provide your feedback.  Survey