(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a series celebrating the people, places and history of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall as it turns 50 this year.)

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- For 38 years in Charlottesville, the six city blocks that comprise the Downtown Mall have been filled with music each Friday.

Fridays After Five, the free concert series that stretches from the end of every spring to the beginning of every fall annually at Ting Pavillion, has served as a community hub for area residents and visitors, even before it moved into its current home on 9th street. Fridays also functions as showcase for the many local acts that call the area home. These musicians get to entertain on the same stage that the Pavillion’s marquis guests, hailing from the nationwide music scene, have played, treating eager, fun-loving crowds to their unique sound.   

Jonathan Drolshagen has been curating the series since 2022 with Red Light Management.

“Every Friday afternoon there’s always something to do,” Drolshagen, who also manages shows at the Paramount Theater, the Jefferson Theater, and the Southern Cafe, told Cville Right Now. “You’re always able to go downtown and see your friends, your neighbors, and hear some great live music.  In an age where everything is on a screen and digitized, there’s no replacing actual human interaction.” 

Drolshagen worked alongside the longtime former General Manager of the Ting Pavillion Kirby Hutto, who was brought on by the Charlottesville Downtown Foundation as their special events coordinator in 1992.  Hutto was booking the Fridays after Five shows when it was hosted on a small wooden stage that alternated different ends of the mall on a weekly basis. 

When he returned to manage the series in 2005 with the opening of the Ting Pavillion, Hutto became instrumental in giving local artists a platform to their stuff, as Dave Matthews Band did at Fridays after Five in the mid-1990s. 

“I wanted to allow the local talent that we’ve always had in Charlottesville on opportunity to play the high-profile gig downtown for all their friends and neighbors,” Hutto said.

The collection of regular acts the series showcases is eclectic, encompassing many different genres and styles.   

Chamomile and Whiskey plays a blend of country, folk, and rock that they call “Blue Ridge Rock and Roll.”  They played on May 15 at Fridays after Five. 

Since 1984, Indecision has played a blend of rock and folk almost entirely improvisational, in a style that has much in common with jazz in the Charlottesville area.  They will play on Friday, July 24 during Fridays after five. 

Grateful Dead tribute band Alligator will be taking the stage again on August 7. 

Fridays after Five will also be hosting an up-and-coming Jimmy Buffett tribute band out of Richmond, known as Dreamsicle, on August 28.   

Baaba Seth, a world groove band that had been playing since 1991 before going on hiatus in 2019, will be reuniting again to ring in the 50th anniversary of the Downtown Mall on July 3.  The last time they reunited in 2023, they played to a sold-out crowd.   

When asked about the ways in which the event has changed overtime, aside from relocating to the Ting Pavillion, Drolshagen believes the biggest change he’s observed is when the event stopped taking cash. However, he told Cville Right Now, the lack of substantial change to the makeup of the event is a good thing.  

“It provides a forum for great local artists to present their music on a big stage,” Drolshagen said “The [Charlottesville] music scene has gotten more robust, it’s remarkable how much music we have in the Charlottesville area, we punch way above our weight in terms of cultural impact per capita.” 

Hutto, meanwhile, believes that Fridays After Five was instrumental in kickstarting the Downtown Mall as a destination.  

“Downtown was not thriving, and the city recognized that,” Hutto recalled “they argued the future of the mall should be as an arts, entertainment, and dining district, which is what it is now.”

Charlottesville’s culture is vibrant and thriving thanks to its musicians.  The Downtown Mall, throughout its fifty-year history, has been, remains, and will continue to be, a gathering place for the citizens of Charlottesville, Albemarle, and visitors from parts beyond to gather together, rain or shine, and appreciate the best these artists have to offer. Throughout its next fifty years, provided Fridays After Five continues, the Mall will always have its own soundtrack.