Jamming out at 1st Sylvester Music Festival - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Jamming out at 1st Sylvester Music Festival

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SYLVESTER, GA (WALB) -

With kids going back to school soon, people in Sylvester gave the kids something to do to enjoy what is left of their summer.

They put on the first ever Sylvester music festival Saturday afternoon. They plan on making community events a common thing in Worth County.

The music, raffles, food, and performances in Sylvester Saturday served a bigger purpose than merely entertaining people. They established community involvement that has been in the works for months.

"We got with the city to make sure it was okay if we use the land," said Jarvis B'Ship Jefferson, CEO of Greenhouse Effects. "We decided to come back for back to school to get the kids together and just have good time out here with everybody."

A few different organizations teamed up to make the music festival happen. They have bigger goals beyond today.

"What we want to be eventually be able to do is raise enough money where we can give scholarships out to the kids that are graduating," said Divine Women's Social Club president Kayla Jefferson. "We just want to provide an atmosphere where the kids can come out and have fun before they go back to school."

But for kids who don't yet see the need for scholarships, they just like the family atmosphere.

"We listened to music, we have been pray dancing, and we are just enjoying the fun," said 13-year old Malaysia Farley.

With Albany set to have a music festival this year, we asked organizers if they have advice for having a strong turnout.

"Do a lot of stuff for the kids," said CEO of Royal Records Dynasty Leroy Byrd Jr. "Give back to the kids. Give back to the community. This is the kind of response you'll get when you give back to your community and the kids."

A legacy of community might have been built into these children, that way, one day, they could lead movements like this. 

"When I was growing up, a group called men united, they would have something out here called 'kids in the park.' Once that died down, we didn't have anything else going on. We decided to recreate that same event," said B'Ship Jefferson.

And the kids are glad that they did.

Organizers say they estimated about 400 people came to the music festival. They say it will become an annual event every summer. 

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