Final Summer Nights LIVE of the season to be held Friday

The last of this year’s Summer Nights LIVE events will be held at Community Park in Belgium on Friday.

Music and food begins at 6 p.m.

The acoustic duo Twenty-Three will perform a variety of pop, rock, indie and country songs, and the String Along String Band will play the music of Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson, Patsy Cline, John Denver, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, as well as rock and roll and bluegrass classics.

The concession stand will feature chicken dinners benefitting the Belgium Scouts, and the beer and wine garden will benefit the Belgium Lions Club.

A market, kickball and bean bag toss games will be held, and children may play on playground equipment.

The recent heavy rains have not changed plans for the event, Belgium Area Chamber of Commerce Marketing Director Tara Williams said.

The series, which has drawn hundreds of people in its first two events, came from a brainstorming session in spring at a Connect Communities kickoff meeting.

Connect Communities is run by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. as a supplement to the Main Street program that works to support downtown redevelopment. Belgium is one of eight communities to join the program this year.

In March, about 20 Belgium officials, business and community leaders gathered to develop ideas for events to draw people to the village.

The top three on the list were a farmers market, beer garden and music in the park.

Summer Nights LIVE includes the latter two of those attractions.

The Chamber organized the concert series and held events in June and early August. The last concert drew about 350 people, Williams said, which was an increase over June’s attendance.

In addition, the Chamber organized a Splash Pad Sunday in July that drew about 300 people.