Live on the Avenue 2024 drew thousands; staff and council review funding, operations for 2025

Live on the Avenue returned in 2024 as a multiweek summer series that combined music, movies and family programming and drew large crowds, town staff told the Town Council during a review of the season.

The program ran on Fridays and Saturdays in July, August and September with 26 street closures, 57 bands and entertainers, six youth bands and three movie nights, staff said. "The total cost is about $12 per person that attended," Maddie O'Grady, recreation staff, told the council as she presented the budget and attendance figures.

Town staff highlighted three sources of revenue for the series: town contributions for operations and staffing, private sponsorships and a friends-and-family donations program. Staff reported roughly $240,000 in total program costs that include staffing, portables, street attendants, janitorial, signage and traffic control. The town contribution including staffing and services was listed at about $166,000; fundraising this year totaled about $75,000; and the friends-and-family donations rose to roughly $11,500.

Why it matters: Live on the Avenue is both a community…