Summer has officially arrived in Pineville and Thursday evening Main Street Live took over Pineville Square.

Dalton Mills and Gambrel and Wilson took the stage on the Pineville Square.

“This is the third year of doing this downtown concert series,” Main Street Pineville Director Jacob Roan explained. “We have tried to focus this year on true local artists that write their own music and play their own music. That’s really been our focus this year.”

Roan is excited to see the local talent coming to the Main Street Live stage this year.

“It’s been possible to pay for the local artists by local businesses that have supported us,” he said. “Tim Short, Mountain Tarp, and the Pineville Rotary Club and through their donations have made it possible to make these Main Street Live events happen all summer.”

According to Roan, the goal of these downtown concerts is to bring people to the downtown square.

“We’d like to fill up the restaurants and give a little boost to our local restaurants and businesses around the square,” Roan explained. “After talking to business owners, even if it’s an event that only 20 people show up to, they do eat downtown and the local business owners do see a little bit of a boost every time we do something downtown.”

Roan is hoping to see an increase in the crowd numbers.

“Two years ago when we started this, we were having crowds of anywhere from 300 to 500 people,” he said. “We thought that would just keep growing, however, this year we have seen smaller crowds than what we anticipated.”

Roan said he isn’t sure what that can be attributed to, but he hopes to see the number increase.

“Without the local support, we won’t be able to continue to do events like these,” Roan stated. “We need the local support.”

The next event scheduled is the anticipated first of its kind event for Pineville and Bell County.

The Laurel Cove Music Festival is a two-day music event taking place next weekend, June 7 and 8. Over 15 bands are set to take the stage at the venue that holds approximately 1,400 people.

Main Street Pineville and Bell County Tourism are partnering together to make the festival happen.

“We expect that to sell out,” he said. “We are already making plans for next year to take it up a notch, but it’s going to be a really cool event on June 7 and 8, that’s a Friday and Saturday.”

For more information, you can check out their Facebook page at Laurel Cove Music Festival you can also make reservations at Pine Mountain State Resort Park by visiting parks.ky.gov and searching for Pine Mountain.

Mark your calendars for more upcoming events from Main Street Live Pineville. Here are a few of those events:

• June 15 – Main Street Live with Chained Rock Jeep Fest

• June 22 – Cruisin’ Chained Rock Car Show

• June 29 – Buke Show for Gunnar

• July 3 – Independence Day in Pineville

• July 11 – Main Street Live featuring Dave Shoemaker and Chris Minton

• July 25 – Summer Reading Finale: Man on the Moon presented by Bell County Public Library

• July 27 – Main Street Live!

• August 3 – KidsFest

• August 17 – Main Street Live!

You can keep up with all the events in Pineville on the Main Street Pineville Facebook page or by visiting www.thecityofpineville.com or calling Jacob Roan at 606-499-0660.