Sounds on Square Thursday in Abbeville

The annual “Sounds on the Square” concert series has been held at Magdalen Square since 2009, bringing together the citizens of Abbeville every Thursday night to enjoy great music of different genres to help benefit the city and get more people to check it out.
This year’s event got underway just last week, and it is to benefit the reopening of Frank’s Theatre, which closed in 1983. In the past, it was a movie theater, and the new version will be used to show not only films, but live performances. To Abbeville’s Main Street Manager Charlene Beckett, helping the theater is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this event.
“We have the perfect spot for holding events in Magdalen Square, so we have been trying to create something that would bring people to the downtown area,” she explained. “The city sponsors the music, and I think it benefits the entire community and it also showcases our musical talent. Our cuisine, our music, our joie de vivre, that’s what makes us who we are, and so this is an opportunity show that off.”
For this year, The Babineaux Sisters, Robbeaux and Friends, Gregg Martinez and the Delta Kings and the Get Back Band have been slated to perform. The Babineaux Sisters were last week, and Robbeaux and Friends will be performing tonight, with the other two acts playing in the coming couple of weeks. Beckett admits that she tries to look for acts of different genres like country, Cajun and swamp pop, but this time around, it took quite a while to book the groups for this one.
“That can take a couple of months,” she explained. “We try to mix the style of music. We try to do country music, Cajun music, zydeco music, swamp pop. The selection of bands can sometimes be difficult because we try to mix it up. It’s not hard to find a band. It’s just to try to get the variety.”
She also added that it was nice for the Allume Society, who has been helping with the restoration of Frank’s Theatre and the stabilization of Abbeville’s economy, to have some association with the event.
“It’s a good tie-in that the theater is located next to the Square and we’re hoping, as the building gets remodeled, then we could have more cultural events in the theater,” Beckett said.
Admission to the “Sounds on the Square” concerts are free, and there will be refreshments sold that will help with the theater’s remodeling. F.U.E.L Vermilion will be serving jambalaya at tonight’s performance. The concert starts at 5:30 p.m. and will end at around 9.