Friday After 5 Executive Director Fran Marseille spent most of the season finale on the stage watching the crowd enjoy the throwback songs of Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and 98 Degrees. The ending of the 25th season was bittersweet for Marseille.
“I love Friday After 5 and I was excited to be able to do something kind of fun and different, but a little sad that that was our final concert for the season,” Marseille said.
Coming out of her second year in the position, she was thankful and felt accomplished of all the weeks and events they were able to put on following the pandemic. To Marseille, that was a difficult task.
Marseille wanted to accomplish something special this year — bookending the summer with unique and exciting performances. She recalls Mayor Tom Watson asking how she was going to top the Baha Men opening the summer concert series on May 21 — and her answer was it’s about finishing with another spectacular show.
So bringing All the Cool Kids was a great way to end the summer for Marseille. After the concert, she found several people coming from different parts of the country to see the band perform and meet them.
To her, it was a wonderful economic development for the city.
“People from outside of our region are becoming more aware of Friday After 5, and they’re traveling in for it, and I think that’s going to be the economic stimulus that will be great for our community,” Marseille said.
Marseille is already ensuring there will be more fun next season, and they’ve already started planning for another summer full of fun.
