‘All aboard’ for seafood festival and Powder Springs park’s grand opening May 14-16 Why leave dry land when downtown Powder Springs will be THE des9na9on May 14-16 for fresh seafood along with live music and arts & craDs for sale from talented ar9sans? All this and more will be offered at the inaugural “Bringing the Sea to the Springs” fes9val. Presented by the City of Powder Springs and Robin Roberts Promo9ons, the free fes9val will be centered around Thurman Springs Park, home of the Hardy Family Automo9ve Amphitheater, at 4485 Pineview Drive in the heart of Powder Springs’ downtown. Parking, in addi9on to aUendance, is also free, with the fes9val running from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. A ribbon-cuYng ceremony featuring Mayor Al Thurman — for whom the park was named — the Powder Springs City Council and other officials, will be held at 5 p.m. Friday. It will be followed with a buUerfly release to officially open the fes9val. Friday night’s headlining performer is O9s Redding III, son of legendary soul singer O9s Redding. The younger Redding has toured and performed across the United States and Europe during the course of his musical career. The accomplished and recognized ar9st in his own right has also been wri9ng and arranging music since the early 1980s. Formerly of Earth, Wind & Fire, Saturday night’s featured performer will be Grammy Award winner and professional drummer Sonny Emory, an Atlanta na9ve whose career has also had him performing with a virtual “who's who” in pop and jazz music: Paula Abdul, Eric Clapton, Stanley Clarke, Bruce Hornsby, Al Jarreau, Jennifer Lopez, BeUe Midler, Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs. A silent auc9on running throughout the weekend will benefit the Powder Spring Youth Group, with proceeds funding its annual summer camp aimed at providing educa9onal and recrea9onal experiences for youth at an affordable price. Playing both Friday and Saturday prior to the headlining acts will be The Gold Standard Band, a cover band playing hits from the likes of The Tams, The Swingin' Medallions, Wilson PickeU, James Brown, The Tempta9ons, The Four Tops, Al Green, Sam & Dave, O9s Redding, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, The DriDers, Mayer Hawthorne and Ed Sheeran. Addi9onal acts, including Sunday’s selec9on gospel music performers, are listed on the event website, bringingtheseatothesprings.com. Par9cipa9ng businesses and aUendees will be required to follow any face masking and social distancing requirements in place per guidelines from the State of Georgia and the Centers for Disease Control and Preven9on. Hand sani9zing sta9ons will be posi9oned in various downtown areas, while markings on the ground will be u9lized when possible to encourage aUendees to remain apart while wai9ng in lines. For more informa9on on Bringing The Sea to The Springs, visit bringingtheseatothesprings.com. -30-.