Sounds Around Town Offers Up Sounds — and Tastes — Worth Savoring

Friday , Aug. 4

Friday nights during a hot, sunny summer tend to be action-packed for residents of the 814, but how many events can you think of that feature live music, plus food and drink — and are totally free?

Welcome to "Sounds Around Town," your perfect little Friday evening oasis, brought to you by WQLN. For the past four Fridays, in fact, WQLN has hosted these music-and-refreshment-inclusive shows, but this week's ends the series, and they are going out with a real bang.

Starting at 7 p.m., renowned local jazz vocalist and musician Joe Dorris and his friends will take center stage at the Pond Side Pavilion on the grounds of WQLN headquarters. This is a rare treat, as the group aims to recreate the experience of renowned jazz impresario and activist Norman Granz's shows from the 1940s to the 1980s (known as "Jazz at the Philharmonic"), with some rock and bluegrass thrown in for good measure.

In addition to the exciting symphony of sounds, free coffee samples will be available via the Millcreek Coffee company, free beer samples will be on-hand thanks to the good people at the Erie Beer Company, and no Erie event can call itself such without the presence of Smith's Provisions products.

Should the weather take a downturn, the event is simply decamped and moved inside, and in either case guests are invited to bring their own blankets and chairs. Come and give this wallet-friendly, open-air community series the proper summer of 2017 send-off it deserves! — Cara Suppa

7 p.m. // 8425 Peach St. // wqln.org // free