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By Mackenzee Simms | Photos by Jeremey Raines

 

It’s a late Monday evening, and while most people are winding down after a long day, a select few talented Helena citizens gather in an unassuming meeting room of the Helena Sports Complex. Over the next hour, they efficiently tackle a to-do list of venue arrangements and hospitality logistic while they smile and joke with their neighbors.

This is a meeting of the Helena Old Town Board where Helena citizens, united by a shared desire to serve their community, pool their talents and experiences to plan and execute Helena’s most popular events, such as Old Town Live.

 

HOW IT ALL STARTED

In the summer of 2020, the Helena City Council approved a resolution to combine the Old Town Development Board and the Helena Arts Council to create the Helena Old Town Board in order to promote economic development and tourism in Helena’s Old Town.

According to HOT Board member Jake Rasmussen, each board member answered the city’s call for applications with descriptions of their skills that they believed could benefit the community. Then, the city council assembled a team with a wide variety of skills to accomplish the board’s mission.

“All of us that applied for this were chosen because of our unique desire to love our city,” Rasmussen said. “Our city council put us together as relative strangers to accomplish a common purpose. We all leverage our own gifts for the betterment of the city.”

During the board’s original Zoom meetings, the members brainstormed several ideas for ways to accomplish their goals, but according to Chairman Jason Pruitt, it was Brian Hayes that originally came up with the idea for Old Town Live.

“Brian (Hayes) and I sat down one night, just the two of us, and we had been doing some music events over at the brewery,” Pruitt said. “He was like, ‘Man, I really want to see some bands come down here and play in this park and get people in here.’ And I was like ‘Let’s take it to the board and see if everybody wants to do this.’”

 

THE START OF A TRADITION

The first Old Town Live concert was held on April 3, 2021 featuring performances from The Pine Hill Haints, Drayton Farley and Deadwood.

According to board member JoAnna Harman, the first concert proved the viability of Old Town Live.

“I think after we did the first one, it kind of checked all the boxes,” Harman said. “You’re bringing tourism in. You’re hopefully promoting the economy. That’s how we landed on doing these Old Town Live events—it checked everything that we had been tasked to do.”

Since that first concert, Old Town Live has grown into a premiere event. The free, monthly concerts in the summer are well known in Central Alabama for being the perfect laidback, family friendly way to spend an evening, listening to some fantastic music.

Board member Billy Rosener recalled that first year of concerts and compared it to what Old Town Live is today.

“We probably had a budget of $12,000 in that first year with money that we raised and maybe a total of 1,000 people come to the park,” Rosener said. “This year, for just the first three shows, we probably had well over 20,000 people and a budget significantly greater than that.”

 

HOW THE MAGIC HAPPENS

With acts already booked for all of the concerts in 2025, work for Old Town Live starts months in advance.

Brain Hayes and Jason Pruitt both handle “band hospitality,” which refers to everything from booking acts to organizing drinks for the VIP tent. But perhaps the weirdest part of band hospitality is answering artists’ requests.

For example, when Robert Randolph came to Helena, he requested a chair with exact dimensions. The board found a chair at a thrift store, altered it to add some height and gave it a fresh new paint job. Another example would be when the Allman Betts Band asked for fishing poles the day of Old Town Live, so they could fish in Buck Creek.

Nathan Bailey, formerly known as Nate Dog when he worked in radio, has more than 20 years of experience in the music industry and also helps with band hospitality.

“My role here on the board, I help Jason (Pruitt) and Brian (Hayes) with the artist hospitality,” Bailey said. “I’m what’s called a runner, which is the person basically that handles if an artist comes and says, ‘Hey, I need to go here, there and everywhere.’”

Setup for an Old Town Live concert may start as far out as the Thursday before with the HOT Board and volunteers showing up to help erect the stage and set up the tents.

JoAnna Harman is in charge of setting up the VIP tent and works the entire night to make sure that everyone has what they need. Meanwhile, her husband, JC, runs around taking care of any small tasks that may pop up.

The newest member of the HOT Board, Tony Middleton, comes from an audio-visual production background and began as a volunteer with the HOT Board. Now as a board member, Middleton aids in whatever tasks may require attention during the concerts.

In addition to the events themselves, there are more members of the board that handle things behind the scenes.

HOT Board Vice President Jeremy Allen brings more than 20 years of graphic design experience to the table. Allen and his next door neighbor, Jake Rasmussen, work closely together to handle all Old Town Live social media and branding to ensure that word gets out about Old Town Live.

Meanwhile, the HOT Board treasurer, John Barnes, makes sure that whole operation stays within budget.

 

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

In light of how much Old Town Live has grown, Rasmussen reflected on how the HOT Board started, a group of strangers with a common purpose.

“We were all strangers in our own right,” Rasmussen said. “Now, some of us do life together outside of here because we met on (the HOT Board). It’s turned into a group of friends.”

Not only has the board grown closer, the concerts grow bigger and better every single year.

“I think it goes to show what happens when you unleash people that are passionate about a community because they are willing to work together, to roll up their sleeves, to sweat, to bleed and have fun together,” Rasmussen said.

But despite the bonds that exist in the current HOT Board, Rasmussen shared that there is always room for new members and new volunteers for those that wish to utilize their skills or time for the betterment of Helena.

“We stack hands, rub shoulders and link arms month after month in the summer to plan this and meet year round,” Rasmussen said. “But anybody that has ever come to the table and said that they want to help out, then there’s always a place at the table for more people.”