Statesboro area residents and visitors can extend their Independence Day celebration to First Friday evening, July 5, with the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority's annual Downtown Picnic, 5:30–8 p.m. on the courthouse lawn.

Attractions include free, fresh watermelon and homemade lemonade and a waterslide for kids to cool off from the summer heat. As usual with First Friday events, vendor booths and food trucks will sell other meal, snack and dessert items nearby.

IMPACT, a youth band program founded in 2015 by Anthony Shelton, will provide live music. The program involves Georgia Southern University students in outreach to underprivileged youth, according to an event organizer. 

The group "has a dual mission of providing musical support to increase morale and provide entertainment to the surrounding communities, as well as the state of Georgia, regionally nationally and internationally," Shelton was quoted in the DSDA announcement.

"Our priority is to provide a safe environment for all youth, especially underprivileged kids. We will give them opportunities other than gangs or the streets," he said.

Downtown Picnic sponsors include Ark Plumbing, Statesboro Oral Surgery, American Roofing, Tormenta FC, Manack Signature Properties, East Georgia Oral Surgery, Colony Bank, Zaxbys, Hargray Fiber and Renasant Bank.