After taking last year off due to COVID, Celebrate Anderson is back with an afternoon and evening full of festivities planned for Sunday, September 5, at Anderson Sports & Entertainment Center.
Country music singer John Michael Montgomery is this year’s headliner. Montgomery has more than 30 singles on the Billboard country charts – seven reaching number one: I Love the Way You Love Me, I Swear, Be My Baby Tonight, If You’ve Got Love, I Can Love You Like That, Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) and The Little Girl.
Opening for Montgomery is Anderson’s own Easton Gowan, winner of the inaugural Anderson Sings, Anderson County’s first virtual singing competition presented in 2020 by the United Way of Anderson County. The T.L. Hanna Jazz Band also will perform.
A native of Williamston, Gowan attends Anderson University where he is majoring in worship leadership. He bested 31 fellow singers and musicians in a single elimination, bracketed competition to win Anderson Sings by securing the most online votes, with each vote raising $1 for United Way.
“Opening for Celebrate Anderson is going to be great – performing on such a big stage in front of people that have been supporting me for the past four or five years,” Gowan said after winning last year’s competition.
The community’s largest outdoor concert, Celebrate Anderson is free to attend. The event will begin with the Celebrate Fun Zone for children from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Amphitheater gates open at 5 p.m. and music begins at 6 p.m. Fireworks will follow the show.
Presented by Michelin, Arthrex and Anderson County, Celebrate Anderson is sponsored by City of Anderson, CMC Commercial Metals, Duke Energy, GMC, J. Davis Construction, Kozlarek Law, LaBella Associates, Pope Flynn Group, ReWa, Tri-County Technical College, TTI, Visit Anderson and Waste Connections Inc.
The event will be held at the Anderson Sports & Entertainment Center, 3027 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Anderson, SC 29625.
For event updates, follow @celebrateandersonsc on Facebook.
Header image courtesy of Anderson County.
