In downtown Burlington’s Historic Depot, there was a bustling scene with live music, a K-9 demonstration and more for the annual Phoenix Fourth Friday event, held in collaboration between the City of Burlington’s Recreation and Parks Department and Burlington Downtown Corporation.
As Burlington’s final Fourth Friday festival of the summer, this marked the only event held while Elon classes were in session.
Elon University sophomore Lucy Horn said events like these are important to connect the Elon and Burlington communities. She promoted her merchandise, Looks by Lucy, at the event.
“Sometimes I feel like when we’re at Elon, we’re kind of isolated from the rest of the community, but being here brings students and community members together, which I think is great,” Horn said.
Junior Tessa Gladwell works at Tanner’s Wine Bar in downtown Burlington and said in her experience, not a lot of Elon students know what is housed downtown.
“There are not a lot of students at Elon who know a lot about downtown Burlington, so I feel like combining the two provides an opportunity for that new demographic to kind of see all of the businesses and what they have to offer,” Gladwell said.
This was the last Fourth Friday to close out the summer, but Elon is set to collaborate again with downtown next year.