THOMAS COUNTY, GA — Thomasville’s first Ritz Music Festival is turning live music into real support for a literacy program helping kids succeed.
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New Thomasville Ritz Music Festival raises funds to help local students improve their reading skills
The festival kicks off Saturday to raise money for a local literacy program that costs about $12,000 to run.
The festival begins at 3 p.m. at the Ritz Amphitheater in downtown Thomasville. The event will feature food, dancing, vendors, ice cream, prizes, and a mix of music genres to draw a large crowd.
Proceeds from the festival will support the Thomasville Read Foundation and its READ program.
Reading scores in Thomas County currently lag behind the state average, with just 34% of students reading at grade level. A local study identified third-grade reading as a significant problem, prompting the foundation to step in.
“We’re trying to raise money to support the READ program, and that program is helping kids in our community learn to become better readers,” Stephan Thompson, the founder of the Thomasville Read Foundation, said.
Rotary member Chandler Giddes noted the program’s early success.
“It started with a small group of 13 students, where we paired them with a one-to-two or a one-to-three ratio to instructor. It’s phonics-based and word recognition, sentence recognition, and of the 13 initial students that participated in this program, 11 of the 13 students actually improved their reading level higher or at the grade level that they were supposed to be at. And so it’s an unbelievably successful program,” Giddes said.
Thompson said organizers wanted to differentiate this event from past Thomasville music festivals, which typically focus on country and rock music.
“This particular festival, we want it to be a little different than the festivals in the past, so we’ve added some different type of music genres,” Thompson said. “So we’re going to make sure we’ve got different R&B. We’re going to have some reggae. And we actually have a DJ that’s going to actually play a set, a live set,” Thompson said.
The diverse lineup is already attracting attendees from out of state.
“As far as like the pre-registered tickets bought online, we’ve had people buy tickets all the way from as far as Tennessee that are following some of the bands that are coming in, so we’re excited for it,” Thompson said.
“This is going to be a family fun event. The weather is going to be great. We’re going to be maxing out about 80 degrees, so it’s going to be sunny and perfect. So come out, have a good time, bring the kids, and it’s supporting a really, really great cause,” Thompson said.
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