🚨 PLOT TWIST! 🚨

Think you're coming to First Friday just for the concert?

Not this month...

👠 The evening starts with the Downtown Fashion Show at 6:00 PM on the Town Green, featuring local fashions and a special appearance by Miss Northwest Georgia Hannah Shaw!

🎶 Then at 7:00 PM, the music begins with TWO LIVE BANDS!

🎸 Curiosity Shoppe
🎸 Crews & Company

Shop local. Eat downtown. Cheer on the runway. Stay for an incredible night of live music.

📍 Town Green
📅 Friday, August 7

Bring your friends—it'll be a First Friday you won't want to miss!

Downtown Rome is ushering in a new era with expanded public consumption hours, giving residents and visitors daily opportunities to enjoy beverages outdoors.

The policy now permits approved alcoholic drinks every day from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., no longer limited to certain nights.

This shift provides added flexibility to explore Rome’s lively dining, shopping, and entertainment districts.

Guests can purchase drinks to go from authorized vendors using city-marked cups, enhancing the city’s beloved sip-and-stroll tradition.

Clear rules remain—all beverages must stay within marked zones, and safety is emphasized.

With fresh businesses joining Broad Street, visitors now have more options than ever, from wine bars to trendy cafes.

This move is energizing downtown, attracting both locals and travelers eager for memorable weekends in Rome’s core.

The expansion reflects Rome’s commitment to local spirit and a vibrant community experience.

An extraordinary young girl with a brilliant mind, a fearless imagination and the courage to challenge the adults who underestimate her takes center stage when Rome Little Theatre presents Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical August 28–30, 2026, at the Rome City Auditorium.

Matilda Wormwood may be small, but she is anything but powerless. Surrounded by careless parents, dismissive grown-ups and the terrifying headmistress Miss Trunchbull, Matilda learns that intelligence and courage can be formidable weapons. With the help of the kindhearted Miss Honey, she begins to discover her own remarkable abilities—and realizes that sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty to make things right.

Filled with memorable music, energetic performances and the wonderfully dark humor associated with Roald Dahl, Matilda The Musical is a story about standing up for yourself, protecting others and refusing to let cruel people write your future.

This production will be presented as a special three-day engagement on a single weekend, rather than Rome Little Theatre’s usual two-weekend run. The shortened schedule comes while the stage, proscenium and backstage areas of the Historic DeSoto Theatre, RLT’s longtime home, undergo renovation.

The Rome City Auditorium will provide the temporary stage for Matilda’s story while work continues at the DeSoto.

Rome Little Theatre is scheduled to return to the Historic DeSoto Theatre in April 2027 with the uplifting musical Come From Away. The season will continue there in June 2027 with the comedy Always a Bridesmaid.

Because Matilda The Musical will be offered for only three days, audiences will have a limited opportunity to see this imaginative and inspiring production. Performances are scheduled for August 28–30 at the Rome City Auditorium.

Season and Indivodual Show Tickets Are Available HERE

Calling all bargain hunters, antique lovers and folks who cannot pass a roadside table marked “Everything Must Go.” The 127 Yard Sale returns August 6–9, 2026, offering four days of treasure hunting across six states.

Known as the World’s Longest Yard Sale, the event stretches 690 miles from just north of Addison, Michigan, to Gadsden, Alabama. Along the way, shoppers travel through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, discovering everything from vintage furniture and collectibles to clothing, tools and household bargains.

For shoppers near Rome, some of the most accessible portions of the route run through Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Mentone, Fort Payne, Collinsville and Gadsden. Highway 127 ends in Chattanooga, where the sale continues south along the scenic Lookout Mountain Parkway through Georgia and Alabama. Organizers recommend carrying printed directions because the route changes highway numbers and GPS service may be unreliable in rural areas.

Major Alabama stops include Akins Shady Pines near Fort Payne, Collinsville Crossroads and vendor areas near Noccalula Falls in Gadsden.

The 127 Yard Sale is more than a shopping trip. It is a backroads adventure filled with small towns, mountain scenery, friendly vendors and the possibility that somebody else’s clutter may become your next great find.

Something dark is stirring at Vintage Wine and Tapas Bar at LaScala…

On August 14, Rome Shakespeare Festival invites you to enter the haunting world of Edgar Allan Poe for an evening where dinner is only the beginning.

By candlelight, Poe’s most unforgettable works—including Annabel Lee, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Raven—will unfold through dramatic live readings, immersive soundscapes, gothic atmosphere, and live music by cellist Annie Camp.

As tales of love, madness, mystery, and loss come to life around you, enjoy a themed multi-course dinner featuring signature cocktails and wine inspired by Poe’s stories.

This is not simply dinner.

It is theater at your table.

It is a shadow in the corner.

It is a heartbeat beneath the floorboards.

This is the second Dinner with a Side of Drama performance following a Gatsby themed event at Beneath Broad, The performance brings together elegant dining, literary artistry, live performance, and just enough darkness to leave you wondering what might be watching from across the room.

Dinner. Drama. Darkness. Delight.

Presented by Rome Shakespeare Festival with Vintage Wine and Tapas Bar at LaScala.

Thursday, August 14
Performance begins promptly at 7 p.m.

Please arrive early. This is not a drop-in party, but a fully immersive performance that begins the moment the evening starts.

$100 per person
Reservations are required. Space is strictly limited.

Reserve your place before the raven says, “Nevermore.”

Register HERE!

Rome Little Theatre has announced its 2026/2027 Season Ticket Package, featuring an exciting lineup of shows and flexible ticket options for local theatre fans.

Current season ticket holders can renew between May 26 and June 15, 2026, while new season tickets will be available starting June 16, 2026.

This season includes Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical at Rome City Auditorium from August 28–30, 2026, bringing the beloved story of courage and self-discovery to the stage.

Other highlights are the powerful musical Come From Away and the sharp-witted comedy Always a Bridesmaid, both set for The DeSoto Theatre in 2027.

Season tickets guarantee the best value and your preferred seat for every mainstage production.

Individual show tickets go on sale July 15, 2026.

The arrival of a new K–5 charter school in Rome, GA has energized families and educators with expanded public school choices.

At a spirited ribbon-cutting, parents and community members celebrated the opening of Northwest Georgia Charter Academy, a response to growing calls for tuition-free options that blend academics with character-building.

This new school also restores hope for residents in Cave Spring after the closure of a beloved community school.

With its focus on expeditionary learning, the academy offers hands-on learning, collaborative projects, and outdoor experiences, aiming to develop critical thinking and teamwork.

Fieldwork and service projects prepare students for real-world challenges, while a partnership with the Georgia School for the Deaf enhances resources and inclusivity.

Local leaders and parents alike say this innovative approach is fueling community pride as enrollment begins.