Brookhaven isn’t Austin, Texas, when it comes to live music. But the Home Seekers Paradise is growing a live music scene that most small cities would love to have.

Brookstock XVII begins tonight and will continue through the weekend. What began as a single concert for a high school reunion has blossomed into a three-night event full of live music.

The festival kicks off tonight with the Singer/Songwriter Night at Recess 101 downtown. Doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is free. Friday night is Brookstock Too at the Haven Theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m with music beginning at 7 p.m. and admission is $10.

Saturday morning offers a Brookstock Breakfast Club at Chism’s Diner on Union Street Extension (Dutch treat). Later in the evening Brookstock XVII kicks off at the Brookhaven Building on Industrial Park Road. Doors open at 5 p.m. with music starting at 7 p.m. and admission is $10. That night of music will feature Mike J. Case & Friends, Tony Norton, Andy Tanas (formerly of Black Oak Arkansas and Krokus), Virgil Brawley & Friends, Ricky Brown & Friends, The Bridge Band and The Brutes.

Also happening this summer is the city’s ongoing concert series. The Bridge Band will close out the series July 28.

Brookstock, the summer concert series and the host of other arts and music events (including live music at local restaurants) lives and breathes on community support. It takes people showing up, buying tickets and supporting these musicians.

“We’ve got it going on downtown. If you drive around to other cities in the state and go to their downtown, they’re ghost towns,” Tyler Bridge with The Bridge  Band said. “As long as people keep supporting these events, we can find sponsors to keep sponsoring it. It takes money for production and to get good bands.”

Bridge is right. These events aren’t cheap, but they bring life to downtown Brookhaven. The city and its downtown businesses are better off because of these events. Let’s all endeavor to support them.