​Jazz on the Alley 

The City of Seneca’s Jazz on the Alley event shares the same goals as many downtown concert events when it was first created in 2010. After years of disinvestment in the historic downtown, planners wanted to provide a reason for local residents and tourists alike to come downtown, stimulate local businesses and change perceptions of the district.

The event, a staple of the city’s social calendar that takes place every Thursday night from April to October in Ram Cat Alley, has grown into something with a wider mission in the years since it started — it now provides a forum for local nonprofit and charitable organizations to advocate for their causes and pull in participation from the community. 

Examples include the Foothills Alliance, which offers prevention, intervention and support services to survivors of sexual assault. It hosted the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes fundraiser, in which participants walk a mile in high heels. The Wild Hearts Equine Therapy Center staged a three-day Jazz Fest beginning on Thursday night, allowing them to raise enough money to build a handicapped restroom at their facility. 

Jazz on the Alley provides a captive audience for nonprofits that can range from about 500 to 1,000 people. Participation is free for the nonprofits, and the event is funded primarily through hospitality and accommodations tax dollars.

The event has bolstered business development and longer business hours in Ram Cat Alley, now a place of shops, restaurants and even a coffee and craft beer bar. It’s also generated more tourism for Seneca, with an air club flying in for the event and a Corvette club visiting from Kentucky. 

Contact Riley Johnson at rhjohnson@seneca.sc.us or 864.723.3910.