USC’s Sports Entertainment majors are helping to soft launch Columbia’s newly renovated Finlay Park with their Downtown @ Sundown concert on Nov. 14. 

The concert came about because of two well-timed coincidences: the reopening of Finlay Park and the approaching final semester exams at USC. 

USC students can reserve a free ticket, with a valid student id, to see singer Katie DeMartini and college-circuit bands Mountain Candy and Silk Road. 

All senior Sports Entertainment majors are required to take an event planning course. Those students in the past weren’t able to see a similar plan come to fruition because the course didn’t involve hands-on learning. Now, things are changing. 

Adjunct professors Dave Britt and Trae Judy used their experience and connections in the festival and event management industry to secure one of their classes an event spot at the unopened Finlay Park. Sports Entertainment student Aaron Fishman said the class is typically online and the students create a fake event, never getting to see their hard work come to life. 

“You’re planning it online, so it’s not a real event,” Fishman said. “This year, we’re actually doing a real event. … It happens that our professors had relations with the people that run Finley Park. … And they, like, put millions of dollars into renovating it, so they’re like, we might as well have a cold open, see how the park runs.”

The students will be staffing the event, and they’ll be doing everything from cleaning the bathrooms to giving speeches at the event. 

USC and the city each donated $2,500 to the class so it could bring their plan to life. That allowed the students to secure concession and pay for the performers’ booking fees, porta-potties, posters and outside security. 

Silk Road bassist Ryan Harlow said he was as excited to watch the other two sets as he was to play himself. 

Though Silk Road mostly plays jam music, they will be playing three original songs at the event. Their songs First Class and Breakaway will be played for the first time live along with their song Ghost. 

This will be Silk Road’s 37th show of the semester. Though he likes staying busy, Harlow expressed some regret over not being able to work more on original songs. 

“You also have to choose between like, playing shows and like writing at the same time,” Harlow said. “We’ve been like going somewhere every weekend or like playing three or four times a week. So we haven’t had a ton of time to write, and I think we’ve kind of fallen behind in that.”

The event is bringing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities not just to the students and the bands, but also to the childhood cancer support charity Just Tryan It. The non-profit was created in 2009 when current USC student Ryan Darby was diagnosed with leukemia. 

The event planning class decided to donate all the proceeds from the concert to the charity as a show of support for their classmate. QR codes will be found around the venue with links to donate, and one of the food trucks will be donating 10% of its profits for the night. 

Britt and Judy asked the class to reflect on whether the hands-on format of the class was more effective than the conceptual model of the online classes. Students resoundingly supported the real-world experience of creating an event from start to finish. Production team member Angelo Rodriguez didn’t realize the class would be creating and executing a real event. But he said he gained valuable experience that will translate to his career.

“I am appreciative and grateful, the fact that one, I got the experience … and the knowledge of, like, how to set up the event and what goes into it,” Rodriguez said. “But … the fact that I’m actually going to be able to play a role in it, and it’s actually happening tomorrow, made it worth it.”

Katie DeMartini sings alongside Alexa Harwelik, Cameron Smith, Maria Nikolakakos and Matthew Jeffers at the Downtown @ Sundown concert on Nov. 14.