Bragg Jam Moonlight Miles 5K race.

This year marks 15 years of the annual Bragg Jam Festival, a Knight Arts grantee. It was started in the name of two young brothers named Brax and Tate Bragg. They were two musicians from Macon who were traveling to a gig and were tragically killed in a car accident.

Initially, the proceeds from the festival were raised to benefit the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail. However, the 501c3 non-profit board members have improved the programming enough to raise enough funds to benefit other local foundations which have missions covering the creative, melody and outdoors.

On July 19, the Bragg Jam kicks off with a Moonlight Miles 5K race that begins with performances from Streetline, a Knight Arts grantee, which consists of a group of various type drummers and Wesley Cook with his Atlanta bebop band. Remember, all of this happens before sending the 250 plus runners on their way through the College Hill Corridor (also a Knight Arts grantee) to Downtown. All Bragg Jam Moonlight Miles 5K participants have been asked to bring a light for the run.

At the end of the race, there will be a commemoration ceremony honoring the first-place winner with a gym membership to Kinetix. Then, the night ends with more music from Wesley Cook and an after-party at the Hummingbird Stage and Taproom on Cherry Street. Race participants with their Moonlight Miles 5K aprons on will receive VIP treatment at the after-party.

– Bragg Jam Official logo designed by Jessi Lindsey Queen.

Now, next week on July 26, the Bragg Jam will hold their Arts and Kids’ festival from 10:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with live performances and art activities. In between this portion of the festival and the Bragg Jam Concert Crawl, the Macon Film Festival (a Knight Arts grantee) will show a film titled “The Ballad of Shovels and Rope” at the Historic Douglass Theatre at 355 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Finally, from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m., the Bragg Jam Concert Crawl begins. It’s a load of fun, with more than 50 acts on 14 stages in Downtown and Midtown. The headline bands are the Blind Boys of Alabama, The Whigs and the Revivalists, courtesy of the Knight Foundation. For the entire lineup, click here.