Batesville Civic Center will feature country music veterans Sawyer Brown Friday, May 31, for a concert expected to draw thousands to the city. The show starts at 7 p.m. with opening acts Little Texas and Shameless All-Star Country Band.

The concert is part of a renewed effort to incorporate the Civic Center into the city’s tourism and entertainment plans, and is the first of a number of summer and fall events already scheduled. June dates include an American Kennel Club show and the Panola County Sheriff’s Rodeo.

Premium reserved seating has been sold out for the Sawyer Brown concert, but other seating was still available on the ticket outlet Tuesday. 

Last week Batesville aldermen approved Civic Center requests to ready the venue for the concert including $8,576 for pipe and drapes (Magnolia Rental) to section off a portion of the arena, $1,507 for the rental of a boom lift (Magnolia Rental) to install and remove the acoustic drapes, and $4,500 for acoustic drape (Majik Sound Productions) for the back of the stage area to create a sound containment wall.

Sawyer Brown has released 20 studio albums, of which three have been certified gold in the United States for sales of 500,000 copies. More than 50 of their singles have entered the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including three number one singles.

The group won a Star Search television competition in 1983 and used the $100,000 in prize money and a recording contract to launch a career that has earned them fans of all ages for decades.