Do You Remember the “Alive at 5″ Concert Series in Portland, Maine?

If you lived or worked in Portland anytime between 2003 and 2014, chances are you either stumbled into—or purposefully planned your Thursday around—the Alive at Five concert series. Every summer, Downtown Portland's Monument Square would morph into an after-work block party with live music, cold beer, and a sea of button-down shirts and sensible heels dancing like nobody from accounting was watching.

The concept was simple: free live music downtown at 5 p.m., just in time for the workday wind-down. You’d wrap up your emails, swing by the beer garden, and spend your early evening with some top-notch entertainment—all without leaving the city.

The series featured a blend of Maine talent and national names. Local legends like The Mallett Brothers Band, Paranoid Social Club and Spencer Albee would perform often sharing the stage with national acts like Grace Potter, Moe., and Better Than Ezra.. It was like a mini festival every Thursday.

According to a 2014 article in the Press Herald, the final season scaled things back to just two music nights: The London Souls and Kenya Hall Band in July, followed by Spirit Family Reunion with The Ghost of Paul Revere in August. The rest of the slots were filled with “Arts Alive,” a celebration of local performance art. Not bad—but a far cry from the weekly party Portlanders had come to love.

Alive at Five quietly disappeared after that. And just like that, the music stopped.

But for over a decade, Alive at Five was the city’s unofficial happy hour in the summer months: live, local, and loud—just the way Portland likes it. Maybe it's time to bring it back. Just sayin'.