Now is the time to be voting online for the opportunity of having a music festival in Oxford.

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council applied to the Levitt AMP Grant Awards and received word at the beginning of November it is in the running and the community needs to vote online.

Twenty-five cities are finalists and 15 will receive grants.

This is all possible because of the pavilion recently put to use for events in town. Online votes received will be one of the key factors when Levitt Pavilions reviews the Top 25 finalists and selects the 15 winners.

For example, last year, seven of the 10 Levitt AMP winners were ranked in the 10 highest slots as determined by online public voting.

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council’s goal is to secure the funding so it can put together a free summer music series all can enjoy. It would be 10 weeks of live music that you could bring the kids out to after work and enjoy the outdoors while its nice out. It can also be for the young professionals looking to get out and meet folks. And, the college students sticking around town this summer will have something wholesome and free to do.

It’s important everyone votes because you only get one chance to cast your vote. Each person that registers can select up to five proposals, but can only vote for each once. So, tell your neighbors, friends and music lovers. Voting continues until Nov. 30 at grant.levittamp.org/voter-registration-page/.

The L-O-U area is a mecca for the arts and culture, and having a series like this would be one more thing to boast about. It also would bring in folks from the region to enjoy what we have to offer here, and they would boost our sales tax coffers while visiting. There are residents of Mississippi who travel far and wide to hear certain bands playing, especially in the summer.

The Levitt Pavilions review process is from Dec. 1-31 and grant awards are announced Jan. 5.

We thank the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council for being active with the process of ensuring Oxford not only has an outdoor pavilion for community events, but also for pursuing this music series and other opportunities revolving around it.

We encourage you to go cast a vote for another arts event in our community that everyone can enjoy.