The Ames Campustown Action Association is hosting the 4th annual Friday Afternoon in Campustown from 5 to 10 p.m. today on Welch Avenue.

Friday Afternoon in Campustown is a free annual kickoff event for the ISU football season and doubles as an open house for Campustown to show students what it has to offer.

“What drives all three of our major events is to get all demographics of Ames,” said Ann Taylor, co-owner of Dogtown and past president of the Campustown Action Association. “Campustown is for everybody.”

The Campustown Action Association is a group of businesses located in the Campustown area that organizes events to bring a demographic to the area that wouldn’t be there otherwise, said Liz Jeffrey, manager of Arcadia cafe and co-organizer of the event.

Friday Afternoon in Campustown will play host to a variety of events including free live music and a beer garden.

Music starts at 5 p.m. with Jacey Gutnech, a Des Moines native, and local band the Pork Tornadoes comes on at 6:30 p.m.

To enter the beer garden, you have to be over 21 due to an Ames ordinance, but the ISU Entrepreneur Club will have a tent with non-alcoholic beverages.

Those attending are encouraged to grab dinner at one of the Campustown restaurants and interact with the Ames public.

“There are a lot of stereotypes about Campustown and the drinking culture so the [association’s] goal is to bring all sorts of people with different backgrounds together,” Jeffrey said. “It’s something that sort of fell out of fashion over the past couple years, and it’s something we’re trying to bring back.”

Compared to previous years, Friday Afternoon in Campustown is starting and running a little later than usual so the association is expecting a crowd of 200 to 400 people.

“It’s a fun event, it’s going to be a great day weather wise, one of the last few were going to have,” Jeffrey said. “We love Campustown, we love the students, and we want to share that. Students are what make our city vibrant.”