With temps in the 70s and a gentle breeze, it was a perfect night for Main Street's "The Summer Party" at the historic Lively House at 746 East Main Street.

Main Street Executive Director Kathleen Herzog noted, "The area's top restaurants and caterers offered their multifarious food faire to a standing room only cross-section of community leaders."

The annual event, also known as the "Taste of Rutherford", was at the grand home of host Jonathan Harmon, who just purchased the residence in May.

Once again, Main Street attracted a cross section of this community's most talented eateries, who offered their culinary savoir-fare. A special thank you to those who served their finest cuisine: The Alley on Main; The Blue Porch; Carriage Lane Inn; Five Senses Restaurant, Bar and Catering; Goodness Gracious at the Mill; The Hamery; Hickle Farms; JoJo's Fruit Tea; Marina's On The Square; Party Fowl; Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant; and Slick Pig.

The 3,258 square feet Lively home features three porches, four bedrooms and a carriage house, and was built in 1930 by local photographer Lee Lively and his wife, Lilly. Lee followed in the footsteps of his father, well-known photographer William S. Lively, who opened the Southern School of Photography in McMinnville in 1904. The elder Lively was known for his invention of a camera that produced 30 x 60-inch glass negatives, and three of the original prints from that camera are in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., according to local historian Bill Jakes.

Jakes said Lee's successful photography studio was in his Main Street home, and he produced photos and yearbooks for many area schools, including what is now Central Magnet School and MTSU.

This year's party takes on a jazz theme, with some members of the local jazz combo Cosmic Collective providing the musical entertainment. Band leader and vocalist Nikki Michelle attributes Cosmic Collective's success to the chemistry the members share as friends - a friendship that began at Middle Tennessee State University. The band's fusion of electric jazz and modern sounds has been described as "refreshing and vintage at the same time."

Main Street's Summer Party is the community's opportunity to support everything the group does for downtown Murfreesboro. The organization brings to the community JazzFest, Friday Night Live, the Saturday Market, the Christmas Tree Lighting, Trick or Treat on the Square and so much more.

The Main Street program is affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Main Street Center and follows the tenets of that program.

Main Street Murfreesboro capitalizes on the unique character of the courthouse square and the surrounding business district with the goal of transforming it into the cultural, social, professional and retail center of Rutherford County; in essence, the hub of community life.