Macon Mayor Robert Reichert and Bibb County chairman Sam Hart declare Friday as Otis Redding Day.
Macon honors the musical legacy of one of its best-known native sons this weekend.
Friday would have been Otis Redding's 70th birthday.
The city of Macon, his family's Big O Foundation and others are collaborating on a weekend of events honoring Redding, who died in a plane crash in 1967.
On Friday, the city of Macon and Bibb County proclaim "Otis Redding Day," and invite the public to a celebration at Third Street Park in downtown Macon, featuring music and free ice cream. The celebration runs from noon to 10 p.m.
At around 12:15, Macon Mayor Robert Reichert and Bibb County chairman Sam Hart jointly read a proclamation declaring Friday as Otis Redding Day.
SLIDESHOW: See the kickoff with Southwest High School marching band and Mayor Reichert and Chairman Sam Hart's proclamation.
Also Friday, the Douglass Theatre presents a free showing of "The Stax Records Story, Respect Yourself" at 6 p.m. There's an after-show party at the Douglass from 10 p.m. to midnight.
Saturday night, the Big "O" Youth Educational Dream Foundation presents a musical "Evening of RESPECT," a tribute concert at the Macon City Auditorium feature Redding's music.
Performers will include his sons, Dexter Redding and Otis Redding III.
For tickets, call (478)301-5470 or (478) 742-5737.
Redding's music will also play continuously all weekend at the statue that honors him overlooking the Ocmulgee River, in Gateway Park at Riverside Drive and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
The weekend's events started Thursday, with free screenings of two films at the Edge 14 theater on Tom Hill Sr. Blvd.