TYLER, Texas — The city of Tyler on Thursday night celebrated officially getting recognized for its history of musicians and live music scenes.
The Rose City was named the 55th Music Friendly Texas Certified Community by the Texas Music Office out of Austin. The city honored the recognition with a celebration at Liberty Hall Thursday evening.
Diann Bayes, president of Visit Tyler, is now the music friendly liaison to the Texas Music Congress.
She credits venues like Liberty Hall in downtown Tyler, UT Tyler's Cowan Center, the Mayfair building and several musicians for making the city an attraction for live music.
"I would just encourage all of our residents to get to know the musicians and support live music in Tyler," Bayes said. "It's really important to the quality of life, and we want businesses to want to come here and move here and people to move here and visitors to experience our community and what we have to offer."
This recognition has been in the works since 2019 but COVID-19 staggered it from coming to light. That's why during the event at Liberty Hall, the Texas Music Office handed an award to Mayor Don Warren, who also gave words of recognition to the musicians who make the city an attraction.
According to Gov. Greg Abbott's office, the Music Friendly Texas program aims to foster music business-related economic development and job creation in Texas cities and communities.
Abbott said the Texas music industry created more than 192,000 direct and indirect permanent jobs and generated over $26 billion in economic activity statewide in 2022.