MOULTRIE — The City of Moultrie is all set to host the sixth annual Spring Fling and Backyard BBQ Festival starting tonight.

Moultrie Main Street Director Amy Johnson said the three-day event will offer plenty of entertainment for the entire family. Spring Fling will kick off tonight at 7 p.m. at the Colquitt County Arts Center with “A Night of Bluegrass,” sponsored by the City of Moultrie and CNS Television. Featured musicians for the evening are the Gandy Brothers Band and Blue Holler.

Arts Center Director Jeff Ophime said he was grateful for the opportunity to host the concert and to help kick off the Spring Fling. This is the second year the festival kicks off with a bluegrass concert at the Arts Center, and Ophime hopes to turn the performance into a long-term opportunity for bluegrass concerts here. The performance tonight is a fundraiser for the Arts Center and is important to allow it to continue to serve the community.

“Things like this are invaluable to us,” Ophime said.

The Gandy Brothers Band, from Valdosta, attracts bluegrass fans with a mix of old and new sounds and includes 12-year-old Skylar Gandy. Blue Holler is made up of several lifetime bluegrass musicians who have been playing together since 2005.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children and are available at the Arts Center office and will also be available at the door. Please call 985-1922 for more information.

To continue the festivities, Johnson said, a free concert featuring up-and-coming country singer Brandi Thornton will be held at 8 p.m. Friday on the courthouse square. Thornton, originally from Folkston, has performed since she was a child and released a CD in 2007, “New Place to Start,” worked as a performer at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., competed in the Miss America Pageant preliminaries and has opened for country artists like Brad Paisley, Martina McBride and Dierks Bentley. For more information, visit her Web site at www.brandithornton.com.

The main event to Spring Fling begins at 7 a.m. Saturday with the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast to precede the opening of the festival at 9 a.m., Johnson said. Once the festival kicks off, visitors to the courthouse square will be treated to a wide variety of activities, including arts and crafts vendors, music, dance and other performances on two stages and the Backyard BBQ Competition.

Johnson said 21 teams have signed up to take part in this year’s BBQ competition, with contests in six areas. Winners will be announced on the main stage at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

Book enthusiasts will be able to meet and greet with author and radiologist Dr. Charles D. “Pedro” Williams of Tallahassee, Fla., who will be selling and signing copies of his book “More Simpler Times: Tales of a Southern Boy,” chronicling his life in 1940s Colquitt County as the son of a sharecropper.

Pet owners can bring their pets to compete in the Cute Critter Pet Parade, beginning at 11:30 a.m., Johnson said. The parade and competition, sponsored by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society, can sign up on Saturday for one of three areas, and there is a $5 entry fee per pet per category.

Johnson said visitors can also see the introduction of the Miss Moultrie Spring Queen Pageant and the return of the Downtown Idol competition. The pageant will begin at 2:15 p.m., and Downtown Idol will begin at 5 p.m. to close out the festival.

For more information, please call the Moultrie Main Street office at 890-5455.