The Doerun Boosters are celebrating a new venue for their big annual event, Doerun May Day.

May Day will be held the first weekend of May — this weekend — just as it has for the last 31 years. But the venue will be a new park on Peachtree Street and Union Drive, a few blocks north of the downtown area where it’s traditionally been held.

“We had outgrown the small park downtown,” said Dwayne Turpin, spokesman for the Boosters, “and the city was kind enough to revamp a large area [for us].”

In addition, May Day festivities will start on Friday night instead of Saturday morning, Turpin said. Five bands from around the area will face off at the Battle of the Bands beginning at 7 p.m. The winner will get to perform on the Saturday schedule too.

Also on Friday, competitors in the barbecue competition will go head-to-head in the Brunswick stew competition for a cash prize.

More than 60 vendors have signed on for May Day, and Turpin said most of them will be set up and open for Friday’s festivities.

On Saturday, the event starts with the parade at 10 a.m. It will begin on Green Street, travel down Main Street and then turn onto Peachtree to reach the new park.

Then the music will start. The New Heavenly Echoes will perform until noon, followed by musicians from Beans and Strings in Moultrie, then the Sudden Impact Cloggers and Crossing 47.

When Crossing 47 wraps up about 4 p.m., the winner of Friday’s Battle of the Bands will take the stage. They’ll perform about a half hour then take an intermission. During the intermission, the Boosters will present prizes for the barbecue competition, which will take place throughout the day.

After the intermission, the band returns to the stage to open for the three nighttime acts: Calee Anna and the County Line Band, Ryan Hembree, and the Ben Wells Band.

The musical events on both nights are expected to last until midnight.

Daytime events on Saturday — in addition to the barbecue competition — include a greased pig event, inflatables and games for the children. Antique cars and tractors will be on display, as will golf carts from Shiver Golf Carts and tractors from Southern Tractor and Outdoors, two of May Day’s sponsors.

“We picked up a lot of sponsors this year,” Turpin said, “and this wouldn’t be possible without the sponsors and the City of Doerun.”

Raffles will be held for a Yeti Cooler and an Open Heart necklace.

Turpin said that after May Day is over, the Boosters plan to add a family reunion pavilion at the new park and plant some trees, and more events are planned at the site later in the year.