AUBURN — Live music and red bistro tables and chairs should help convert downtown’s Festival Plaza into an open-air cafe each Thursday this summer, according to Economic Development Specialist Alan Manoian.

Manoian said the city will host the open cafe from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Thursday through the summer. Local acoustic guitarist John Cote has been contracted to perform at the plaza each Thursday. Neighbors, downtown workers and passersby are invited to bring a lunch, sit and listen.

“It’s just a really nice atmosphere and space that we’re trying to promote,” Manoian said. “We’re trying to create a memorable, meaningful and deeper downtown experience for all those who seek the finer things in urban living.”

Manoian said the city’s economic development staff set up the lunchtime cafe in the plaza last week.

“It was just a soft opening, to show how it was going to work and get the details settled,” Manoian said.

The response was great, with people comparing it to open cafes in larger metropolitan cities around the world.

“It’s the kind of New England experience we can deliver in that space, framed by historic, classic architecture and the Androscoggin River,” Manoian said.

Festival Plaza will get more colorful too, with new canopies going up. Denis D’Auteuil, the city’s acting assistant city manager, said replacement canopies should be installed by the first week of August.

D’Auteuil said the original canopies were too damaged to put up, and the plaza has been unadorned since they came down in the fall of 2013.

“We’ve been working with a vendor, and the new canopies are just about ready,” D’Auteuil said.

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