Hargrove’s Family of Companies will host its annual Downtown Get Down fundraiser on September 24 from 5 to 10 p.m. at Soul Kitchen Music Hall, raising money for the Hargrove Foundation, the engineering firm’s charitable arm. The event has become a fixture on the downtown Mobile calendar, drawing employees, neighbors, and business partners for an evening of competition and music with a charitable purpose.
The event pairs a cornhole tournament with live music in a celebration the company says is meant to give back to the downtown Mobile community that has helped it grow. Teams from across the company and from businesses around downtown turn out each year for the tournament bracket, while casual attendees come for the music and the chance to support local causes.
Hargrove’s corporate headquarters is located in downtown Mobile, and the company employs more than 500 people there. The firm’s presence in the central business district makes it one of the neighborhood’s larger employers, with its workforce filling offices, restaurants, and sidewalks throughout the workweek.
How to take part
General admission to the Downtown Get Down is a $5 donation at the door. The entry price makes the event one of the more accessible fundraisers of the fall season — a small donation that buys an evening of live music, tournament-watching, and community gathering in one of downtown’s best-known music venues.
Those who want to compete in the cornhole tournament can register two-person teams for a $125 donation, with live music playing alongside the bracket throughout the evening. The tournament format gives teams of every skill level a shot at bragging rights, and the competition typically runs through the night until champions are crowned before the final set.
All proceeds benefit the Hargrove Foundation. Cornhole, the lawn game that has grown into a competitive staple at company picnics, tailgates, and charity events across the Gulf Coast, requires little more than a set of boards and bags — but it reliably produces the kind of lighthearted rivalry that keeps donors lingering long past the first round.
Registration for tournament teams is handled in advance, and organizers encourage businesses downtown to enter their own squads. Over the years, the tournament field has included teams from companies around the central business district, turning the event into an unofficial networking night alongside its fundraising mission.
A company-community connection
Hargrove has described the Downtown Get Down as a way to recognize the businesses and individuals who make up its downtown Mobile neighborhood. The company’s leadership has framed the event as a thank-you to the restaurants, shops, and organizations that share its streets — the same neighborhood its more than 500 local employees move through every day.
Company leaders say that connection has been central to Hargrove’s success and culture over the years, and the annual event is designed to celebrate that relationship while supporting the foundation’s charitable work in the community. For a firm whose business is built on long-term relationships with industrial clients, the fundraiser offers a way to invest closer to home.
Soul Kitchen Music Hall, the event’s venue, sits in the heart of downtown Mobile and hosts touring acts and local musicians throughout the year. Its stage and floor layout make it a natural fit for a fundraiser that pairs a tournament bracket with live performances, and the September date puts the event among the first big downtown gatherings of the fall season.
The 5 to 10 p.m. window gives attendees the flexibility to come after work, and the venue’s downtown location puts it within walking distance of the offices, parking garages, and residences that make up the central business district’s growing evening population.
About the Hargrove Foundation
The Hargrove Foundation serves as the philanthropic wing of Hargrove’s Family of Companies, channeling company and community support toward charitable causes. The foundation extends the firm’s community presence beyond its engineering work, directing resources to organizations and needs across the Mobile area.
The Downtown Get Down is held annually to raise funds for the foundation, giving downtown Mobile residents, businesses and Hargrove employees a shared event to support that mission. Each year’s proceeds add to the foundation’s capacity to respond to charitable needs throughout the year, multiplying the reach of a single September evening.
Corporate foundations of this kind have become an increasingly common way for Gulf Coast employers to structure their giving. Rather than scattered donations throughout the year, a dedicated foundation allows a company to plan its philanthropy, respond to needs as they arise, and invite employees and neighbors into the effort — exactly the role the Downtown Get Down plays on the calendar.
Downtown Mobile as a gathering place
Events like the Downtown Get Down also reflect the direction of downtown Mobile itself, where a growing residential population, an active nightlife district, and a steady calendar of festivals and fundraisers have made the central business district an evening destination and not just a weekday one.
Local businesses benefit directly from that traffic. Restaurants and bars near the venue typically see a boost on fundraiser nights, and organizers say the spillover is part of what makes downtown events worth supporting in return — the money raised for charity circulates through the same neighborhood businesses the event celebrates.
For employees of Hargrove’s Family of Companies, the event doubles as a company gathering, a chance to introduce families to colleagues and to the downtown they work in. The mix of employees, neighbors, and business partners is what organizers say gives the Downtown Get Down its character — a fundraiser that feels as much like a neighborhood party as a corporate event.
The details
The Downtown Get Down takes place September 24 from 5 to 10 p.m. at Soul Kitchen Music Hall in downtown Mobile. Admission is a $5 donation, and cornhole teams of two can register for a $125 donation to compete in the tournament, which will run alongside live musical performances throughout the night.
Organizers encourage attendees to register teams ahead of the event to secure a spot in the bracket, though general admission tickets are available at the door. The company says it looks forward to seeing downtown turn out once again for an evening of music, competition, and giving back.
With the September date on the calendar, the Downtown Get Down once again anchors the start of Mobile’s fall fundraising season — five hours of cornhole and live music with proceeds that reach far beyond the walls of Soul Kitchen Music Hall.
The cornhole tournament’s $125 team registration has proven to be the event’s biggest fundraiser year after year. Businesses often enter multiple squads, and the boards set up along the venue’s floor become the center of gravity for the evening, drawing spectators between bands and keeping the room engaged from the first toss to the final round.
For first-time attendees, the format is easy to follow. Teams alternate tossing bags at an angled board, scoring by landing on the board or sliding into the hole, and games move quickly enough that the bracket advances steadily through the evening. The low barrier to entry is part of the game’s appeal — anyone can play, and every match has the potential for an upset.
The live music lineup fills the space between rounds, with the stage keeping the energy up as teams wait for their next match. By the time the tournament concludes, the evening has moved through the full arc of a downtown Mobile night: competition first, then music, with the fundraising purpose running through both.
What the funds support
Proceeds from the Downtown Get Down flow into the Hargrove Foundation’s year-round charitable work in the Mobile area. Foundation-supported giving typically reaches a range of community needs, and the annual fundraiser is the marquee event that replenishes those resources and raises the foundation’s public profile.
Company officials have said the foundation gives employees a structured way to participate in philanthropy together, multiplying individual contributions into a larger collective impact. Events like the Downtown Get Down put that principle on display, with attendance itself — a $5 donation, a registered team, a shared evening — functioning as the act of giving.
The September timing also positions the event ahead of the fall and holiday season, when charitable needs across the Gulf Coast traditionally peak. Funds raised in late September are available to the foundation as it plans its support through the end of the year and into the next.
For the downtown Mobile neighborhood the event celebrates, the fundraiser’s value goes beyond the dollars raised. It is an annual moment when one of the district’s largest employers formally thanks its neighbors — and when the neighborhood, in turn, fills a music hall to show up for a cause together.