Almost a year after Live Young Productions Promotions & Entertainment’s “Thirsty Thursdays” were canceled, the group will be back this week with “Live Young Thursdays,” a weekly party at Social House.

The group’s vice president Dorian Huff, a senior from Chicago studying radio and television, said the idea to use Social House came from the owner and one of his representatives, after he disc-jockeyed there.

“The Social House chose us,” Huff said. “He basically wanted to bring in more business. He came to us and put that task on us to bring people there.”

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Live Young has been operating since 2013, when they started “Thirsty Thursdays” at the now closed Mexican restaurant, La Fogata, in downtown Carbondale.

Events were canceled in the fall of 2014 after incidents of violence.

The group’s CEO, Demetrios Layne, a senior from Itasca studying sport administration, said he holds ongoing tension between Carbondale residents and students responsible for these occurances.

“There is a misconception about who caused the violence,” Layne said. 

Layne said another factor that contributed to the event’s extended cancelation was the persistence of city officials.

“The people we always hear about but never see are the chief of police and the city attorney,” Layne said.

He said he heard city officials contacted owners of venues Live Young used and said they did not want a certain atmosphere on the Strip.  

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Layne said he attributes the city’s issue with the parties to racial prejudice.

“At this point there’s no other way to put it,” Layne said. “If atmosphere means 50 people on the strip, then that atmosphere is there every weekend. When you’re using these kinds of keywords, and then the only people you’re seeing are black people, I know for a fact how I’m taking it. I’ll definitely say I have to pull the race card on that one.”

Carbondale’s city attorney, Mike Kimmel, denied complaining to any business owners, but said the city received complaints about parties on the strip.

Carbondale Police Department’s Media Relations Officer Sgt. Corey Kemp said police could not comment because all interviews must be approved by Interim Police Chief Jeff Grubbs.

Live Young never received any complaints from the owners of venues where they held parties, Layne said.

Students were left disappointed after the event’s cancelation.

Deonte Thomas, a sophomore from Chicago studying engineering, said he went to the parties whenever he had the chance.

“If you don’t want to go out on the weekend, you can go to Thirsty Thursdays.”

Thomas said he will be attending “Live Young Thursdays” this week and he expects it to be better with increased security.

Layne said there are plans to increase security measures by checking IDs at the door and staffing security guards to circle the event.

Ericka Hughes, a sophomore from Chicago studying social work, said she went to “Thirsty Thursdays” nearly 10 times last fall, and when they stopped, she had nothing to do on Thursdays.

Hughes said her favorite part of the event was the amount of people who attended.

“Most of the time it was drama free, and I was able to socialize with my friends,” she said.

Huff’s expectations for this Thursday are to have fun and to pack the building.

“That’s why we’re doing this in the first place. We just want people to enjoy the college nightlife,” he said.

Tierra Carpenter can be reached at [email protected]