TGIF, Nashville. Wondering what you’re going to do while all your friends are at Bonnaroo and you’re trapped in your house by the CMApocalypse? No worries, we’ve got you covered this weekend. This may sound crazy, but we fully endorse heading downtown to mingle with the masses. There are bingo boards to be filled out, giggles to be had, and free shows to attend! Here are our top picks for the weekend:
Nashville Symphony Community Concert. Friday, June 10 at 8pm, Bicentennial Mall, free. The Nashville Symphony’s free community concerts are in high gear this week after last night’s performance at East Park. Tonight, they’ll be performing “A Salute to Boston Pops” at Bicentennial Mall, and if you want to haul out to Brentwood on Sunday you can catch the same show there.
Catfish Rodeo and Water Festival. Saturday, June 11 from 8am-11pm, Shelby Park’s Lake Sevier, kids ages 5-16, free. Take the kids fishing in Shelby Park, where Lake Sevier will be stocked with 1,700 pounds of catfish. No fishing licenses are necessary, and the fishing wraps before the sun comes out full force. Only the first 600 kids get to fish, but there will be booths and activities for the non-fishers.
Musician’s Corner. Saturday, June 11 from 3-6pm at Centennial Park (main lawn), free. This is the week to go to Musician’s Corner if there ever was one. Featuring special guest Emmylou Harris, the lineup also includes Love and Theft, The Henningsens, Sara Jean Kelly, Heather Morgan and Andrew Combs. We’re not sure how it’s related, but Gildan Activewear will also be attempting to break the record for the world’s largest t-shirt at this week’s event, so there’s that. You can always count on lots of food trucks, great local music and a few surprises at Musician’s Corner.
Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin‘. Sunday, June 12 from 3-5pm, First Presbyterian Church (Franklin Rd), $13 adults, $10 kids. Ah, how we wait for the Crankin’ each year. Sample dozens of homemade ice creams to your heart’s content – don’t worry, you won’t need to go back for seconds. It’s the best way to beat the heat that we’ve ever heard of, and proceeds benefit the Martha O’Bryan Center.
CMA Music Festival Riverfront Stage. Friday-Sunday, June 10-12 starting at 9am each day, Riverfront Park, free. If you like country music, Riverfront Park is the place for you this weekend. Brave the crowds to snag a spot at these free, general admission concerts that go all day Thursday – Sunday featuring artists like Craig Morgan, Phil Vassar, Lonestar, more than one American Idol contestant and uh, Billy Ray Cyrus. If you’re brave enough to wander around downtown there’s plenty of other free stuff that we were too lazy to write about this year, but you can read about it all here.
Photo by Larry Darling.
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