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Article published Jan 2, 2009 Fall Festival, 'Shed' concerts on horizon
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
The new year may only be 24 hours old, but Blount County event organizers are already looking ahead to spring and fall.
The city of Maryville has set Oct. 16-18 as the weekend of the annual Foothills Fall Festival, and planners at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson on West Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville announced a lineup for the first two months of its yearly "Shed" concert series.
Although performers for the Fall Festival won't be announced until early summer, city Events Coordinator Jane Groff told The Daily Times that plans are under way to make this year's event — the 10th anniversary — an even bigger deal than usual.
"We've actually been planning on doing the 10th anniversary celebration for a couple of years now," Groff said. "Having the successful ticket sales and continued sponsor support allowed us to begin planning that last year.
"Because it's our 10th year, we would like to show where we've come from and how the festival has grown over the years. We've talked about a possible audience interaction, asking people if they could bring anything back from the past nine festivals, what it would be."
The annual festival, which features top names in classic rock and country music, draws thousands to downtown Maryville for three days of concerts, children's activities and arts and crafts. Last year and in 2007, three-day tickets sold out in advance of the opening day, a feat the city hopes to repeat, Groff said.
"This may not be the year for us to really go all out and spend a lot of money, because we have to live within our budget, and we have to be aware of the impact the current economic climate has on our sponsors," Groff said. "But we would like to maintain or exceed the expectations of what people are used to, because we've been going strong for 10 years. And, since people are canceling their vacation plans and doing things differently because of the economy, we want to bring them as much as we can."
At Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson, owned by Scott and Monet Maddux, the annual concert series at "The Shed" — the old lumber warehouse adjacent to the dealership that's been converted into a covered concert pavilion — has offered weekend concerts during the spring, summer and fall for several years now. Organizers have worked to juggle a schedule of local, regional and national acts, and this year will be more of the same.
Exact times and ticket prices have yet to be announced, as have more dates into the summer and fall, but the preliminary "Shed" schedule, according to SMH-D marketing team members Aaron Snukals and Kat Johnson, is as follows:
— April 4: Unknown Hinson (rockabilly and country by the self-proclaimed "King of the Country-Western Troubadours")
— April 11: Use Your Illusion (Guns N' Roses tribute band)
— April 18: Damon Fowler (blues)
— April 25: Scott Miller and the Commonwealth (Americana)
— May 2: Devon Allman's Honeytribe (blues rock by the son of Allman Brothers founder Gregg Allman)
— May 9: Cross Canadian Ragweed (country-rock)
— May 16: Toys in the Attic (Aerosmith tribute band)
— May 23: Jenna and the Joneses (local blues-rock)
— May 30: Stacie Collins (country)
For more information on these and other area entertainment for the new year, see today's Weekend entertainment section.