Larry Vaught Photo
SEVIERVILLE, TN. — When I got to downtown Sevierville on Friday, Amanda Marr was a bit worried about the weather for the 20th Blooming’ BBQ Music & Food Festival.
Marr is the director of marketing and communications for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. She had performers scheduled for three stages Friday night and all day Saturday along with about 70 craft vendors scheduled to be downtown. That didn’t count the BBQ specialists and other food/beverage vendors along with local businesses setting up their own booths.
Turns out Marr had the right connections because for only the third time in 20 years, the festival had no rain.
Those who attended were treated to not only some spectacular music —The Del McCoury Band was the festival closer on Saturday night — but also some of the best BBQ you could find anywhere.
I liked a lot of the bands but probably my favorite was Sister Sadie or maybe The 615 Collective.
Like the Great American Brass Band Festival coming up in Danville, all the music and entertainment at the Bloomin BBQ Music & Food Festival was free. No charge for parking, either. One vendor even gave away free bottled water which was really nice on Saturday when the sun was beaming.
This festival also features a downtown historical walking tour along with other specialty acts like the J Creek Cloggers who were spectacular. I missed the Bush’s Beans state championship cook off but it was just too hard to be everywhere at once.
Marr and her volunteers leave nothing to chance. The downtown area is immaculate, local restaurants welcome you with open arms if you choose to visit and the festival vendors are all friendly and reasonably priced.
This was my fourth time attending and hopefully 2025 will be number five. I already have the festival dates of May 16 and 17 on my calendar.
For more information go to BloominBBQ.com or call 865-453-6411.
