Annual Festivals in Chattanooga

Riverbend Festival : The event takes place at the beginning of June and spans across nine days. Over 540,000 people visit the festival each year. Musical performances range from jazz, blues, folk, country, bluegrass, classic and more.

Chattanooga is also notable for the Riverbend Festival, an annual week-long music festival held in June in the downtown area that is known for drawing huge crowds from in and around the Tennessee Valley. One of the most popular events of the festival is the Bessie Smith Strut, a one night showcase of blues and jazz music named for the city's most noted blues singer. The annual "Southern Brewer's Festival" and the "River Roast" festival celebrate such traditional Southern staples as beer and barbecue, while new events, such as GoFest!, "Between the Bridges" wakeboard competition and Talespin seek new audiences. The Chattanooga Market features events all year round as part of the Sunday at the Southside calendar of events including an Oktoberfest in mid October. Nightfall has been bringing an eclectic mix of rock, blues, jazz, reggae, zydeco, funk, bluegrass and folk music to Downtown Chattanooga for the past 19 years. The free 17-week series is held in Miller Plaza on Friday evenings from Memorial Day weekend through the last Friday in September, with the exception of the two Fridays during Riverbend. The Back Row Film Series is a City Wide celebration of film that is cosponsored by the Hunter Museum of American Art, The Arts & Education Council and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.