14th Annual Blue Plum Festival Brings Music, Activities To Downtown Johnson City

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

jstreet

More than 80,000 people are expected to embark on downtown Johnson City for this year's Blue Plum Festival, taking place June 7th through 9th. What began in 1999 as an idea by a group of small merchants and volunteers has turned into one of the South's largest free outdoor music and arts festivals.

Dozens of bands, ranging from rock to celtic to jazz, will perform on three stages throughout the weekend. Other activities include the third annual Urban Art Throwdown, the 5K Plum Fast Run And Walk, the Johnson City Omnium bike race, a cornhole tournament, roller derby and more. Food and beverage vendors will join kiosks of arts and crafts to line the streets. There will also be a place for kids to enjoy activities such as the popular Water Wars.

The title sponsor of this year's festival is the Blue Moon Brewing Co. Eastman Credit Union will sponsor the Roan Street Stage, while sponsorship of the Jazz Stage is made up by Holston Distributing, Sweet Water Brewing, Time&Pay and Johnson City Federal Credit Union. East Tennessee State University and ETSU Online are a couple of this year's new sponsors.

The Blue Plum Festival gets its name from the 1800s rural post office that served the area in East Tennessee that later become known as Johnson City.

We have over 50 albums captured by TriCitiesNights staff at previous Blue Plum Festivals that are featured for this month only. You can always find more photos from the streets and stages of Blue Plum in the Blue Plum Festival album section of TriCitiesNights. Here's the lineup for this year's festival...

Blue Plum Photo