MARYVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — After 15 successful years, the City of Maryville has retired Foothills Fall Festival – the finale took place Oct. 17-19, 2014. Tim McGraw took the honors Sunday evening – singing the final notes of the festival in Maryville, TN.
The town of 28,000 people has presented the biggest names in country music and some memorable rock and classic rock performances in its intimate Greenbelt Park Amphitheater setting.
The festival was created as a celebration of fall and to offer the community and surrounding areas an opportunity to experience world-class entertainment. With the help of WIVK radio and area sponsors, the festival offered incredible entertainment at an incredible price.
The citywide event featured three main areas: Adventure Land – a free 16-acre greenbelt space packed with rides, shows, games and attractions for the entire family, ArtWay – a free juried arts and crafts show with more than 85 vendors, and Theater in the Park – 15 concerts over three days for a low $60 introductory ticket price.
City leadership discussed retiring the brand after trends showed the festival’s model of presenting “A-list” country artists at an affordable price was increasingly challenging to maintain year after year in the 10,000 maximum capacity venue. “The full context of putting together an event at the level that the Foothills Fall Festival has become out of step with our financial and personnel resource base as a municipality – particularly in very recent years due to the changing entertainment and live music landscape, market pressures and worldwide competition for acts,” Mayor Tom Taylor said. “We are excited about the strides country music is taking – and are happy to have played a small role in that.”
City of Maryville Community Relations Manager Jane Groff said, “We look forward to applying our event expertise to create new opportunities for our community and amphitheater moving forward.” She also expressed the City’s thanks to everyone who has made the Foothills Fall Festival an award-winning, much-anticipated event over the years.
“We can’t offer enough thanks to the sponsors, staff, dedicated community volunteers and all of the entertainers who have made each Festival possible,” Groff said. “The Festival also owes its success to the hard work of City of Maryville employees, our partners, organizations and business supporters and, of course, the performers, vendors and artisans who have created the whole Festival experience. These folks helped create the perfect finale to celebrate the legacy of the Foothills Fall Festival.” –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
