Progress, diversity on display Saturday

Last week I opined about the fact that the entertainment calendar was jampacked, and I kind of wondered if there would be enough people to support all the events. I got my answer — and boy howdy, where did everyone come from?

On Saturday alone, the city hosted Wine Over Water, 3 Sisters Music Festival and the Big 9 Roots Festival. These were held on the Walnut Street Bridge, at Ross’s Landing and on M.L. King Boulevard, respectively, and I can report that they were all very well-attended.

Plus, there were events at Songbirds, and Chattanooga Football Club had a match at Finley Stadium.

We started the evening at Wine Over Water, then wandered over to the Big 9, where I had the great honor to introduce Love, Peace & Happiness. We thought we might then head back over to the river to catch some of 3 Sisters, but the Big 9 event had such a great vibe that we ended up sticking around, and then walked up the street to Champy’s for something to eat.

The festival was designed to celebrate the musical roots of not only the Big 9, the nickname given to Ninth Street back in the day when it was dotted with nightclubs and was the center of the black community, but also some of the musicians who played there, or left here to do great things in music.

People like Thomas “Tee” Bumpass, Edward “Preacher” Ector, Robert “James Brown” Bailey, Willie “Pops” Stubbs, Joseph “Lucky” Scott and Clyde “The Funky Drummer” Stubblefield. In some cases, those guys were even on hand Saturday and performed a song or two during the day.

It was a great way to pay honor to the pioneers and to remind fans just how important the Big 9 was to the community and the city. It’s a cool event that I hope continues and grows.

The day was a solid reminder of how much the city has progressed when it comes to supporting events. But more importantly, it was the first time that I can remember that downtown was a showcase for diversity in such a big way.

Not only was the Big 9 a big hit, the crowd at Wine Over Water was huge, but also very diverse, and based on our very small survey sample, there were quite a few people from out of town here for the event.

We still have a long way to go in this regard, but at least there has been some progress.

Barry Courter