The Q & A Lady's Top Ten Reasons to
Enjoy Nashville This Fall

Opry Fun.

Always tops on my “To Do” list when friends come into town, it's the Opry. Fall brings great shows every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and the Opry Birthday Bash (October 20 and 21 this year) is always a special treat. Allow me to also recommend taking a tour of the Opry House while you're in town. Self-guided backstage tours are a part of the Opry’s Birthday Bash package as is a concert by the incredible Charley Pride, an Opry Birthday Bash performance, and more, including the Opry’s Annual Benefit Pie Auction.

Possum Power.

 Speaking of birthdays, the Opry is planning to celebrate another special day in style this fall. George Jones turns 75 September 12, and the beloved country star is planning to spend his day at the Opry along with some of his biggest fans including Joe Nichols, Dierks Bentley, Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw, Tanya Tucker, Alison Krauss + Union Station, Craig Morgan, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Jimmy Dickens. Ah to be 75 again, George!

A Mo-Better Festival.

 If I heard my dad say, "you're slow as molasses" once, I heard him say it a thousand times. If only he was still around, the two of us could head off to the annual Music & Molasses Festival at the Tennessee Agricultural Museum on Opry Birthday Weekend (Oct. 21) so I could give the molasses a run for its money. Described as “a country celebration of the harvest season,” the event offers two music stages, crafts, free buggy rides, fall goodies, and molasses making the old-time way.

What a Great Price.

 The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is paying tribute to Hall of Famer Ray Price beginning this fall and into 2007 with an exhibit titled For The Good Times: The Ray Price Story. (I, myself, am considering creating an internet blog titled For The Good Times: My Fantasy Night on a hide-a-bed with Young Josh Turner, but I digress.) Hit the Hall and you’ll leave with great respect for one of Tune Town’s all-time great vocalists and bandleaders. Set your hiney down in the pews at the Ryman Auditorium for Price’s full concert on September 29 and that respect is sure to hit a crescendo. Hit the Hall, the Ryman concert, and the Opry all in that weekend and we’re talking a Nashville classic country triple play just before the baseball playoffs! (For more information on Price packages, click here.)

Yes, Hank Jr., I’m Ready For Some Football.

 Baseball is America’s sport, but football is Nashville’s passion thanks to the Tennessee Titans, one of 32 teams in the NFL. The team plays at the 68,800-seat LP Field, located on the east bank of the Cumberland River. Regular season games run September – December, and the opening game is set for Sept. 10. Bring on the pigskin, baby!

One Hot Mamma.

Let country music award-winners take the stage and belt out a tune. Let Super Bowl champ Tom Brady of the New England Patriots come to town for some football. Let Nashville’s big wigs and tourism honchos plan great events to bring good folks tour city.

 

To me no one does a better job at making Nashville the place to be in the fall than Mother Nature, herself. With average daily highs in the 70’s and a slight nip in the air after the sun goes down, I sometimes just raise my October hand to the heavens and shout, “Well done! Very, very well done!” A drive in to Nashville can be simply gorgeous as the fall foliage hits its peak, and an escape to a wooded campground or a roll down the Cumberland River aboard the General Jackson Showboat can provide an unbelievable undisturbed look at the hillsides teaming with the various shades of amber, gold, red, and orange God hath wrought.

Check out fall.tnvacation.com for the latest updates on Tennessee’s fall foliage.

Fall Fixins.

 There’s nothing like a little chill in the air to make you want to settle in to a Nashville eatery like Arnold’s, the Dinner Bell, or the B & B for some warm comfort food. I’m still a big fan of the Germantown Café mentioned in my summertime Top 10, and I love the view of downtown Nashville from Sambuca located in the trendy Gulch area. Two words for you during your visit: eat up!

Fleas, Please.

 Visit on the fourth full weekend of the month to experience the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Flea Market. This one, dear readers, is the Mother of Southern flea markets, attracting more than 1,500 vendors and 50,000 bargain hunters each weekend the gates are open. It's fun to spend the morning there just looking around at everything from antiques to plants to lunch boxes adorned with the face of John Boy Walton, but even more fun to find just what you're looking for at a darn good price. And just like everywhere else you go in Nashville, you never know who you might see. Newlyweds Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman hit the Fairgrounds for the flea market a few months ago, leading one of my girlfriends to say, “I guess he wanted to show her where we used to have Fan Fair!” Admission to the flea market is free, and parking fees are quite modest-- $3 or so. And a stop at Opry Mills is a requisite before any Opry performance. Take it from the Q & A Lady when you’re looking through the racks of fall sweaters and slacks: brown is the new black!

Bluegrass Rules.

 Santa Claus rules on December 25 and Saint Patrick has his day in March, but during the last week of September, it’s all about the music Bill (Monroe) built, bluegrass. The International Bluegrass Music Awards hit the Opry House on September 28, and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Celebration Opry Signature Show with the Grascals, Cherryholmes, Rhonda Vincent, and more plays the hallowed Opry hall just two days earlier. The pickin’ moves downtown that weekend for the IBMA’s FanFest. If you like that high lonesome sound like yours truly, this is the weekend to visit Music City.

Music Mix

 It’s no secret that country music is my first love, but I just have to tell you, dear readers, that Nashville offers a wide variety of entertainment this fall. For starters, Music City adds another notch on its tune town belt with the September opening of the new $120 million Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The venue will be home to the critically acclaimed Nashville Symphony, which will perform more than 100 concert events each season. Up the street at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts the exhibit “The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt” features the largest selection of antiquities ever loaned by Egypt for exhibition in North America. And near the state Capital, the Lion King roars in to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center for six weeks beginning October 26.