[0]Sure there was plenty of great music, crafts and such at the National Cornbread Festival. But we're there for the Cornbread. So in that spirit, here are the winning recipes for this year.
1st Place
Ancho Shrimp on Smoked Gouda Corncakes
Lori Stephens - Hendersonville, TN
2nd Place
Zesty Italian Sausage Skillet with Sundried Tomato Cornbread Crust
Teresa Ralston - New Albany, OH
3rd Place
Sausage Pepper Cheese Quiche with Cornbread Crust
Earl Bandy, Jr. - Knoxville, TN
They all sound wonderful! Here are the recipes [1] so you can try them out for yourself.
[1]I checked out the Southside Blues Festival this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
But instead of reviewing the bands, I want to talk about the venue.
The pavilion has had a makeover to make it more concert friendly.
And the folks at K-Z promised us more big name concerts this summer as a result.
The center piece is a new speaker setup up suspended from the roof. It is disguised as a sculpure so they can leave it up permanently. This will greatly speed up the tear down after the show... meaning more concerts with other events there.
My Review: The sound was great for Robert Cray. In fact, it was deafening if you were up front. The test for me is always whether you can actually hear the singer. On Saturday night, you could clearly hear the lyrics half-way back thru the pavilion.
However, I didn't at all like the new set-up of the audience area. They set up two rows of risers along the pillars and put tables on top. Great view for them, I'm sure. But the risers greatly diminish the sight lines in the pavilion. Then the rest of us are crammed into a narrow center section on the floor. Basically, the first 400 or so people have a great view. But after that, you are peering around the riser or over the audio board in the back. I think this setup greatly diminishes the size of the crowd you can draw to a show there.
Overall, The First Tennessee Pavilion is a great place to see a show. It's a lot easier to get in and out of (a better parking setup than anything downtown). You get an open-air feeling, but with good sound. And you can still get right up to the stage. I look forward to more shows coming here.
[1]The Chattanooga Market [2] returned over the weekend under new management.
You can see Abena Williams' story [2] from the weekend.
I headed down there to check it out for myself.
My Review: There really aren't many differences. You still get a mix of food, music, products and produce. The vendors are pretty much the same. The layout is slightly different.
But of course, I come for the produce. And you really can't tell yet how successful the new management will be at upgrading our choices. You don't have much locally grown product ready for harvest yet. We did get an interesting mix of heirloom seedlings for the home gardner. There did seem to be some new veggies vendors from the alternative scene, but the big ones were absent (like Crabtree Farms).
[2]The first big test of whether the Chattanooga Market can be the go-to place for local crops comes in the next few weeks with strawberry season. Will we get folks who just dabble in berries, or get growers who will bring enough to supply the demand?
If the Market can't deliver one of the best specialty crops in the area, we'll have to call it a failure.
Keep you posted!
[3]