The 7th Annual Blue Plum Festival in Johnson City, Tennessee set another attendance record on June 2 and 3 with an estimated 55,000 attendees on Saturday after storms played havoc with Friday's activities. Shown here are some photos of the event as well as articles and additional photos from the Johnson City Press. The Festival includes a variety of bluegrass, rock, and acoustic musicians and no admission is charged to the events. It is basically a community celebration, street fair, and open-air concert rolled into one. The Main Stage sits in front of the main line of the Southern Railway through Downtown Johnson City and the visual and audio experience of a train forming an active backdrop for a bluegrass jam is something to behold. Railroad Earth headlined the Saturday evening performances with special effects provided by the Norfolk-Southern Railroad. Hear the Railroad Earth Concert at Blue Plum at this link.

The historic Fountain Square setting has been used for open-air concerts for generations in Johnson City. Many legendary Old-Time Music performers including Jimmie Rodgers and Blind Lemon Jefferson performed here during the start of their careers. One block away the historic 1920s Johnson City Sessions, pioneering Appalachian music recordings by Columbia Records took place.

Here are Johnson City Press articles from June 4 and June 5 document activities of the 2006 Festival.

The photos below also include Dave Price and the CBS Early Show rolling into Johnson City on June 9, 2006.

Kim Schneider and Christine Murdock at Kickoff	Logo Design Contest Winner ETSU's Ashley Graham	Dick Nelson: Sponsor Nelson Fine Art Center
Friday Afternoon Deluge	Terry Russo Prepares Food	Family Jam
Postcards from Mel's Stamps and Coins	Same Buildings as in the Old Postcards	Vendors Doing Well
Mel's Stamps and Coins	The Electric Cowboy	Main Street Antiques and Mercantile
"Peach Tea Sounds Good" Taste Budz	"Legend of Blue Plum"	Tribute to "The Trains"
Afternoon Crowd Moving In	Lee Miller with Customer	Prints from Hard Copy Solutions
Johnson City Dog Park	Is this a Pan Flute?	JCDA: Check for Properties
Into the Fire Pottery	Singing in the Shower ?	Hands On Museum Face Painting
The Rock	Wetting down the Reptile	Train Turns onto Main Street
Tipton Street Redevelopment	The Waybacks	Serious Strings
Cool Comfortable Saturday	"The Charles"	Rose Hill Wedding Chapel
Railroad Earth
CBS Early Show Visits Johnson City! June 9, 2006
Note - Click on the thumbnail images above to link to larger viewable files.

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