Steve Wildsmith

The fine folks up at Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop, 7645 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway in Townsend, have posted their schedule for the 2010 season of “The Pickin’ Porch.” It’s a great — and free — concert series that takes place every Saturday night at 7 p.m., and it kicks off this year on May 15 with a performance by Native American flute player Randy McGinnis. It runs through Oct. 23. A variety of performers are on the program this year, including Bing Futch, whom we profiled a couple of years ago.

Wood-N-Strings is a family business started by husband-and-wife Mike and Connie Clemmer. Their daughter, Cherith Millar, runs the store and sees a large number of visitors who come to this area for the music as much as the scenery.

“I’d say 80 percent of them want to hear music while they’re here,” Millar told us last year. “A lot of people who come in here to the store want to hear music, even if they don’t want to buy anything. They’ll ask, ‘Can you play something for us?’, just because they want to hear that kind of music. That’s something you really don’t get in a whole lot of other places. There are very few places you can actually hear it live, especially in an authentic setting like Townsend.”

• The city of Alcoa canceled its annual Freedom Fest celebration at the Alcoa Duck Pond this year, but Blount County Parks and Recreation is hosting a Fourth of July Pool Party on Saturday at the adjacent Springbrook Pool. The family event will be held from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Regular admission fees will apply, and there will be special contests for jump or dive, T-shirt relay, watermelon eating, big splash and slide races. Fuller Light-N-Sound will be playing music from 5-8 p.m. For more information, contact Parks and Rec at 984-9244.
• For the second year in a row, the city of Townsend, Highland Manor and BankEast will sponsor an Independence Day fireworks show between the Townsend Visitors Center and Highland Manor Inn on East Lamar Alexander Parkway in Townsend. Music will start at 8:30 p.m. Saturday with fireworks conducted by the Townsend Volunteer Fire Department at 9:45 p.m. Visitors are asked to arrive early and bring lawn chairs.
• The city of Knoxville will throw its annual Festival on the Fourth bash starting at 2 p.m. at World’s Fair Park. A number of performers will offer free live music, including Appalachian band The Bearded, singer-songwriter Van Eaton and Friends, Western swing outfit The Lonesome Coyotes and country artist Matt Stillwell. Food vendors, family activities and an arts and crafts tent provided by the Knoxville Museum of Art will be on site as well. For more information, call the Knoxville Office of Special Events at 865-215-4248.
• Starting at 8 p.m., the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will take over the South Lawn of World’s Fair Park for its annual free Independence Day Concert, featuring patriotic tunes, classical favorites and fireworks to cap the entire event. Music for the evening will include “The Star Spangled Banner,” John Williams’ “Overture to the Cowboys,” selections from “The Sound of Music,” the traditional “Salute to the Armed Forces,” conductor Lucas Richman’s own “A Time for Heroes,” Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and more. The event concludes with Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” and a 20-minute fireworks display, which begins at 9:35 p.m. Call the symphony at 291-3310 for more information.
• The city of Lenoir City will once again hold its annual “Rockin’ the Docks” on Saturday; the all-day festival will feature food vendors, a children’s play area and live music. Food vendors start selling their wares at 1 p.m., and live music takes place starting at 3:30 p.m. Bands on the bill include Lost and Found, the RMS Band, Dishwater Blonde and the Super Dave 5. A fireworks show takes place at 10 p.m. Admission is free; the event takes place at The Cove at Lenoir City Park, on Fort Loudoun Lake. For more information, call (865) 986-1223.
• In Gatlinburg, they do the Fourth up right, starting immediately after the calendar flips over to July 4. At 12:01 a.m. tonight/Saturday morning, the 34th annual Independence Day parade will kick off, and if past years are any indication, it’s possible some 80,000 people will line the streets to watch. This year, the city will recreate the Sept. 2, 1940 Presidential Motorcade of Franklin D. Roosevelt as it traveled through Gatlinburg when FDR officially dedicated the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. (Actor David Keith will portray FDR in the re-enactment.) At noon on Saturday, the Gatlinburg River Raft Regatta begins, where anyone can enter a homemade vessel in a race down the Little Pigeon River, and shortly after sunset on Saturday, a 20-minute fireworks display will erupt over the city. For more information, go to www.gatlinburg.com.
• At Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson, 1820 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville, it’s an “ILLConduct” kind of Fourth — throughout the day, the ILLConduct team, one of the top riding teams in the world, will present stunts and tricks for the crowd. On hand will be motorcycle legend Jeff Schneider, the original founder of Harley Stunts. It’s free to check out the shows; cost for the concert by the D.B. Bryant Band, which begins at 8 p.m., is $5. Call 977-1669 for more information.
• The 19th Annual Patriot Festival gets under way at 1 p.m. Saturday at Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge. Entertainers include a traveling majorette and drum corp from Virginia; the Pigeon Forge Community Chorus; local country artist Homer Hart; the cast of the musical “Swing Time,” currently performing at Pigeon Forge’s Grand Majestic Theater, performing a tribute to the armed forces; The Temptations Revue, performing Motown classics; up-and-coming country singer Sarah Darling; country star John Berry; the Classic Rock All Stars; and a fireworks show at 9:45 p.m. For more information, call (865) 429-7350.
• And of course, if you don’t feel like doing a thing on Saturday, you can celebrate Independence Day on Sunday instead by heading over to Big Mama’s Karaoke Cafe in Seymour for a big ol’ live music festival. We told you about it here, and in the July 3 edition of The Daily Times, you can read our interview with headliners LA Guns.