How Nashville's July 4 celebration evolved into a primetime spectacle
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Nashville's Let Freedom Sing! celebration in 2018 had a huge crowd to watch the fireworks. Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
When the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. took over production of the city's July 4 celebration in 2004, country artists like Phil Vassar performed on top of a barge on the Cumberland River. A tasteful fireworks display brought the festivities to a close.
Why it matters: From there, the event has ballooned into one of the best-attended and most highly regarded July 4 events in the country. It is headlined by artists representing a wide variety of genres, and the fireworks show puts most other cities' to shame.
- July 4 planners took things to another level for the nation's 250th anniversary, turning the party into a two-day event that will culminate in a live national broadcast on ABC.
Stage of play: The stage itself is a metaphor for how the event has grown. The river barge has been replaced by a multistage festival.
- This year's headliners — including Boyz II Men, The All-American Rejects, Brothers Osborne, Lauren Daigle and Nick Jonas — will perform on the colossal Jack Daniels stage at the intersection of First Avenue and Broadway.
What they're saying: "This broadcast is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate everything Nashville has built over the years and share the best of Music City with audiences across the country," Convention & Visitors Corp. president and CEO Deana Ivey said in a news release.
Fun fact: Ascending country singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed her early hits "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Picture to Burn" with the Nashville Symphony at the 2007 event.
By the numbers: The July 4 celebration, which organizers call Let Freedom Sing!, first exceeded $5 million in direct visitor spending in 2010.
- The next year, AOL called it one of the biggest shows in America. Then Forbes dubbed it one of the nation's top fireworks displays in 2012.
- The event set a record for attendance last year with 365,000 attendees, generating $23.8 million in visitor spending.
"The amount of people this event draws impacts tourism significantly over several days," Barrett Hobbs, who owns several hospitality businesses in Nashville, tells Axios. "Lots of money for the school system."
If you go: Nashville's celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary begins Friday in Walk of Fame Park with live music, food trucks, inflatables and other games for kids.
- July 4 performances begin at 11am at Walk of Fame Park and at noon on the Riverfront stage.
- The Nashville Symphony performs at 9:30pm Saturday at Ascend Amphitheater for the fireworks and drone show. Gates open at 4:30pm.