Knoxville offers a wealth of options for summer entertainment. TNJN's Calendar of Events highlights fun ways to beat the heat with some cool goings on.

June 9 - 16

June 9 - WDVX Blue Plate Special - New "Second Wednesday" Concert Series
Tribute to the LaFollette Fiddler's Convention, The Blue Valley Boys, Jack Wilburn and Earl Baldwin
12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at Market Square Stage **Has moved to Visitor's Center due to rain - Also streaming online at WDVX.com**
WDVX presents the outdoor Blue Plate Special every second Wednesday of the month throughout summer.  The WDVX Blue Plate Special invites the public to come listen to more free live music each Monday through Thursday at noon at the Knoxville Visitor's Center (corner of Gay Street and Summit Hill Drive) and at the Square Room on Fridays.

June 10 - Cirque Dreams Illumination
8 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre
It's a story of everyday people, workers and pedestrians transformed into stunning acrobatics. Featuring 27 world-class artists that blend comedy and extraordinary occurrences to reinvent everyday life. The special effects are performed to an original score of jazz, salsa, ballroom, pop and trendy beats. The New York Daily Times calls it “Dazzling! A reason to stand up and cheer.”  New York Magazine hails it as “The grandest circus spectacle east of Vegas.”

June 10 - Lonesome Coyotes with R.B. Morris and Hector Qirko
7 p.m. at Old City Courtyard
Missing Sundown?  Stop by the Old City for Thursday concert on the outdoor stage behind Southbound Bar and Grill.  Admission is $5.

June 12 - Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, 700 Hall of Fame Drive
As the Baden ball, measuring 30-feet tall and weighing 10 tons, would suggest this building is all about basketball.  In honor of the evening's induction, admission to the Hall of Fame will be free for the day.

June 12 - Women's Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Induction
6 p.m. at Tennessee Theatre (Ticketed Event)
The six members of the Class of 2010 are Leta Andrews, Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo, Gloria Ray, Teresa Weatherspoon and Chris Weller.

June 12 -  Second Saturday Concerts at The Cove
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Cove at Concord Park 
The Second Saturday Concerts at The Cove will kick off the season with performers The Atomic Horns.   The free, family friendly concerts are held the second Saturday of each month, June through September, at 11808 Northshore Drive.

June 15, 16 - Broadway's Avenue Q
7:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre
This 2004 Tony Awards® winner has been called "one of the funniest shows you're ever likely to see" by Entertainment Weekly.  Avenue Q features a cast of both people and puppets working comedy magic.  The New Yorker calls it "Subversive and uproarious!"

June 17 - 24

June 17 - Sundown in the City
Drive-by Truckers with Eli "Paperboy" Reed & The True Loves
6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Market Square Stage. This is the final show of the Sundown in the City season!  Admission is free.

June 18, 19 - Secret City Festival
Oak Ridge will be twisting it up as Chubby Checker headlines the 8th annual festival with a flashback performance on Saturday night.  Other featured performers include Daryl Stuermer-Genesis Rewired, a new band featuring Daryl Steurmer, lead guitarist and touring member of the super-group Genesis, Break on Through - a Doors tribute band and Tres Hombres performing ZZ Top hits.  Food, music, exhibits, juried art and craft fair, WWII combat reenactment and much, much more.  Early bird special on tickets available through June 12.  For parking and shuttle information, click here.

June 19 - Summer Solstice Concert
7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Mabry-Hazen House, 1711 Dandridge Ave.
Music by the Westside Daredevils and Stewart Pack and the Silent K’s will fill the grounds of the The Mabry-Hazen House Museum. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house was built in 1858 and served as headquarters for both Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War.  Bring a picnic, blanket and cooler and enjoy lawn games and music on the historic Mabry’s Hill. Tours of the home will also be available at no additional cost. Tickets are $10.


- Canceled - June 20 - Knoxville Volunteer Olympic Triathlon Race
8 a.m. at Volunteer Landing
1.5 K Swim, 40 K Bike and 10 K Run

June 21 - First day of Summer!

June 21, 22, - Mutual of Omaha Aha Moment Tour
10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Market Square (South end by the bell)
Come down to be interviewed on film in the Mutual of Omaha Airstream mobile studio for your Aha moment.  Studio will accept approximately two to three people per hour.

June 24 - Kuumba Festival
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Knoxville Museum of Arts (KMA)
Kickoff for four day festival celebrating and showcasing African American cultural art forms.

June 25 - July 2

June 25 - Kuumba Festival: the Junkanu Parade and Kuumba
5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Market Square
The festival celebrating and showcasing African American cultural art forms continues downtown.

June 25 - Summer Movie Magic at the Tennessee Theatre
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
8 p.m.  Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in this box office smash set in the Old West.

June 26 - Cherokee Heritage Day
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at James White's Fort
Relive a day in the life of the Cherokee with food, fun and history. Featured at this year’s event will be a commissioning ceremony with a 21-gun salute, a re-enactment of the signing of the “Treaty of the Holston” including a costumed presentation of the debate of July 1791 that led up to signing of this treaty. After, there will be a Cherokee dance demonstration.

June 26 - Knoxville Pride Fest Parade
3 p.m. to 4 p.m. - ends at Market Square
Second Annual Knoxville Pride Fest Parade. (Starts at State Street, then up Church Street to Gay Street, down Gay Street to Wall Avenue, ending in Market Square.)  Free to watch or march.  

June 26 - Knoxville Pride Fest 2010
4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Market Square
An open festival promoting the inclusion and equality of all people

June 26 - Hard Knox Roller Girls vs. Dallas Derby Devils
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Knoxville Coliseum

June 26 - Jubilee! 2010 featuring Emmylou Harris
8 p.m. at the Bijou Theatre
Twelve-time Grammy winner Emmylou Harris takes the stage for Jubilee!

June 26 - 8th Annual Knoxville Dragon Boat Festival
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Cove at Concord Park in Farragut
Unique cultural event of drum beating and adrenaline-pumping dragon boat racing action benefits Knox Area Rescue Ministries.  Teams of 21 paddlers race in 41 foot long dragon boats on a 250-meter course.

June 26, 27 - Knoxville Comic and Animal Show
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Knoxville Expo Center

June 26, 27 - Kuumba Festival
12 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Chilhowee Park
African world marketplace and live entertainment, featuring performers The Temptations Revue.

June 26, 27 - Bloomsdays Garden Festival and Marketplace
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at UT Gardens
Features two days of music, food and all things garden.  Music starts at 10 a.m. with Wild Blue Yonder followed at 1 p.m. with Four Leaf Peat on Saturday, and continues with the Lake Terrace Trio at 10 a.m. and Early Morning String Dusters at 1 p.m. on Sunday.  A marketplace of crafts, garden items and specialty plants complements the 28 scheduled workshops and numerous planned activities.  Admission is $6 per day for this rain or shine event.

June 27 - Jimmy Buffett Night
5 p.m. at Smokies Stadium
Wasting away again, at the ballpark! Parrot shirts and flip flops meet baseball as the Tennessee Smokies face the Carolina Mudcats on Jimmy Buffett tribute night.  The Caribbean atmosphere culminates with a post-game concert by Key West playing Buffett favorites.  Specials include $2 cheeseburgers and $2 Coronas.

June 27 - Jubilee! 2010 Community Festivities
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. features behind-the-scenes free tour of the historic Bijou.  Tours held every half-hour.
2 p.m. - 3 p.m.  Scott Miller, R.B. Morris and Jill Andrews will hold a casual workshop to talk about their creative process. $10.
2 p.m. - 3 p.m. WUOT's jazz coordinator Todd Steed hosts "Jazz 101" in the Bijou's upstairs gallery. Learn how to be a more educated listener and hear some “must haves” from this connoisseur’s collection. $5.
3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. Singer-songwriters Jill Andrews and Todd Steed with WDVX program director Tony Lawson share their experiences of touring, management, promotion and ideas for getting radio play. $10.
7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Knoxville favorites Todd Steed, Scott Miller, R.B. Morris and Jill Andrews have performed all over the world. Hear their stories and songs in unique collaborations for $10.

June 27 - Summer Movie Magic
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
2 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre

July 2 - First Friday!
Downtown comes alive with free art, free refreshments and free fun.

First Friday tonight - awesome start to the long weekend! If you're going, at 6 p.m. check out the One Eighty magazine release party at Sapphire. Vox vodka will be doing a taste sampling, Cherokee Distributing will be handing out 180 free beers...as if free wine, free food and free art weren't already enough.

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Dates and times are subject to change.  Updates are posted as new information is obtained.  Check back for the latest.