Jonesborough Days 2023

Jonesborough Days Kick-Off Dinner

The event will take place on Thursday, June 29 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Jimmy Neil Smith Park behind the International Storytelling Center and will include food and entertainment.

This year’s dinner will feature a country & western theme with a menu to match. We will be having fried/baked chicken, an assortment of salads and vegetables, cornbread and fruit cobblers. Thank you to our Kick-Off Dinner sponsor, Food City, for providing dinner.

The Jonesborough Days Festival will take place Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2 and the Kick-Off Dinner serves as a fundraiser for the festival. To purchase tickets to the dinner and for full details about the festival, call the Jonesborough Visitors Center at 423.753.1010 or click the button below to get your tickets!

Jonesborough Days Kicks off on July 1st!

Admission to the festival is free and open to the public. The festival hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 1 and 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, July 2. The festival begins Saturday, July 1 at 10 a.m. with a parade to kick off the festivities. Activities, music, contests and more will continue throughout the weekend. The fireworks display starts at 10 p.m. on Sunday, July 2 to wrap up the celebration.

The Jonesborough Days Parade will kick off Jonesborough Days on Saturday, July 1 at 10 a.m. It is set to go through Boone and Main Streets in downtown Jonesborough. The Jonesborough Days Festival Committee is seeking floats and entries decked out in red, white and blue.

The cost for registration is $25 for regular entries and $50 for political and commercial entries. Questions can be directed to Rachel Conger at rachelc@jonesboroughtn.org or by calling 423.791.3869.  More information can be found at Jonesborough Days on Facebook for up-to-date festival information.

The festival has been voted as one of the top events in the southeast and is known for its community patriotism and nostalgic atmosphere.  Various entertainment ad activities take place throughout the historic district on both Saturday and Sunday.  Doc’s Front Porch will feature a variety of storytellers and musicians on the plaza at the International Storytelling Center during the day.  The BrightRidge Main Stage will feature entertainment each evening. There will be 60 local artists and craftsmen showcasing a variety of handmade wares. Of course there will be a variety of great festival foods including everything from cheese steaks to funnel cakes.

On Saturday, July 1 at 2 p.m., join us for the 5th Annual MoonPie Eating Contest in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Downtown Jonesborough. Come test your time on the snack known for being “as big as the moon”. There will be three categories including: 8 and under, 9 to 15 years and adult. Contestants will be challenged to see who can finish their MoonPies the fastest. Registration is free and begins at 1:30 p.m. in front of the courthouse, space is limited. The winners of each category will receive free MoonPies for a year.

On Sunday, July 2 at 2 p.m. Ingles Market will host a Watermelon Social in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Downtown Jonesborough. Free watermelon will be provided until it’s all gone.

Children will have many activities to do in Discovery Park on Saturday and Sunday located on the lawn of Central Christian Church. Discovery Park will offer various activities for children and their families including McKinney Center Art activities, mining for gems hosted by The Crystal Raven, sprinklers and more. Heritage Games will also be hosted by the Heritage Alliance in front of the Christopher Taylor Cabin.

The Jonesborough Days Main Stage will feature the sounds of regional favorites along with exciting tribute bands during the annual patriotic summer event July 1 to July 2.

On Saturday evening, July 1 at 8 p.m. Jonesborough Days will host its first ever Cornbread Contest. The contest will be hosted and judged by Hannah Dasher, creator of the “Stand By Your Pan” cooking show which has over 1.5 million followers on TikTok. There are 3 categories and any age is welcome to enter, regular cornbread, sweet cornbread, and crazy cornbread (cornbread salad, cornbread soufflé, Mexican cornbread, anything goes). The contest will take place on the Main Stage, located between the courthouse and Texas Burritos & More in Downtown Jonesborough. The winner of each category will receive a Lodge skillet and goodies to fill it.Spaces are limited, contestants are encouraged to register in advance.

Hannah Dasher is a Nashville country music artist who signed with Sony Music Nashville in 2017.

One of CMT’s Next Women of Country, she’s written songs for Lainey Wilson, Brad Paisley and more, but you better believe Hannah Dasher keeps the best songs for herself! On Friday, May 26th, she released her album’s next track, “Ugly Houses,” a preview of what’s to come on ‘The Other Damn Half’ on August 4th.

With 20 million TikTok likes and more than 1.6 million followers, plus appearances on national shows like Rachel Ray, expect Hannah to keep a spatula in one hand and a microphone in the other.

Music Row predicted she’ll be the Next Big Thing about the same time the guitar goddess became a Fender Next artist. But Whiskey Riff believes Hannah’s still one of Nashville’s “best kept secrets,” comparing her to Chris Stapleton.

Learn more about Hannah here.

A World-Class Tribute to Willie Nelson.

The festival then wraps up with the annual fireworks display at 10 p.m. Fireworks will be shot from the Washington County Library.

The Jonesborough Police Department will implement multiple road closures Friday, June 30 through Sunday, July 2 for the Jonesborough Days festival, with special emphasis on pedestrian and motorist congestion after the fireworks display Sunday night. These closures will be implemented to ensure the safe movement of motorists and pedestrians in the area of viewing points held in celebration of Independence Day in Jonesborough.

The following road closures will be implemented.

June 30 through July 2

• Main Street will be closed starting Friday, June 30 at 5:30 p.m. for Jonesborough Days set up.
• The Main Street closure will continue until Sunday after the fireworks celebration, approximately at 10:15 p.m.
• The closure on Main Street is from Fox Street to Second Avenue.

July 1 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

• Traffic patterns will be altered because of the Jonesborough Days Parade.
• Boone Street and a section of Main Street will be closed for the parade.
• Motorist traveling to Jonesborough via Boones Creek Road will be directed to either turn towards Johnson City or Greeneville at the Boones Creek Road/east Jackson Boulevard intersection.
• Motorists in the area of West Jackson Boulevard near Washington Drive should expect an altered traffic pattern for traffic traveling eastbound towards Johnson City.
• Police officers and Jonesborough Street Department employees will be at or near the intersections to assist with traffic flow.

July 2 from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.

• Traffic patterns will be altered before, during and after the fireworks.
• Immediately after the fireworks have ended a hold on vehicle traffic will take place on Boone Street until the pedestrian traffic has cleared the area.
• Motorist should expect approximately 1 hour of being held in a parking area for the safety of the pedestrians.
• Traffic patterns will be altered along East and West Jackson Boulevard with crossovers being unavailable and no U-Turns permitted.
• Traffic entering East and West Jackson Boulevard will be turned right at all intersections.

The Town of Jonesborough expects to have a high volume of attendees at the Jonesborough Days events. The Jonesborough Police Department would like to inform the public that they should expect traffic delays, heavy pedestrian foot traffic crossing roadways, limited public parking and altered traffic routes.

Jonesborough Public Safety asks that attendees to be patient and use the utmost caution for pedestrians and other motorists.