HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tuesday marks a night of food, music, and community all to support local businesses and parks recovering from the December tornado through the Hendersonville Rising concert.
Tickets can be purchased here.
A month following the tornadoes, a majority of city businesses need a lot of help so the goal is provide more financial relief. The city continues to rebuild after more than 130 businesses were impacted.
The Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce and the Henderonsville Hometown Jam are putting on the concert. Twenty local musicians will be on hand, as well as NewsChannel5's very own Meteorologist and proud Hendersonville native Bree Smith who is emceeing.
The concert is at Premier Center on Volunteer Drive. Attendees will be able to get in at 5:30 p.m. and the music starts at 6:30 p.m.
City officials say 137 businesses took on damage from the tornado. 74 of those were severely hit. There's been more than 300 employees out of work because of it.
A number of city parks were also destroyed, putting a halt to families continuing their regular routines.
Organizing a concert is nothing new for the city that has seen an array of artists through it's doors and parks over the years. Taylor Swift, Johnny Cash, Barbara Mandrell all have a special tie to the area.
Mayor Jamie Clary said they're grateful for the musicians continuing that tradition to help with this concert. He said he's confident that families will be back in the parks this spring for things like practices and games.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
