KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Crews prepared a 700-foot by 200-foot barge for a series of events Thursday, including concerts, tailgates, and a wiffleball home run derby with the Tennessee Baseball team.
The first-ever "Bargefest" will be hosted by the Volunteer Club, part of the SPYRE Sports group, which negotiates NIL deals for student-athletes. The Volunteer Club said the event came together pretty quickly — however, they’ve had the idea for around two years.
"When you think about Tennessee Athletics, you think about the river and Neyland Stadium,” said James Clawson, the CEO of SPYRE. “We had the idea, how could we have a floating party?"
Clawson said the barge came from Dyersburg in West Tennessee and was floated down the Tennessee River through Choctaw Transportation Company. The Tennessee River is at unusually high levels since flooding from Hurrican Helene. Clawson said the barge was delayed a few days.
"I think we wanted to be mindful of the impact that Helene had on our community,” Clawson said. “We didn’t want to put anybody, government workers or any of our TWRA officials in a position where their focus was on this."
Around 50% of proceeds from Friday’s event, on the eve of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry game, will go towards Mountain Way. It's the same nonprofit Dolly Parton and her foundation donated $2 million, helping support hurricane and flooding victims.
Tickets for the event start at $25 for a ticket to the Tennessee Baseball Home Run Derby, where the barge will be painted like a baseball field, Clawson said. The Tennessee Baseball team, including Tony Vitello, will play a wiffleball derby.
Concert and tailgate tickets start at $100 and go up from there. Nico Moon will play a concert Friday night, and Old Crowe Medicine Show will play Monday. There will be a tailgate for the Tennessee Florida and the Tennessee-Alabama game.
The Knoxville Police Department and Knoxville Fire Department will work at the event. Scott Erland with KPD said it would staff officers there, in addition to some hired security at the event through Axis.
"Fire department, police department, everybody kind of works together to make sure that these events go off as best they can within our city,” Wilbanks said.
Mark Wilbanks with KFD said they will have EMS on scene, which he said is typical for events involving alcohol. They also will have a patrol boat on standby, which considering the status of the Tennessee River, he said isn’t a bad idea.
“The river is just kind of murky and ugly and it's flowing a little faster than normal, which is another good reason to have our boat out on the water," Wilbanks said.
The barge will be at Volunteer Landing for events until the third Saturday in October. Clawson said he hopes it will be a recurring event.
