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Dancin’ In The District To Return To Nashville’s Riverfront Park In 2019

A free community event with 25 years of history, showing New Nashville our Old Nashville roots.

Longtime Nashville residents know what’s up when it comes to Dancin’ In The District, but anyone who has moved to town in the last decade or so has not yet had the chance to experience the event that arguably led the revitalization of Lower Broadway—bringing tens of thousands of live music fans together on the banks of the Cumberland River. This year’s Dancin’ In The District event is once again taking place at Nashville’s Riverfront Park on October 10th and will continue to be a free, all-ages, pet-friendly event—for all intents and purposes, the Dancin’ that Nashville loved so dearly over the years is back!

Nashville favorites like Daddy’s Dogs, 8th & Roast, and Ole Smoky Moonshine will be on hand vending food and beverages in addition to a list of soon-to-be-announced retail vendors. Dancin’ has partnered with Lightning 100, the Nashville Scene, and do615 to get the word out about the evening event happening October 10th from 4 pm to 10 pm, and the whole event benefits Music Health Alliance, an organization that helps connect professional musicians with the medical and financial solutions they might need.

Dancin’ In The District—or just Dancin’ for short—was dreamt up in the early 1990’s to reconnect Music City with the music that gave it its name. "In the '80s Lower Broadway struggled to maintain its connection to the music scene Nashville was famous for,” says Nashville restauranteur and Dancin’ founder, Tom Morales. “At the time, this street was full of pawnshops and porn shops, and had been abandoned by locals.” Morales and a group of like minds formed Dancin’ with the help of Mayor Phil Bredesen, the idea being to throw a free weekly party with music at its hub. “Dancin' quickly became the catalyst to bring people downtown and was a selling point for investment on Lower Broadway,” notes Morales. “The Titans were the title sponsor at one point and the Predators engaged as well. The riverfront ‘happy hour’ quickly grew to crowds of over 10,000 people and the vitality of Lower Broad was back.” Morales, along with Dancin’s entire team, is optimistic about bringing back Dancin’, and in turn, bringing locals back downtown to enjoy their city again.

Dancin’ is the first of many events to be produced by Acme Radio Company, the newly established 501(c)(3) non-profit arm of Acme Radio Live. Carl Gatti, Acme’s Director of Entertainment, expounds, "From day 1, Acme Radio has focused on the discovery and preservation of Nashville. As the city grows, we have gained a better understanding of just how important our original mission statement is. To continue our focus, we are launching the Acme Radio 501(c)(3) to expand upon discovery and preservation opportunities throughout the community and allow other like-minded businesses, brands, charities, artists, and individuals help us accomplish this goal."

The mission of Dancin’ has always been to reconnect locals and the music scene to Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway district. Morales puts it this way, "As Nashville begins to face another identity crisis we felt the revival of such an event as Dancin' in the District would be a perfect opportunity to remind locals, especially those new to Nashville, that Lower Broadway was once a platform for music discovery. This free community event brought music back downtown and we’re working hard to do it again."