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Which city has a better riverfront?


soverbey

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Which city has a better riverfront for activities, concerts, etc. More public space in the CBD along the river.

Chattanooga has a 10 day festival, Riverbend on the river front. I think it draws 25k on the closing night, and a total attendance of 400k for the entire festival. Those figures are old though. I haven't kept up with it. I not familiar with Nashville or Memphis' riverfronts.

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Chattanooga has a phenomenal downtown waterfront. Nashville's is, I'm sad to say, a real dump--there's trash along the banks of Cumberland between downtown and the CBD; landscaping is no where to be found; the world's largest downtown scrap heap lies nearby; and the homeless have overtaken its shores for makeshift homes. Sadly, I don't see anything changing in the near future; sure, there's Shelby and Gatway bridges and the new Sounds ballpark, but this area is just wretched!

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Nashville's is, I'm sad to say, a real dump--there's trash along the banks of Cumberland between downtown and the CBD; landscaping is no where to be found; the world's largest downtown scrap heap lies nearby; and the homeless have overtaken its shores for makeshift homes. Sadly, I don't see anything changing in the near future; sure, there's Shelby and Gatway bridges and the new Sounds ballpark, but this area is just wretched!

I wouldn't be that harsh in my assessment. Nashville's riverfront fronting downtown is not what it was when I was a kid 25 years ago when it consisted of a huge hulking empty garage at the foot of Broadway rising right out of the river and a hideous, steep dirt embankment next to it. You had to board the old, smaller riverboats from that garage after walking down a nasty short driveway that led from 1st, and it was about as dreadful a place to land as it was during the Civil War. The area of today's Riverfront Park between the Shelby Street and Woodland Street bridges is far more scenic and pleasant today, DOES have landscaping reaching up to 1st, and is only expected to get better with development. Nashville's riverfront in 2006 is not 1981 anymore.

I would agree, though, that as you get further away from downtown, many areas look as forlorn and depressing as they did 25 years ago, and hopefully will see future efforts to develop them and make them more desirable places to visit and live.

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As far as events go, don't forget that the majority of Memphis in May happens on the river at Tom Lee Park.

Memphis in May

And Mud Island River Park, Ampitheater, and Museum is a nice addition, as are Jefferson Davis Park and Riverside Drive/Riverfront Trolley. The Beale St. Landing project should be on its way and will modernize the riverfront.

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Ranking:

1.Chattanooga

2. Memphis

3.Knoxville

4.Clarksville

5.Nashville

Chattanooga has done an outstanding job with their riverfront. Memphis's riverfront is a very close second and is the most urban. In my opinion, cleanliness counts and although Clarksville is smaller than Nashville, their riverfront is clean and utilized. Until that dump gets cleaned up in front of Nashville's downtown my ranking stands.

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Chattanooga is first for me, I believe though Memphis might be catching up in the next few years with overal attractiveness of its riverfront. Beale street Landing, new high rises, new developments on mud island,the pyramid redevelopment and the various old liberty land rides being moved to Mud Island

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Gee Weez I forgot about Chattanooga's, I suppose not having been there in over 10 years does that.

I would rank them probably:

Memphis/Chattanooga (Memphis- the MS is an awesome sight so that gives it a leg up in my book, plus not bad for activities I hear; Chat - Really nice riverside development from the pics I've seen makes its riverfront physically the most impressive and inviting IMO)

Nashville (Lots of potential, pretty nice when events are going on)

Clarksville (beautiful views)

Knoxville

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Gee Weez I forgot about Chattanooga's, I suppose not having been there in over 10 years does that.

I would rank them probably:

Memphis/Chattanooga (Memphis- the MS is an awesome sight so that gives it a leg up in my book, plus not bad for activities I hear; Chat - Really nice riverside development from the pics I've seen makes its riverfront physically the most impressive and inviting IMO)

Nashville (Lots of potential, pretty nice when events are going on)

Clarksville (beautiful views)

Knoxville

Given the physical layout, in Memphis it's a little bit difficult to develop the riverfront with new developments since downtown is pretty well-lined with old buildings right on the edge of the bluff for about a mile up and down the river, many/most of which have been rehabbed into residential. Below the bluff, there are no buildings, just parks and Riverside Drive--which is a lovely tree-lined avenue.

But it's not a situation where you can have buildings right on the river's edge. And it's hard to get that intimate feel with the River since it's just so big.

I will say that the Bluff Walk is something special.

Also, one of the greatest views of the Mississippi River is going north on Riverside Drive from the I-55 exit. The River looks like an ocean.

Edit: Should say that I don't know enough about Chattanooga's to comment. But I've only heard good things.

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Chattanooga's waterfront is clearly the best in Tennessee. No city in Tennessee has developed their waterfront like Chattanooga has. After Chattanooga, I'd have to say Memphis, then Knoxville, then Nashville. I believe Nashville will improve their waterfront dramtically in the next 5 years starting with the Sounds project and the the Rolling Mill Hill project. Check out this link on the Chattanooga 21st Century Waterfront project. This is how to do it!

Chattanooga's 21st Century Waterfront Project

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Chattanooga's waterfront is clearly the best in Tennessee. No city in Tennessee has developed their waterfront like Chattanooga has. After Chattanooga, I'd have to say Memphis, then Knoxville, then Nashville. I believe Nashville will improve their waterfront dramtically in the next 5 years starting with the Sounds project and the the Rolling Mill Hill project. Check out this link on the Chattanooga 21st Century Waterfront project. This is how to do it!

Chattanooga's 21st Century Waterfront Project

Clearly? That might be a stretch. But it's very, very impressive.

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Chattanoog's Riverfront is so nice two events from Georgia have been moved to it. The Head of the 'Hooch Regatta moved to it last year (from the Chattahoochie in Roswell/Atlanta), and Tour de Georgia has a phase that ends there also.

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The Chattanooga Riverbend music festival takes place in a couple of weeks on the waterfront. I'll take some pictures and post them for you to see. I think you all will be impressed.

During the Festival you can also go to www.wrcbtv.com, and look at live streams from their skycam on top of the Lookout's stadium, or the one top of the Grandview apartments.

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I am from Nashville and have been to our waterfront countless times. Honestly, it's been so long since I have been to the waterfronts of any other city in Tennessee that I can't vividly remember any of them. That being said, I vote Nashville for last place. It doesn't bother me that the water is dirty (really, what can you expect?), but it bothers me that there is absolutely nothing for a person to do there. Riverfront Park is not user friendly, and basically all events there has been canceled. Riverstages....long gone. Dancin' in the District.....defunct as of this summer. The only thing left that i can think of is the 4th of July celebration (which rocks!). I would be a cool place for a brew fest or something of that nature. However, it seems that the city just does not appreciate it. The new ballpark and rail station might help....we'll see.

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  • 1 month later...

The Chattanooga Riverbend music festival takes place in a couple of weeks on the waterfront. I'll take some pictures and post them for you to see. I think you all will be impressed.

Here's some pics from Riverbend:

I went to the festival Friday and took a few pictures. The headline performer was Hank Williams Jr. The estimated crowd for the day was a whopping 100,000...one of the largest in Riverbend Festival history. I decided to stay at the smaller venues which were not so crowded, but the entertainment was awesome. Here's some shots:

Some of the huge crowd

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Soul Survivor playing at one of the smaller venues, the Bud Lite Stage

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An amazing local band Infradig. They play a mix of jazz, with elements of hip hop, jungle, etc. Very cool and very danceable

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I watched Al Di Meola during the time Hank Jr was playing. A wildly enthusiastic crowd of maybe 3,000 watched this Jazz great. Al Di Meola simply put is the best guitarist I've ever seen, and I've seen some great ones. I would rate him on par with Stevie Ray Vaughn...he's that damn good!

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Riverbend 2006 ended with another huge crowd of nearly 100,000. This was the most successful Riverbend Festival in it's 26 year history. The Allman Brothers Band headlined the night that was capped off by as awesome fireworks display. Here's some more pictures from this years Riverbend Festival. Enjoy!

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