Hey Chatt!! Here is your Labor Day weekend guide!!

⭐ The Big One

Riverfront Nights Finale: Earth, Wind & Fire Tribute

The 19th season of TVFCU Riverfront Nights wraps with Let's Groove Tonight, billed as the nation's #1 Earth, Wind & Fire tribute band, plus an opening set celebrating Kool & the Gang. It's an extended evening this week, with Riverfront Parkway closed to make room for more vendors and activities. Food truck alley opens at 6:00 PM and runs until 10:00 PM, and Scenic City Clay Arts is running a kids' clay building activity from 6 to 9. Show up early for a spot on the grass, this is the last Riverfront Nights until 2027.

🕐 Saturday, Sep 5 · 6:00 PM, food trucks from 6 PM
📍 Ross's Landing, 100 Riverfront Pkwy, Downtown
💰 FREE

🍔 Food Truck Friday: Fall into Flavor

LAUNCH's Kitchen Incubator runs this on the first Friday of every month, a lineup of local food trucks and a live radio broadcast in the parking lot off Eastgate Loop. A good reason to make your lunch break count going into the long weekend.

🕐 11:00 AM–3:00 PM
📍 Kitchen Incubator of Chattanooga, 5704 Marlin Rd
💰 Food prices vary by truck

🎨 First Fridays Gallery Crawl: Hart Gallery

Part of the citywide First Fridays crawl, Hart Gallery on East Main opens a new exhibition tonight. Hart supports artists living with mental and physical disabilities, homelessness, and other underserved circumstances, so there's real purpose behind the opening night party.

🕐 6:00 PM
📍 Hart Gallery, 110 E Main St, Southside
💰 FREE

🎸 John Cowan Trio at Songbirds

Known as "the Voice of Newgrass" from his New Grass Revival days, John Cowan brings a trio with three time National Flatpicking champion Allen Shadd and fiddle player Luke Bulla for a proper seated listening room show. A quarter century of musical history between Cowan and Bulla alone.

🕐 Doors 6:00 PM, show 7:00 PM, seated
📍 Songbirds, 206 W Main St, Southside
💰 Tickets required

🚗 River Slam 2026

A static car, truck, and bike show spread across two shelters at the Tennessee Riverpark, food trucks and vendors on site. No audio show, this one's about the vehicles on display, not revving engines.

🕐 9:00 AM
📍 Tennessee Riverpark, Shelter 1/2, 4631 Amnicola Hwy
💰 Check event page for pricing

🚣 Maclellan Island Eco Tour

Board the Southern Belle Riverboat and head out to Maclellan Island for a guided, narrated hike, bald eagles, herons, river turtles, and the island's resident conservation goats. A new partnership between the Chattanooga Audubon Society, Outdoor Chattanooga, and the Riverboat Company. This runs on select Saturdays only, worth a call to confirm before you head out.

🕐 12:00 PM (call to confirm)
📍 Southern Belle Riverboat, 151 Riverfront Pkwy, Downtown
💰 Tickets required

🦴 Odd Market Fall 2026

Seed Theatre's celebration of everything unconventional, over 100 vendors selling handmade oddities, taxidermy, vintage curios, and witchy wares, plus live performances hosted by Punk & Drag out of Knoxville. A proud LGBTQ+ safe space, and one of the more distinctive Saturdays on the calendar.

🕐 12:00 PM–7:00 PM
📍 Stove Works, 1250 E 13th St
💰 FREE

🐦 Birds, Brews, and BBQ

The Chattanooga Audubon Society throws its annual outdoor party at Audubon Acres, live music from local band Magic Birds, beer from Alabama's Goat Island Brewing, and barbecue from Tennessee Rebel BBQ available for purchase. There's also a naturalist led hike and a blacksmithing demonstration from Refining Fire Forge. Family friendly, kids under 5 get in free.

🕐 5:00–8:00 PM
📍 Audubon Acres, 900 North Sanctuary Rd, East Brainerd
💰 $5–$20, kids under 5 free

🦎 Reptile & Exotic Pet Expo

Ball pythons, boas, geckos, frogs, tarantulas, and a full vendor floor of supplies and feeders. Runs both Saturday and Sunday with different hours each day, this is Saturday's stretch.

🕐 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
📍 Camp Jordan Arena, 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy, East Ridge
💰 $10/day, under 12 free

🦎 Reptile & Exotic Pet Expo (Day 2)

Second and final day at Camp Jordan, shorter hours than Saturday.

🕐 10:00 AM–4:00 PM
📍 Camp Jordan Arena, 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy, East Ridge
💰 $10/day, under 12 free

🌿 Nature as Teacher: Mindfulness at Crabtree Farms

A monthly gathering of guided meditation, mindful walking, and quiet reflection among the garden beds. No experience necessary, donations welcome, and it's about as gentle a Sunday morning as this town offers.

🕐 10:00 AM
📍 Crabtree Farms, 1000 E 30th St
💰 FREE

🌮 Fall Food Truck Rally: Chattanooga Market

The Market kicks off Labor Day weekend with local food trucks, live music from the Stratoblasters, and the regular lineup of farm fresh vendors. Thai, tacos, Cajun, wings, donuts, come hungry.

🕐 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
📍 First Horizon Pavilion, 1801 Reggie White Blvd, Southside
💰 FREE

🚶 Community Walk & Unwind

Outdoor Chattanooga, Rooted Paths Outdoor Club, and YZIN Meditation team up along the river at Coolidge Park. An optional guided meditation kicks things off, then a free, non-competitive group walk open to all paces. Come for one, come for both.

🕐 5:00 PM guided meditation ($5) · 5:35 PM community walk (free)
📍 Coolidge Park, 150 River St, Northshore

🎵 Sunny War + Bellringer

Sunny War blends Americana, folk, gospel, and punk blues with a distinctive thumb and forefinger picking style influenced by banjo. A great way to close out the last evening of the weekend proper.

🕐 8:00 PM
📍 Cherry Street Tavern, 719 Cherry St, Downtown
💰 $15

🔦 Ruby Falls Lantern Tour: Ghost Walk Edition

The season opener for this after hours favorite, ghost stories from the cave's 97 year history, told by lantern light on the walk to the waterfall. Not appropriate for kids under 12, and reservations sell out fast.

🕐 Evening (check rubyfalls.com for exact time)
📍 Ruby Falls, 1720 S Scenic Hwy, Lookout Mountain, TN
💰 Tickets required

🥾 Labor Day Bonus

Lula Lake Land Trust: Open Gate Day

A quick note before this one: Lula Lake sits just over the state line on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, technically outside our usual Tennessee only beat. We're making an exception because it's genuinely one of the best things happening this weekend, and because it only opens like this a couple of weekends a month. This Labor Day, they're opening three days straight, eight-plus miles of trails, sweeping bluff overlooks, and the 120 foot Lula Falls to cool off in. Dogs are welcome on a leash. Reservations are required and spaces are limited, so book ahead rather than showing up and hoping.

🕐 9:00 AM–3:00 PM Monday (Sat/Sun ran 9 AM–5 PM)
📍 Lula Lake Land Trust, 5000 Lula Lake Rd, Lookout Mountain, GA
💰 $16 conservation fee per vehicle, reservation required

🚂 Got family in town for the long weekend?

Chattanooga Derailed: Trolley Tour + Train Ride
A vintage trolley through downtown, then a ride on the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Missionary Ridge Local. Turntable demo, restoration shop, the works.

🍴 Still hungry after the food truck rally?

Southside Food Tour with Lunch
Three hours, six stops, one very full stomach. A guided walking tour through the Southside with tastings at local restaurants, plus a sit-down lunch to finish.

⚓ One more warm weekend on the water?

Private Electric Boat Rental on the Tennessee River
Skipper your own quiet electric boat down the river. No license needed, no gas fumes, no engine noise. Cruise past Ross's Landing and under the Walnut Street Bridge at your own pace.