One of the region’s most popular festivals, Racks by the Tracks, returns to the Kingsport Farmers Market May 13 to celebrate its 15th year.
This year’s festival will feature the original Tri-Cities’ tasting event, a BBQ competition, the Racks by the Tracks 10K and 5K Race (featuring the Boss Hog Challenge) and plenty of great music.
The original Tri-Cities’ tasting event will feature more than 100 unique craft beers, wines, seltzers and sangrias. Tickets for this year’s tasting event will again be an all-inclusive ticket to sample all of the available beverages. Attendees will also place votes for their favorite libations and receive a souvenir pint glass, presented by Allandale Package Store,
Returning for its 10th year is the Racks by the Tracks 10K and 5K Race presented by Powell Valley National Bank. Along with the fun environment, one of the appealing draws of this race is that its course is considered the fastest course in the region due to how consistently flat it is and the only race on the Kingsport Greenbelt. For runners seeking a challenging & unique test of stamina, they can sign-up for the Boss Hog Challenge, in which they run in both the 10K & 5K races and receive a limited-edition Boss Hog Challenger t-shirt for participating.
For those looking to enjoy great food, the BBQ Competition will give attendees an opportunity to taste the best barbecue from restaurants and teams from across the region. Each attendee can cast their vote for People’s Choice awards. No ticket is required to access this section of the festival. Non-barbecue food vendors will also be on-site. New this year, a panel of hand-selected judges will be awarding the highest honor of the Best Rib Award.
Entertainment on the Honda Kingsport Stage will feature headliner, The Crue – A Motley Crue Tribute Experience. A culmination of four former Motley Crue tribute performers, the band comes together to create a true to life representation of one of the most notorious bands in rock history. The bring scorching vocals, blistering guitar, pounding bass and thunderous drums to a live show that is the next best thing to the real thing.
Opening for The Crue is Blank-281, a Blink-182 tribute band. Blank-281 takes listeners on a nostalgic ride through Blink-182’s early releases to their mainstream breakthrough and success.
Blank-281 was selected out of thousands of tribute acts across the country to appear on the Jimmy Fallon produced TV show, Clash of the Cover Bands.
Music kicks-off on the Honda Kingsport Stage at 1 p.m. with local indie-rock band, Donnie and the Dry Heavers. Hailing from Kingsport, the four-person band brings a fresh take to the musical styling of the Indie-Rock/Jam Bam genres.
Tickets are available at www.racksbythetracks.com
Tasting tickets will increase to $40 until May 1 when the price of tasting tickets increases to $45. The day of the event, tasting tickets will cost $50 and concert tickets will cost $15.
Racks by the Tracks prides itself on giving back each year and to-date has contributed over $100,000 to local non-profits. Proceeds have benefited the following organizations throughout the years: Second Harvest Food Bank, Sullivan County Humane Society, Boys & Girls Club, Girls Inc. of Kingsport, Kingsport Chamber, Downtown Kingsport Association, PEAK Young Professionals, Relay for Life, Skin Cancer Foundation, Kingsport Ballet, Rotary Clubs of Kingsport, St. Jude Children’s Hospital.