🍽️ Check out these Nashville food festivals

🥗 Metro Council’s Biggest Foodie

Councilmember Terry Vo is talking to the City Cast Nashville podcast about her mission to end Nashville’s "food apartheid," and she gives us the scoop on some of the best international restaurants and markets in town. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🧳 Record-Breaking Year in Tourism

We set a record-breaking year with tourism profits in 2023, with $30.6 billion in direct visitor spending and 144 million visitors. This is a 6.2% increase from 2022. [WKRN]

🏥 Belmont Opens New Medical Program

Most U.S. medical colleges were built before the 1980s, but Belmont University is addressing the physician shortage crisis with a new medical school, which welcomes its inaugural students next week. They’ll take classes in the new Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine building. [WPLN]

🧑‍🏫 Local Organizations Support Teachers

Teaching is a challenging career with high turnover rates, but two local nonprofit organizations — The Educators’ Cooperative and the Diverse Learners Cooperative — provide much-needed support to teachers. [Nashville Scene]

Nashville foodies! We’re back with a preview of August’s best food and drink events, starting with one of the biggest festivals of the year: the annual Tomato Art Fest, an homage to the humble red produce that our gardens overflow with this time of year. It’s a fruit, but it’s also kind of a vegetable! It’s a uniter, not a divider! Most importantly, it’s a time for our whole community to come together — which is what food should be all about.

🍅 Tomato Art Fest — August 9-10

Attend and you’ll get an artistic homage to the tomato as a cultural staple, as well as a sample of the art and music East Nashville has to offer. It’s the biggest event in the neighborhood: Tomato Art Fest will take over Five Points with live music, food and drink, tomato-themed art, events, and contests. If you’re not attending — although why wouldn’t you be? — maybe avoid Five Points for the weekend … you’ve been warned.

👀 Some Event Highlights

Friday-Sunday | 12-5 p.m. | Tomato Art Show

• You can even buy tomato art online!

Saturday | 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. | East Nashville Tomato 5K

• Register here if you’re one of those people that likes 5Ks!

Saturday | 9-10 a.m. | Tomato Art Fest “Push, Pull, and Wear” Parade

• You can sign up your group to walk in the parade here.

Saturday | 10:45-11 a.m. | Tomato Art Fest Haiku Contest

• Get writing and enter by August 9! Send your name and submission to [email protected]

Friday-Saturday | 5-7 p.m. | Live Music

• Some of East Nashville’s favorite artists will be playing at the main stage in the Beyond the Edge parking lot from open to close. Check out the lineup here.

🏝️ Music City Jerk Festival — August 17

Hit up the Music City Walk of Fame Park from 1-7 p.m. to enjoy this annual Jamaican and Caribbean food festival. You can either attend for free and purchase food from vendors or buy tickets in advance for yourself or your family to purchase limited menu items with VIP treatment. Advance tickets range from $15.71 for individual entry to $49.87 for a family pack. Enjoy authentic food, live music, activities, and craft vendors with the whole family.

🍺 Music City Brewer’s Festival — August 24

Check out this annual beer festival to sample some local, regional, and international breweries. Your admission includes a special souvenir cup and 40+ tastings, plus live entertainment, food trucks, and activities. It’s not just beer, either – you can also sample seltzers, spirits, ciders, and alcohol alternatives. The event benefits the Nashville Humane Association, which is pretty cool.