Held in Miller Plaza in the heart of the City Center, the Nightfall Concert Series is held each Friday night from Memorial Day Weekend until just a couple of weeks past Labor Day Weekend – rain or shine. Admission is free, and show begins at 7pm with a local act with nationally-known headliners starting at 8pm.

Over the years, Nightfall has become one of Chattanooga’s most beloved and anticipated annual events. Celebrating its 23rd season, Nightfall has also become a venue for delivering top-notch acts while they’re on their way up. The Series has played host to many now-famous entertainers, including Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Buddy Guy, The Black Keys, Of Montreal, Derek Trucks Band, Carolina Chocolate Drops and JJ Grey & Mofro just to name a few.

How did Nightfall come about? The late eighties saw a movement to promote downtown as not only a place for work, but a destination for living life and socializing after five o’clock. Way before all of the condos, townhouses and urban migration headed back downtown, there was a simple premise that city center should once again become the epicenter for commerce, dining and having fun. Enter Nightfall.

Several incarnations of the concert series were produced by a few different promoters starting as early as 1988. However, it wasn’t until 1992 that a host of corporate sponsors led by the River City Company and Chattanooga Downtown Partnership banded together to create a full-fledged, annual 17-week summer long Friday night concert series in an effort to keep people in the area a little longer before they headed home to the suburbs for the weekend. And, even though downtown has now become the premiere local destination for work, play and living, the goal of Nightfall, and the support of its gracious sponsors, remains the same.

So bring the kids, lawn chairs, pets and friends and enjoy great live music, food and maybe an ice cold beer at the corner of Market Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. We’ll see y’all at Nightfall.