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The population of tiny Manchester, Tennessee, grows about 800 percent every June thanks to the Bonnaroo music festival. So it asks nearby Nashville for help. Last year, the country music capital started a shuttle service connecting the cities, and its hotels attract many of the tourists (and headliners, like Paul McCartney in 2013). “Sixty miles is nothing,” says Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “It’s just a natural fit to collaborate.” And the Music City is a good business partner: While Bonnaroo nets more than $50 million for Tennessee, Nashville’s own music industry packs a walloping $5.5 billion.
SEE | Design nerds, behold 135 years’ worth of wood blocks and photo plates at 1 | Hatch Show Prints, which 4 made custom concert posters for Elvis and Hank Williams and now produces them for Modest Mouse and Jason Mraz. Gape at 2 | Sudekum Planetarium’s laser light shows set to ’70s and ’80s arena rock, EDM, and more. Built in 1897, the full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon in 3 | Centennial Park features a 42-foot-high statue of Athena and doubles as Nashville’s art museum.
EAT | From skillet fried chicken to biscuits and gravy, 4 | Monell’s serves up comfort food from a menu that changes daily. 5 | Robert’s Western World is a self proclaimed “hillbilly success”: You can buy a pair of cowboy boots here or have a burger fresh off the grill—but you’ll never pay a cover charge.
DO | Catch dinner and a show aboard the 300-foot-high 6 | General Jackson Showboat, powered by two 1,050-horsepower engines. Check out the 7 | Lane Motor Museum, home to the largest collection of European cars in the US, including a 100-ton amphibious cargo vehicle. 8 | The Grand Ole Opry hosts the longest- running radio program in the world, 89 years strong.
Justin Mezzell
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