23 Things to Do in Middle Tennessee This Weekend: Aug 28-30, 2026
This weekend in Middle Tennessee (August 28 to 30, 2026), the biggest events are the FoodieLand Food Festival running all three days at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, O.A.R. with Gavin DeGraw and KT Tunstall at FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin on Friday, and a USA versus Mexico arena polo match at Harlinsdale Farm on Saturday. Twenty-three events span Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford and Williamson counties.
The Superspeedway is the story out here this weekend. FoodieLand parks itself on the Lebanon side of Wilson County for three straight days, which means the Highway 840 and Victory Lane stretch is going to move slower than usual Friday evening. If food trucks are not your thing, Franklin gets the loudest bill of the weekend with O.A.R. at the quarry, and Cumberland opens its soccer season at home Saturday afternoon. things to do in Middle Tennessee this weekend
Wilson County: Lebanon, Mt. Juliet & Watertown things to do in Middle Tennessee this weekend
Two of our high schools host Friday night, Cumberland plays a soccer doubleheader Saturday, and a food festival lands at the Superspeedway for the whole weekend.
FoodieLand Food Festival
Friday, August 28 through Sunday, August 30 · 3:00 PM Friday, 1:00 PM Saturday and Sunday · Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon · Check listing for pricing
This is the biggest thing happening in Wilson County this weekend by a wide margin, and it runs all three days. Go Sunday if you can. Friday evening at a speedway with a food festival load-in is not where I would want to be sitting in a car. Ticket pricing is handled through their site rather than at the gate, so buy before you drive out.
Watertown Tigers Football vs. Gordonsville
Friday, August 28 · 7:00 PM · Watertown High School, Watertown · Check listing for pricing
Watertown hosts Gordonsville. Tickets go through GoFan, so have the app loaded before you get to the gate rather than after.
Friendship Christian Commanders Football vs. Fayetteville
Friday, August 28 · 7:30 PM · Friendship Christian School, Lebanon · Check listing for pricing
The other Wilson County home game Friday, out on Coles Ferry Pike. Also GoFan ticketing.
Cumberland University Women's Soccer vs. Milligan
Saturday, August 29 · 1:00 PM · Lindsey Donnell Stadium-Kirk Field, Lebanon · Check listing for pricing
Cumberland soccer is one of the better-kept secrets in Lebanon. The stadium sits right on campus a few minutes off the square, and an early-season NAIA match is a genuinely good Saturday afternoon.
Cumberland University Men's Soccer vs. Tennessee Wesleyan
Saturday, August 29 · 3:00 PM · Lindsey Donnell Stadium-Kirk Field, Lebanon · Check listing for pricing
Same field, two hours later. Show up at one and stay for the other, which is what I would do.
Farm-to-Fork Gala: Unmasking Freedom with Rest Stop Ministries
Saturday, August 29 · 5:30 PM · Irishwoods, Mt. Juliet · $150.00
Fourteenth year for this one. It is a ticketed dinner and auction benefiting Rest Stop Ministries, held out at Irishwoods on Lebanon Road. Adults only, and at $150 a seat you will want to confirm availability before you plan around it.
Roughly half the folks I work with moved here from somewhere else, and almost all of them started by visiting on a weekend like this one. If you are in that stage, let's talk. No obligation, just answers.
If a weekend out here has you doing math on what it would actually cost to live in Lebanon, I ran the rent-versus-buy numbers a couple of weeks back and the answer surprised a few people.
Davidson County: Nashville
Metro Parks and the Country Music Hall of Fame carry the weekend, and almost everything worth driving in for is free or close to it.
Family Program: Musical Instrument Petting Zoo
Friday, August 28 · 10:00 AM · Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville · Included with Museum admission
Kids get to actually hold the fiddle, the banjo and the ukulele instead of reading a placard about them. Runs until noon. Free if you are a member, which is worth doing if you make this trip more than twice a year.
Musicians Corner Fall Series Week 1
Friday, August 28 · Centennial Park, Nashville · Free
Opening night of the fall run at Centennial Park. The listing does not give a start time, so check their page the morning of. Bring chairs. This is the best free thing happening in Nashville this weekend.
Fun with the Fishes
Saturday, August 29 · 9:00 AM · Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville · Check listing for pricing
Metro Parks program on what actually lives in Lake Sevier and the Cumberland. Registration is required and these fill, so do not just show up.
Fort Negley Park Guided Walking Tour
Saturday, August 29 · 10:00 AM · Fort Negley, Nashville · Check listing for pricing
Ninety minutes on foot through the Civil War fortification. Wear real shoes, the ground is uneven.
Family Program: Boot Scootin' Cowboy Boots
Saturday, August 29 · 10:00 AM · Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville · Included with Museum admission
Kids walk the galleries, look at the boots, then design their own. Runs to noon.
Climbing Day with Outdoor Nashville
Saturday, August 29 · 12:00 PM · Bells Bend Outdoor Center, Nashville · Free
Auto-belay wall plus an outdoor boulder session, all ages, harnesses provided, no cost. Bells Bend is a haul from Wilson County, but this is the kind of thing you cannot get closer to home.
Songwriter Session: Ana Cristina Cash
Saturday, August 29 · 12:00 PM · Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville · Free
Forty-five minutes, free, and the kind of room where you can actually hear the writing.
Musician Spotlight: Paul Kramer
Sunday, August 30 · 1:00 PM · Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Ford Theater, Nashville · Included with Museum admission, program ticket required
Sunday in Nashville is quiet this weekend. Metro has nothing on the books at all, so if you want to be downtown this is close to the only thing going. Note the program ticket is separate from admission.
Rutherford County: Murfreesboro & Smyrna
Closing weekend for a show at the Center for the Arts, and two Saturday markets.
Next to Normal
Friday, August 28 through Sunday, August 30 · 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday, 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday · Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro · Check listing for pricing
Closing weekend. It is a heavy piece about a mother living with a severe mental health condition, and it earns the weight. This is not the show to bring a nine-year-old to. Ticketing runs through the Center for the Arts.
Main Street Murfreesboro's Farmers Market
Saturday, August 29 · 8:00 AM · Public Square, Murfreesboro · Check listing for pricing
Wraps around the historic courthouse, 8 to noon. Late August is peak tomato and pepper season, and the good vendors sell out before ten.
Smyrna Depot Farmers Market
Saturday, August 29 · 8:00 AM · Smyrna Depot, Smyrna · Check listing for pricing
Smaller than the Murfreesboro square market and easier to park at. Produce, greens and honey, 8 to noon.
Coffee & Conversation About Local History
Saturday, August 29 · 9:00 AM · Ransom School House, Murfreesboro · Check listing for pricing
A one-room school house on North Academy, coffee, and people who know the county's history talking about it for three hours. Low-key and genuinely interesting.
Williamson County: Franklin & Brentwood
Franklin has the loudest Friday night in the region and the strangest Saturday, in the best way.
O.A.R. Three Decades Tour with Gavin DeGraw and KT Tunstall
Friday, August 28 · 6:30 PM · FirstBank Amphitheater, Franklin · Check listing for pricing
Three acts, thirty years of O.A.R., and a venue built into an old quarry. FirstBank is about an hour from Lebanon and the exit backs up hard after a show, so decide in advance whether you are leaving during the encore or waiting it out.
Hot August Night with The Twilight Train: A Neil Diamond Tribute
Friday, August 28 · 8:00 PM · The Franklin Theatre, Franklin · $40.00
The Franklin Theatre on Main Street is one of the nicest rooms in Middle Tennessee and it holds fewer than 300 people. Tribute shows there tend to go.
Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone
Saturday, August 29 · 3:00 PM · The Franklin Theatre, Franklin · $94.00
A three o'clock matinee, which is an unusual slot and a good one. Ninety-four dollars is real money, so this is a decide-early show.
International Cup: USA vs. Mexico Arena Polo Match
Saturday, August 29 · 6:00 PM · Harlinsdale Farm, Tractor Supply Company Arena, Franklin · Free to $20
International arena polo in the middle of Franklin, with general admission listed as free. This is the most unusual thing on the whole list and I would take my kids to it before anything else this weekend.
The Legacy of Buddy Holly
Saturday, August 29 · 7:00 PM · Williamson County Performing Arts Center, Franklin · $27.50 to $30
Everbright Avenue, under thirty dollars, and a catalog everybody already knows the words to.
If you are driving down from Nashville for any of this and have been eyeing condos while you are in town, the loan rules on Nashville condos changed at the start of the month and it is worth knowing before you tour anything.
Details can change. Dates get moved, events get cancelled, and I link every event to its source so you can confirm before you drive out.
Before You Go
Come out, see the area, and if you decide you want to stay, you know where to find me. The contact page is here. 615-427-5672.
Khristian Schlemmer is a REALTOR® and the founder of First Class Real Estate in Lebanon, Tennessee. He lives and works in Wilson County and helps buyers, sellers, and folks relocating to Middle Tennessee find their footing here. Reach him at 615.427.5672 or khristian@nearnashvillehomes.com. Brokerage: First Class Real Estate | Keller Williams.
Event details are compiled from public listings and were accurate at the time of publication. Confirm with the organizer before making plans. First Class Real Estate is not affiliated with and does not endorse the events listed.
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