On Sunday September 20, we decided to take the kids to the 3rd Annual Tennessee Volksfest held at the Nashville Farmer’s Market. The festival is held for two weekends in September from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and is free to attend.
We arrived about 45 minutes early, so we decided to walk through the Farmer’s Market. This was taken at the Gardens of Babylon, which is a local plant business.This was taken inside the marketplace at The Gardens of Babylon. The Nashville Farmer’s Marker is open everyday with the exception of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The hours range by vendor but the market hours are from 8 a.m -6 p.m.Fall is in the air! There were numerous vendors out with mums and pumpkins.Entrance into the Farmer’s Market and parking are both free.The Tennessee Volksfest is a Munich style Oktoberfest.When you first arrive, there are booths set up to buy tokens. For $20 you get three tokens and a stein. Each token after that cost $5. The tokens are used to buy food, beer, and other drinks. The vendors do not take cash, therefore you have to buy the tokens to eat or drink. Here is lil’ man is holding one of the tokens.Seen here is the food vendor. They have a variety of menu items and most “plates” cost one token.The food was absolutely delicious! We had the brat and sauerkraut, the hot chicken and sauerkraut, and the beer cheese dip with bread and pickles. The Beer cheese dip was amazing!At the Pretzel stand, a pretzel with a side dip is one token. There are so many options, we had a powdered sugar pretzel with nacho cheese dip. I went back and asked for an additional dip and ended up with the caramel bourbon dip. I could have just eaten it straight from the container, it was that good!You cannot have a German Festival without beer! Here are all the beer trucks lined up ready to serve. The stein is a half liter and each time you fill your stein, it cost a token.They had Gluten Free Beer!There were old and new Volkswagen vehicles that you could get your picture made with or open the doors and look inside.They had three bounce inflatables set up and were free for the kids to play on. There were also other kid activities which included face painting and games.On display were old German bells, one of the band members would occasionally play them with the music. It was interesting and very different.The Musik Meisters is a polka band from Nashville. They play German music every hour on the hour while wearing Tyrolean German attire and singing in German.After the great food and beer, we decided to stop at the Marathon Village that is located close to the Farmer’s Market on Clinton Avenue in Nashville.Marathon Motor Works was a Tennessee based motor company in the early 1900s. In 1909, the company offered two models of cars that were sold for $1,500. They sold 400 cars that year marketed under the name Southerns. In 1910 the company took on the name Marathon Motor Works and moved to this location in Nashville. Marathon Motor Works grew to a production rate of 10,000 cars per year by 1912. However, the company could not keep up the the fast growth or the engineering technology and closed its doors in 1914.Inside the old car manufacturing plant are many locally owned businesses and antique stores. This was located inside one of the stores, a very unique handmade chair.We ventured upstairs to see if there was anything up there, there are no stores, only meeting rooms. However, we came upon this old Marathon sign hanging on the wall. Of all the cars that were made here in Nashville, Tennessee, only nine are known to remain. Four of them are in possession of the former owners of the building.The most well-known store locate in the Marathon Village is Antique Archaeology. This is one of the store locations from the show American Pickers. The store is open Monday thru Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 12-5.This is a limited edition bike called “The Wolfe” and was designed by Mike Wolfe, one of the American Pickers. It was hanging on the back wall in the store, however it is not for sale. You can buy one just like it at local bike shops.This huge sign was hanging in the middle of the store.This was some of the old tools welded together on the front door of the Marathon Motor Museum.We had a great day at the Farmer’s Market, The German Volksfest, and exploring a little history in downtown Nashville.
