Being new to Chattanooga, Riverbend has been a mystery to me. I’m not a crowds person, and I’m definitely not a heat person, so I’ve marveled as to what possibly could entice people to the riverside in spite of the deluge of sweat and bodies.
I’ve gone to college near Chattanooga and long been warned about summers here, with heat that settles so thick you gain weight as you inhale, asphalt that cooks the bottom of your sandals and Riverbend, which is both of those things combined with beer and Polish sausage.
As a tenderfoot intern, I was asked to share an outsider’s first encounter with the festival.
So I decided to try to figure out what makes Riverbend work, and what magnetizes hundreds of thousands of people to it.
I asked the driver of the shuttle I rode to the festival to give me some pointers. He told me to make sure to eat chicken on a stick, as he had heard it was glorious.