If you go
› What: Guitaranooga expo.› When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19.› Where: Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Roosevelt Room, 1400 Market St.› Admission: $10 (free for kids under 12).› Phone: 423-875-5250.› Website: guitaranooga.com.
When the guitar expo Guitaranooga debuts in Chattanooga this weekend, its founder doesn’t quite know what to expect. One thing Darren Patrick is sure of, though, is that the new Songbirds Guitar Museum under development at the Chattanooga Choo Choo is about to tap into a brand of music tourism that goes beyond Glenn Miller-induced nostalgia.
“Chattanooga is about to become a worldwide destination for guitar collectors and enthusiasts,” he says. “The time for an annual guitar show to be launched is now.”
Patrick, 47, is the owner of Mountain Music, a full-service store that buys, sells, rents and repairs instruments and offers music lessons. He purchased the store, then located in Red Bank, at the end of 2009. He eventually relocated to downtown Chattanooga, spending four years at the corner of Main and Market before moving to South Broad Street two years ago.
With the store well-established, Guitaranooga seemed to be the next logical step.