Ellington

Red Bank is launching a new monthly community event, called Pickin’ in the Park, featuring bluegrass, old-time and country music as well as antique cars, storytelling and clogging performances.

The event will be held in City Park the fourth Saturday of the month from March until November beginning at 6 p.m. The first event is scheduled for March 23.

“Everyone likes these outdoor pickings,” said organizer Steve Daugherty, a Red Bank native and former owner of Mountain Music.

He said the picking event he attends in Harrison draws a crowd of around 300 to 400 people per month.

“It’s the kind of thing you can take your family to and meet your neighbors,” said Daugherty of Red Bank’s new alcohol-free event, which may feature cake walks onstage or inflatables for kids.

Local bands and performers of old-time string music and bluegrass will be playing 30- to 45-minute sets as well as participating in informal jam sessions, he said. Musicians will alternate with storytellers from the Cleveland and Chattanooga storytelling guilds and with cloggers from adult groups such as the East Ridge Cloggers and Ringgold Cloggers as well as children’s groups.

Among the bands likely to attend Pickin’ in the Park each month is Daugherty’s own band, the Pickled Pepper Pickers; East Ridge-based bluegrass band the Evelyn Madewell Band; the Harrison Hot Shots with Dale Bishops; and the Elderly Brothers. Individuals to be performing might include superb Red Bank fiddler Philip Stewart, 88-year-old banjo player General Cook or Agene Parsons.

“There’s a ton of talent around here; Red Bank for years has attracted lots of people in the arts,” said Daugherty, citing cheap rent and nice neighborhoods as possible reasons.

He said Pickin’ in the Park was the brainchild of former mayor Harold Cotter about 15 years ago, but an event has not been held in recent years.

“It really builds a sense of community,” said Daugherty, as to why he decided to bring it back now, “and everybody was looking for a place to go on the fourth Saturday.”