Vol. 1 — No. 12Weekend Episode · Thu–Sun, Sep 3–6, 2026 · South Knoxville, TN★ soknoear.com
Vol. 1 — No. 12 · Sep 3–6★ soknoear.com
The South Knoxville Ear — We Hear Things.
Wanna party in the Dirty South?
★ Tonight's plan: happy hours → music → karaoke →
Ijams ParkSat

Somebody reads out loud under the trees at the Ijams Nature Playscape on Saturday morning, and it's free

Two hours at the Playscape out by Mead's Quarry — a story in a shady spot, sometimes a hands-on nature project, and small kids otherwise left to roam. On a 95-degree Saturday, the morning shade is the point.

Ten to noon, in the shade

The Ijams Nature Playscape is out at Mead's Quarry: logs and stumps and dirt arranged so a four-year-old can climb the entire thing without anybody having to say the word playground. Every Saturday from ten to noon somebody sits down in a shady spot out there and reads a story out loud.

When
Sat Sep 5 · 10 AM – noon
Where
Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve · 3518 Island Home Pike
Cost
Free
Ages
Small children and whoever brought them
How often
Every Saturday morning
Why this Saturday
It's done by noon — hours before kickoff scrambles the roads

What actually happens

Some weeks a hands-on, nature-inspired project comes with it. Other weeks the story finishes and the kids simply go — dig, climb, roam, meet somebody. Both versions work. Bring a blanket if you want to sit down; bring nothing if you don't.

The timing is the gift this week

Saturday is forecast near 95 and the roads start filling around midday. This runs in the shade, in the cool half of the day, costs nothing, and hands your morning back to you at noon with the whole afternoon still unspent. If you have small kids and a Saturday to fill, it is the easiest good decision on the page.

Original Dirty South Map Found

Click to see the original map of Knoxville’s Dirty South that was recently unearthed for the public to see.

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