Vol. 1 — No. 13Weekend Episode · Thu–Sun, Sep 10–13, 2026 · South Knoxville, TN★ soknoear.com
Vol. 1 — No. 13 · Sep 10–13★ soknoear.com
The South Knoxville Ear — We Hear Things.
Wanna party in the Dirty South?
★ Tonight's plan: happy hours → music → karaoke →
Ijams ParkSat

Saturday storytime at the Ijams Nature Playscape starts a sixteen-week fall run

Free, ten to noon, under the trees at Mead's Quarry. A story read out loud, then a nature craft or free play in the Playscape, every Saturday from now into the new year.

Ten o'clock, on the blankets, by Mead's Quarry

Storytime at the Nature Playscape has been a summer habit; Saturday it becomes a season. The fall run starts September 12 and goes sixteen Saturdays, ten to noon, at the Playscape by Mead's Quarry — the log-and-rope play area on the Island Home Avenue side of Ijams Park where the trees do the shade.

When
Sat Sep 12 · 10 AM–noon · then every Saturday, 16 dates
Where
Ijams Nature Playscape · 3518 Island Home Ave, at Mead's Quarry
Cost
Free · parking $5 per car, free for Ijams members
Bring
A blanket or camp chair, water, snacks
Good for
The stroller-to-early-grade-school crowd, and whoever brought them

How a morning runs

Somebody reads a nature story out loud to whoever's on the blankets. Then, on alternating weeks, the group either does a hands-on activity that goes with the book — a leaf craft, a bug hunt, that sort of thing — or simply turns the kids loose on the Playscape with an adult keeping a loose eye. It's two hours on the schedule; most families do one and drift.

The fine print

It's free, and it will stay free through the whole run. The one cost is the Mead's Quarry lot, which is five dollars a car unless you're an Ijams member. Bring your own seat, your own water and a snack — there's no concession on that side of the park — and note that Sunday's fundraiser doesn't touch this end of Ijams at all.

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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