Family Friendly Blount

4/27 Pre-school Story Hour at Blount County Library:  "Tales of Wonder" Story Hour for ages 3 – 5 include stories, puppets, coloring and crafts. www.blountlibrary.org

4/27 Last Friday Art Walk in Historic Downtown Maryville:  Eat, drink and be Maryville. The art walk is a recurring event to celebrate the arts on the last Friday of every month in Downtown Maryville. What's unique about it is that it's not just galleries participating. It's also businesses like bars, retail stores, restaurants, theaters, and coffee shops. Each participating business hosts a "featured artist," this includes all disciplines of art; visual arts, performance artists, actors, writers, dancers, musicians, etc. New artists and new art are required each month, which gives the community a new experience each time they come. This week's line-up:

• Fine Arts Blount featuring Junior Member Artists and a quartet from the Maryville Middle Orchestra! Food and drinks will be served. We have new art on display from our talented members. Our theme for May is "Down Memory Lane." Don't miss out on the beautiful art, the lovely music, and the talent of our junior artists and the yummy food! FAB will also be hosting the Kid's Corner with great kid-friendly activities and fun!

• Vienna Coffee House featuring various FAB artists through mixed media. The theme is Spring Flowers, so this one will be spectacular.

• Clear's Silat will be hosting Carol Cordell's photogrpahy and Ruth Phipps' paintings.

• Preservation Plaza is slated to feature Tammy and Steve Stewart who will be showcasing their art on the lower level.

• The Palace Theater will showcase Patti Young's Fort Craig art students. There will be a big screen showing of videos from Fort Craig and MIS sixth graders. "Arts in the Schools" 5:00pm-8:00PM.

• Tomato Head will display paintings from Julie Armbruster. www.juliearmbruster.net

• Denso Gallery at the Clayton Center will feature a Dogwood Arts Festival Student Art Exhibition.  

• Roy's Records will showcase Amy Campbell.  Click here to read our story about Campbell's work – Tennessee Folk Art.  

• Boyd Thomas – Jason Alexander – Maryville High School Student

• The Market will have a music performance with David Freeman, free beer samples (3 oz poor) and pints galore.  

4/28 All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast at Alcoa High School:  7:00 a.m to 12 Noon, hosted by the Kiwanis Club. $5 per person. Children under 6 are free when accompanied by an adult.

4/28 2nd Annual Little River Fest in Townsend:  Morning Cleanup: From 8am-10am, volunteers can check-in at the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center.  At check-in, volunteers will be given bags and gloves and be assigned a designated river location in need of your personal TLC. Boaters are welcome and encouraged to participate in cleaning up of the banks of the Little River from the park boundary to Rockford Community Park. Large groups and anyone can pre-register by calling Little River Watershed Association at 980-2130. Morning participants will receive a free ticket for the afternoon post-event celebration at River John’s Island. The LRWA asks that volunteers bring the trash back to Old Walland Highway or Highway 321 where possible so that Blount County can pick the trash up easily and take to the landfill.  http://littleriverwatershed.org

4/28 Little River Fest Celebration:  From 4-7pm, the Little River Watershed Association will host an appreciation event at River John’s Island. If you volunteered for the morning cleanup, you will receive a ticket to come join us for barbecue, music, and a relaxing late afternoon on the banks of the little river.  http://littleriverwatershed.org

4/28 Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic: 10am-11am. Build and Grow Clinics are free to the public and occur every other Saturday at 10am. Below is a list of upcoming clinics. Registration opens a few weeks before each clinic's date. This week kids will be constructing a terrarium. Click here to see more details or to register: http://lowesbuildandgrow.com/pages/fullschedule.aspx

The Rossini Festival is this weekend in Downtown Knoxville.  Click here to learn about the festival and other happenings in Knoxville on Family Friendly Knoxville.