Downtown Morristown's Farmers Market pavilion turns into a stage for a dozen-plus performers Saturday as HOLA Lakeway's International Food Festival returns for a full day of free food, music and dance. The event runs from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 22 at the historic pavilion at 130 W. Morris Blvd., with open-air vendor booths and no admission charge.
According to the City of Morristown, live performances will run continuously throughout the day, starting at 10:30 a.m. and stretching until the festival wraps at 5 p.m. The lineup includes The Roberts Sisters, Antonio Gomez, Candela, Caleb Wiley Carney, Caleb Carney and the Trio, Candela Knox, Love Drunk Band, Zumba Ritmo Fit, Noemy, Tanika's Line Dancing, Timeless Ballroom, Lua Flora, Noemy Sanchez, Brady Turner, Tanika Walthall and Drums Up Guns Down. As reported by the Citizen Tribune, the festival relies on vendor fees and local municipal support to stay free for attendees.
A Decade-Old Tradition Rooted in Cross-Cultural Unity
HOLA Lakeway first launched the International Food Festival in 2016 as a day-long celebration meant to build cross-cultural unity and showcase regional diversity through cuisine, music and performance, per the organization's own account. What began as a grassroots cultural gathering has grown into a staple annual event on the Morristown calendar, held every year since at the Farmers Market pavilion.
The pavilion itself, built in 2015 and managed through the Chamber of Commerce Downtown Program, serves as the central gathering point for historic downtown Morristown, hosting craft fairs, taproom nights and community markets throughout the year. Beyond the annual festival, HOLA Lakeway also runs recurring “Tianguis” open-air markets at the same Farmers Market site on select Fridays, giving local immigrant entrepreneurs a place to sell traditional foods and handcrafted goods.
A Nonprofit Born From Crisis, Now Facing Financial Strain
HOLA Lakeway was established in 2014 by local Latino task forces and expanded its mission in 2018 to serve immigrant communities across a six-county East Tennessee region, assisting more than 4,000 individuals with educational and legal support since then, according to the Student Health Coalition Archive Project. The organization gained wide regional prominence that same year when its leadership coordinated emergency humanitarian and legal relief for families affected by a federal ICE raid at the Southeastern Provisions meatpacking plant in nearby Bean Station, where nearly 100 workers were detained, as reported by Voice of America at the time.
In 2025, HOLA Lakeway assisted more than 1,000 families from 25 different countries, but organizational leaders reported earlier this year that rising demand for English classes and legal assistance was creating severe financial strain, according to WBIR. Events like Saturday's festival help sustain community visibility for the nonprofit during a period of funding shortages, the station's report noted.
A City Where Immigrant Families Now Shape the Classroom
The demand HOLA Lakeway describes tracks with broader shifts in Morristown itself. About 24% of the city's roughly 31,527 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, per U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data, one of the highest such proportions among East Tennessee municipalities. Data from 2020 through 2024 found that nearly 70% of students in Hamblen County Schools have parents who are first- or second-generation immigrants, with the vast majority of those children holding U.S. citizenship, per the same WBIR report.
Downtown Morristown, where the festival unfolds, carries its own distinct history. The area is designated under the Tennessee Main Street revitalization initiative and is home to the Skymart, an elevated second-story concrete sidewalk system built in 1967 that remains the only one of its kind in the nation, according to Apartments.com. Saturday's mix of food stalls, dance troupes and live bands adds one more chapter to a downtown built around linking historic structures with community gathering spaces.
