Writer: Joey Garrand
2 min read August 2021 — The pandemic has permanently changed the ways in which we live and conduct business, but the need for conversation, connection and in-person experiences will forever remain crucial components of life. The upcoming Labor Day weekend offers a variety of opportunities for those looking to experience all of these elements. Nashville business leaders shared with Invest: their Labor Day Weekend plans for this year, and what they’re looking forward to that wasn’t possible last year due to the pandemic.
Jane Allen, CEO, Nashville Entrepreneur Center
We will be hosting the “Next Awards,” where we will be inducting four people into the Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame. One of the founding purposes of the Entrepreneur Center was to share the story of Nashville entrepreneurs. The Circle Back podcast was created with this in mind, to capture the history of these people who have built this city. There are hundreds of people for whom we need to capture and share their story. This black tie event will be held at the Symphony Center, and it’s going to be a night you don’t want to miss. This is our largest fundraising event, and we weren’t able to host it last year. As a whole, entrepreneurs don’t take time to celebrate or reflect on where they’ve come from, and so this is a night to feel celebrated and feel the love of this community.
John Vardaman, Nashville Business Unit Leader, DPR Construction
We moved into a new office in November 2019. We had our first open house scheduled for April 2020, which obviously did not happen, but we were able to host that event in June 2021. We were able to slide it in at the low points of things, hosted it outside and had a great successful open house. We are planning more events but only time (and everyone’s willingness to do their part) will tell if we can move forward. If the pandemic has taught us anything, we need to be flexible and realistic about what may or may not happen. But we also need to keep going and that is what our core value of being Ever Forward is all about!
Jacky Akbari, Managing Principal, Worthington Advisory
This Labor Day is going to be a unique one for us because we have a new baby in the family. We will be utilizing this Labor Day to welcome Archer Thomas Akbari, our very first grand-angel-son.
Eric Stuckey, City Administrator, City of Franklin
It’s the community festivals, like the Pilgrimage Music Festival. These are things that people really love to do in Franklin. Pilgrimage is a big music event which will attract 25,000 concert goers per day over a September weekend. It features top-of-the-line acts. That’s always a great weekend with a fantastic mix of arts and food, and it’s a great gathering time for the community. Other community events are things like the Pumpkin Fest, the annual Christmas tree lighting, and our Dickens Of A Christmas event. All of these seasonal festivals will be great. Also, having our Veterans Day Parade properly will be wonderful. It’s one of the coolest events we do every year.
Dennis Georgatos, Senior Vice President, Skanska USA
This is a great city for music. I look forward to going to a concert sometime in the fall.
For more information, visit:
https://www.ec.co/
https://www.dpr.com/
https://www.worthingtonadvisory.com/
https://www.franklintn.gov/
https://www.usa.skanska.com/
