The Foo Fighters, The Killers, and Keith Urban walk onto a stage — where are you? If you lived in Franklin, Tennessee, you’d be home. This is the caliber of artists that the Pilgrimage Festival draws every September to The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin.
This Tennessee town has been a strong contender in our list for the past few years, twice ranking in the top 10. It’s not just because of its music cred. Located just 20 miles south of Nashville, Franklin has seen a 44% job growth in the last 10 years, matched by a 33% increase in population.
This growth has been due in part to healthcare and manufacturing companies like Optum and Mars Petcare coming to Franklin in the last decade. Other major employers, like Nissan North America and Community Health Systems, have continued to expand. Jobs in the area are expected to increase by 10% in the next five years.
Residents of Franklin have an median household income of $110,000. The median price for a family home is $495,000, compared to homes in neighboring Brentwood, which typically sell for more than $550,000.
Another big reason people are moving to Franklin: the quality of its schools. Franklin forms part of the highly-rated Williamson County School District. Franklin High is the 7th best in Tennessee, as ranked by US News, and its students consistently rank in the 97th percentile in the state end-of-course exams.
When it’s not hosting Grammy-award winners, The Park at Harlinsdale is open to the public year-round, and residents of Franklin enjoy hiking, picnicking, and walking their dogs on the well-maintained lawns. In April, the town celebrates the Main Street Festival in the Downtown Franklin district, featuring live music, street food and crafts. — Mayra Paris
source: money.com
About five minutes until the puck dropped the lights in Bridgestone turned low and our bracelets lit up the arena. Butterflies were in my stomach as if I was going to take the ice, the pre-game video happened and the arena started to get loud leading up to the puck drop. This was the first-ever Stanley Cup Final game in Nashville’s history and I was one of the 17,000 fans to witness it inside Bridgestone Arena. Just a few minutes into the game, the Penguins and Jake Guentzel slide the puck in between Pekka Rinne’s five-hole, and the arena was silent except for the one Penguins fan behind me. The first period came and went without the reverberating cheer and horns going off for the Pred’s first goal.
Around six minutes into the second period, the strike happens. Roman Josi slaps one into the back of the net and my ears start to hurt. The place is going nuts and, “I like it, I love it, I want some more of it,” is blasting while everyone screams, hugs, and high fives. Then just 14 seconds later the rookie, Gaudreau gets passed Murray and it somehow gets even louder than it already was. “MURRAY MURRAY YOU SUCK IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
The guy sitting next to me was from Philadelphia and grew up a Flyers fan. He moved to Nashville around nine years ago and has had season tickets for the past four years. He transitioned into a Predators fan because he couldn’t watch the Flyers as much being down South and he found the team fun. I high fived that dude around 37 times throughout the rest of the game. Nashville has some crazy hockey fans and a lot of them aren’t even home grown.
Three instruments of crime were thrown onto the ice during the game with the last one coming during a TV timeout during the third period. There were many people in full-body catfish costumes and everyone made fun of the Penguins fans that left the game early from my section.
Nashville had around 20,000 fans outside Bridgestone for Monday’s game four. Hockey is becoming a sport that more and more people love. After game four the local Huntsville, Alabama news immediately started talking about game four from Nashville. The Stanley Cup craze is getting bigger and bigger in the South with hopes that the Preds bring home the Cup.
