Summer Break on a Budget: 5 (Almost) Free Family Activities

Looking for fun and affordable ways to enjoy summer in Clarksville, TN? In this episode of Clarksville Insider, host Josh Atkins shares five top-notch activities that are perfect for families, couples, or anyone wanting to explore the city without spending a dime (okay, maybe a dime). From outdoor adventures to local markets, this guide will help you make the most of your summer—without breaking the bank.

Transcript

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Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Clarksville Insider, your go to podcast for everything happening in around our great city. I'm your host, Josh Atkins, like the diet. And today we're diving into one of my favorite topics. This is how to enjoy summer in Clarksville without breaking the bank, a.k.a. fun stuff to do for free or very expensive price point. Now, let's be honest, summer can get. Pretty expensive real quick. Even one trip to Chick-fil-A, Ching-Chang can rack up, well, tremendous debt, let's just put it where it is. And between vacations, summer camps, keeping kids entertained, it all adds up fast. But here's the good news. We have, in our area, have lots of I'm gonna start over, but here's the good news. Clarksville's packed with fun. Family-friendly activities that are totally free or extremely low cost. Today, I'm gonna give you my top five favorites. Perfect for families, but honestly, mean, anyone of any age can enjoy them. So whether you're a parent trying to survive summer break, maybe you're a couple looking for a couple budget-friendly outings, you're just someone who wants to explore more Clarksville, you're in the right place. So let's get right into it. Now, number one, we are gonna start with the Downtown Commons and Imagination Playground. I had to look up the other name. I know it's called Downtown Commons, but Imagination Playground is the other name for it. So it's together. It's both of these things, and they both offer different aspects of fun to different age groups and really provide, give you some entertainment down there. So first up on the list, Downtown Commons right in the heart of the city. This is one of my favorite spots to take the kids. and even just hang out on a nice evening. It's a large open green space and it's got turf so it's not even grass. So you can just kinda keep it right there with tons of room for kids to run around. But what really makes it special is the imagination playground. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a collection of huge foam blocks. Just think, think like giant Lego style pieces. Kids can use to build forts, towers, and anything they're creative. Little minds can dream up. It's free. It's fun and it keeps them moving and engaged and For parents it's shaded there are benches and you just steps away from the downtown cafes coffee shops and restaurants and but that's not all actually during the summer months Which is what we are getting into right now Commons also hosts what's called free Friday night live concerts You bring a blanket lawn chair, maybe some snacks enjoy some live local music under the stars vibe is pretty laid-back Super family-friendly and just a great way to end the week and so you got some different options there But it's all happening in the same place and it's all happening at the price point with a big fat zero right in front of it and So whether it's morning playdate, you know with some friends or Friday night hangout downtown Commons is Something that I think more people actually need to take advantage of and I think we'll have some on the list of the Atkins activities going forward but Next up number two the Clarksville Greenway coming in at number two right behind number one there now if you're looking for a peaceful place to get some fresh air Maybe some exercise. This is the place now what you know is Greenway is a multi-mile Multi-mile paved trail that runs through the shaded woods Wooden bridges along a peaceful Creek. It's ideal for biking walking jogging skating Walking slowly and breathing heavily. That's probably more up my alley. Whatever you're into. Stroller friendly, pet friendly, completely free to use. Now you can hop on at several trailheads, but one of the most popular is right off of Pollard Road near Heritage Park. And don't worry about the heat because much of the trail is shaded, which is a huge plus in the Tennessee summer sun, which we are experiencing right about now. Best part it's not just about exercise. You'll get that you'll spot butterflies Flowers, maybe some wildlife a deer or two. Maybe me off to the side of the road taking a Taking a breather or you know getting a puff on my inhaler. You just never know what you're gonna see on this thing It's a great way to connect with nature still just be minutes from home It's right right downtown and bring water sunscreen. You got younger kids scooter or a balanced bike It's summer staple in my family. We are getting ready to go We usually try to get there pretty often as much as we can number three. All right, so one two and three. Here we go Let's head back downtown To Clarksville downtown farmers market. Now. This is one of the summer trends traditions that feels like a mini event every Saturday and we like to go as early as possible because it gets hot pretty quickly as you're walking around in the parking lot, but it's something that's fun for us as we get down there. And it's probably going to be hitting some of the same vibes for you as hopefully to. And it runs for May, and it just started. I think last week or the week before was the first week that it actually kicked off. It goes all the way through October. It's located at Public Square right next to City Hall. You'll see it. Trust me. And here's why I love it for families. Here's why you might enjoy it. It's completely free to attend. Catching a theme here? I bet you are. But it offers so much more than just lettuce and carrots and things. It's got live music, food trucks, handmade crafts, fresh bread, which is my favorite, flowers, jams, you name it. Now, there are often free kids activities or crafts. It's a great opportunity to teach little ones, little kids, supporting local farmers, small businesses. I'll usually give my kids a couple bucks and see what they can come back. It's usually something cold. Sometimes it's a one of like a slush puppy kind of thing. If they can track those down, that's the number one priority any day, any time, some sort of slush thing with the brighter color, the better. And so whatever they can come back with, they get excited about, they feel like they can spend their own money, even if it's mine. And yeah, you can easily spend an hour or two. We'll get lost and usually The best part is finding something you can eat there, because that checks that box, and then you can get something to eat later. So if you break it down, you can do that. And it's all kinds of things, all kinds of things, as you heard me kind of run down a couple of the ideas, but it gives you a really feel, a good feel of what's available and what's out there for Clarksville. And the people that are making it, people that are bringing it, are growing it, it's all coming together in one place. And this is the biggest one. We have some other ones spread out. Around town, this is the biggest one and it's every Saturday morning. So once you get down with that, you can head over to any of the brunch spots, lunch spots that are downtown that are open. And now just be aware. It gets pretty busy pretty quickly. So I would get as early as you can. If for nothing else, I get there early as you can just for parking. And there's a couple of options, obviously on the road and different things like that. But if you can get there as early as possible, you can beat the heat. Hopefully get a good spot and maybe get first access to something that might be sold out a little bit later if you'd gone a little later. So, Harksville Downtown Farmers Market, make sure you hit that up. And number four, this is something that I would like to try that I've been circling as an activity and no, it's not pickleball. At some point we'll get into that. But this one is actually disc golf. And you may be into that. You may have seen people walk around with disc. bags full of them and so this is one that I would like to try because I feel like I'm pretty good at frisbee. You may be thinking the same thing or the exact opposite. I'm not good at frisbee so I'm not gonna be good at disc golf and so you you may still have a shot. It's different. It's a different feel. It's a different look but still if you like the idea of golf but just cannot hit a ball straight which I'm raising both my hands for that one. Anytime I've attempted it's been Colossal disaster so maybe this is more of my alley and so if you if you've never tried it before this is at Heritage Park Disc golf at Heritage Park and so if you've never tried it, I wouldn't write it off I wouldn't ignore throw it away. It's it's a fun low pressure low skill potentially to start and the people that really get into it have high level skill and They have fun. They go all over the place. I know some people that really have a good time with it And this is a chance for maybe just to get out there with some discs, calling it discs, not frisbees, get some discs out there. And it should be good for all ages, even if you can just stand next to one of the cage things that you throw into. now Heritage Park, this is where we're hitting, Heritage Park has a well-maintained, it's got 18 holes of disc golf where you walk around different areas, you're throwing a disc toward a target and then moving on to the next one. And so it winds all the way through shady trees, open fields, and if you've played regular golf, you know the idea. It's a similar concept, but instead of a club and a ball, you're throwing a disc, like a frisbee, but not actually, into a metal basket. That's what the hole is. And so it hits, falls in, you grab it, move on to the next one. And so if you've never played, if you have played, it's super easy to pick up. You don't even need fancy gear. And the starter disc set come... around $10. So I know I said free or $0. And so you got to get yourself a disc. Maybe you got some friends you can borrow, maybe some extras. But if you go to any place like Academy or Dick Sports, you can find the discs and you should be able to get a starter set for pretty cheap. And it's a perfect mix of what I'd say friendly competition or unfriendly, depending on who you bring along. You get some outdoor time you get some walking get your steps in and the park itself has a playground sports fields Picnic spots you can totally make a whole thing of it So I would say if this has interested you at all I'd say go for it find out Where to get to it and where to start and get to this is disc golf at Heritage Park So you can definitely definitely get to that now the last one kind of led into this one and There's a lot of these around here. It's just parks, period. Parks. And there's different levels, there's different parts of parks and kinds of parks. So I'm just lumping them in and we're kind of doing a soft lead in with the last one, which is Heritage Park Disc Golf. And so we've got a variety of parks. So we're going to break down just a few of them. These are all free. OK, the first one is Dunbar Cave State Park. It's got... cave entrances, beautiful nature trails, that's guess, guess, yep Dunbar Cave Road, find it. It also has a Civil War Park, we have one, it's called Fort Defiance Civil War Park. Gives you a free mini history lesson with its museums, got some scenic overlooks and you can really get a feel for some of the historical aspect, maybe some older kids, you can bring them out, take a look, or maybe you just want to go yourself. Liberty Park. right by the river. This one has the marina. It's got a walking path right along the river and playgrounds. Some of the biggest playgrounds in town are at Liberty Park and got some picnic areas too where you can get to that and get a feel for what's going on with that. And so I would say check that out and Rotary Park, which is one of the best kept secrets in town. It's got two different areas. It's got a hiking, it's got a creek, it's got playground, multiple playground spots and shady, peaceful, perfect for creek stomping or hiking with the kids looking for animals along the way or just looking to get some swings, some swinging action. These parks perfectly give you a feel for all those things and completely free to enter. Each offers different vibe whether you're into history, nature, water, just letting the kids go and sometimes that's it. Now another one is you can think of just kind of a one that's right in the middle of the neighborhood is Coy Lacey Park that is right right off of Madison Street. You can get to that one too. And there's lots of other parks that you can find and get to. Just search Clarksville Parks. These are just a few. Hopefully you get your roll in, get you in that. And you could eat, you could visit one each weekend and probably never run out of things to do. You could visit the same one multiple times, do different things. and get to experience some outside time, some free time, and again, just get out of the car, take some frisbees. If you don't want to do the disc golf thing, get an actual frisbee and throw it in an open field. You got plenty of options. Just go, get out, and these are five free and fun summer activities. Again, asterisk. You may have to buy some starter disc golf sets. You may have to do that, and that's okay. If you don't want to, we got some other options for you. You just heard them there. So there you have it. Those are the top five for me, and these are for families right here in Clarksville. Number one, Downtown Commons and Imagination Playground. Number two, Clarksville Greenway. Number three, Downtown Farmers Market. Number four, Disc Golf at Heritage Park. And number five, our amazing collection of local and state parks, historical parks. And if you're a local, I hope this list helps you to rediscover what's in your own backyard. You may have said, oh, I've never even heard of that. Well, now you have. Go out, spend some time doing it. If you're new to town, welcome. Here's a list of things that you can do to get used to the area, find some things to do just for fun, maybe an afternoon, maybe a whole day. Got some cool spaces, plenty of ways to enjoy your summer on a budget. Now, if you check out any of these spots, I'd love to hear about it because I'm still trying to, I've been here 11 years and I still find, oh, I've never heard of that. I'd love to check that out. So if you hit any of these spots, I'd love to hear about it. Tag us on Instagram at Clarksville Insider. Shoot me a message and always looking to connect with listeners and seeing what y'all are up to because might be giving me some new ideas for the next list coming up. So appreciate you. Thanks. Appreciate. Let me start over. I appreciate you. for listening. Thanks for tuning in today. Be safe, stay cool, and I'll catch you on the next episode.