JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., (WJHL) – The Meet the Mountains Festival kicked off its seventh year Friday evening at Winged Deer Park.

The event features activities like kayaking, ziplining, live music and a dog splash contest. The event encourages community members from near and far to partake in the fun of the great outdoors.

Executive Director of Visit Johnson City, Brenda Whitmore, said the beauty of East Tennessee inspired the festival.

“I think the fact that we have so much natural outdoors and the beauty of our region,” she said. “All of the mountains and then the natural assets like the lakes and bike trails. You look at Buffalo Mountain Park. All of those things that we really needed to showcase to people that may not have ever been here before.”

The festival also features dozens of vendors and food options.

Ally McElroy, owner of Soluna Sage Yoga Studio, will host a yoga session at the festival on Saturday morning. She said the environment is essential to her practice.

“One thing I love about our space we’re in right now is that we have the ability to create the indoor-outdoor experience within our studio,” she said. “We love to be able to open our garage door and open the front doors while we practice, so you get the elements of the weather. We get it while we practice, which is really cool.”

Whitmore added that it’s an opportunity for people to learn about wilderness safety and caring for the environment.

“We feel it’s important to talk about how we can compost, how we can make sure that when we’re doing events or when we go camping or when we’re out in the woods, that we leave it with no trace behind, so nobody knows you’ve been there,” Whitmore said. “That’s really important.”

The festival is free and open to the community. It will continue Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“We just encourage people to come out and enjoy this wonderful, free festival,” she said. “It’s for people of all ages, so it’s a great opportunity to just bring your family and have a great evening.”