Harmony Shores Would Give the Yacht Club's Lawn Concerts Permanent Seats, and the Parking Lot Decides When

"Obviously this will be a multi-year plan." That was the first reply from the board table on October 21, after Jim Sandridge of Elite Tunes Series at Tellico Village finished presenting a lakeside amphitheater for the Yacht Club lawn. It was also the most direct answer anyone gave to the question of when it might get built.

The proposal now has a schematic design, a working name and a price range. Elite Tunes has been putting on charity concerts since its first show in October 2023, and the Yacht Club lawn is where they happen. The amphitheater would build permanent seating for an audience that already shows up. The open question is who pays for the parking lot all those people would need.

The Lawn Already Has a Season

Elite Tunes calls itself a 100% volunteer 501(c)(3) whose concerts raise money for nonprofits that serve East Tennessee. Its Eventbrite collection says the shows usually run outdoors on the Yacht Club lakefront when the weather allows. In 2026 every show was paired with a named charity:

The June show was billed for the Yacht Club Lakeside Stage at 100 Sequoyah Road, according to Tellico Village Connection. Tyson Leamon took over the September 20 date from Ashley Brooks. His concert ran on the Yacht Club's back lawn, and Second Harvest was still the beneficiary. The TellicoLife listing offered a free shuttle from Tellico Village Community Church, 130 Chota Center, starting at 5 p.m., and encouraged carpooling. Tickets for that show were $25 through Eventbrite, the Connection reported.

The Connection has reported that Elite Tunes has drawn more than 5,000 guests and has raised more than $50,000 for area nonprofits since it started. The Yacht Club runs its own music too. The TellicoLife calendar listed Live Music Fridays from 7 to 10 p.m. in August. So the crowd is already there. The amphitheater would build around it.

What Harmony Shores Would Put on the Slope

Elite Tunes worked with the Knoxville-based East Tennessee Community Design Center, which does pro bono design and planning for nonprofits and community groups under the line "Better Communities By Design." Sandridge told the board the group had collected input from people in the POA and around the Village before the designers delivered their first schematic concept.

The concept has a name of its own, Harmony Shores. In the meeting video, Sandridge said the name refers to harmony "not only in music, but also within the community as well as within nature."

Here is what the schematic shows:

• The stage goes at the bottom of the lawn, where weddings are held now.
• The seating is tiered and follows the natural slope of the hill.
• ADA ramps are drawn in, consistent with the regulations at a planning level.
• The parking lot has several entrances and uses the green space between the current lot and Sequoyah Road.

The board slides describe a multi-use venue for social, musical, theatrical and local fundraising events. The examples on the slides were Sunset Symphonies, holiday celebrations on the lake, fitness classes, drama productions and lakeside movies. Most of that list goes well beyond a summer concert series. A lawn that hosts a few ticketed nights a year would become a venue the Village could program for much of the calendar.

The Line on the Cost Slide With a Question Mark

The slides estimate the project in four pieces:

1. Stage: $150,000 to $250,000
2. Sound, lighting and electrical: $80,000 to $150,000
3. Amphitheater: $2 million to $3 million
4. Parking lot expansion: $1 million, labeled "POA?"

At the podium, Sandridge put the amphitheater itself at $2.2 million to $3.4 million, "and the parking lot being another million." The expansion would add 135 spaces.

Parking is where the amphitheater depends most on the rest of the Village. Sandridge told the board that big events already push cars up and down Sequoyah Road, and that people have raised concerns about both the parking and the traffic through the area. Seating can grow only as fast as parking does, and parking is the one line on the cost slide nobody has taken on. Elite Tunes' funding plan, in Sandridge's words, is that "we would raise private funds" and "partner hopefully with Town of Tellico" to move the project forward.

The board's answer focused on the same line. The board member who responded called the plan "an excellent idea" and said, "It's not something that we budgeted in this year for the parking, but it's something that I will certainly entertain with the board in the future." The POA's October board highlights record the item as presented by Elite Tunes Series.

Two Design Stages Before Anyone Breaks Ground

What exists today is the schematic design, which sets the layout and shows how the venue would work on the site. Two stages follow. Design development is the detailed blueprint, with a certified survey and architectural, engineering, electrical, code compliance and ADA work. Construction documents come after that.

Sandridge closed by asking the board for guidance on next steps and to consider the project "within maybe some future planning." He said a civil engineer has already walked the site from the lake up to the Yacht Club and from the current parking area up to the street. The design work has a head start. The fundraising, and the parking question, are where the multi-year timeline comes from.

December 19 Moves Inside

Until then, the next Elite Tunes show shows the lawn's other limit, which is the weather. Kristen Brown plays the Tellico Village Yacht Club on Saturday, December 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. The organizers bill it as an indoor show, with check-in starting at 4 p.m.

Her first set is Christmas music. The second mixes covers with her own songs. The concert benefits Toys for Tots, in partnership with the Loudon County Sheriff Department and the Tellico Village Woodworkers Club. Tickets are sold on the Eventbrite event page, which lists them at $38.74 and says no refunds.

"Holiday celebrations on the lake" is one of the uses on the Harmony Shores slide. This year, the December show is inside the clubhouse.

When Kathy May-Martin and the team at Kathy May-Martin talk with Tellico Village sellers and buyers, the Yacht Club lawn and plans like Harmony Shores are part of what makes the community what it is. If you'd like a seasoned local broker's view of how Village amenities fit into your plans, Schedule Your Consultation.