East Nashville shoots for its own specialty TN license plate Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms need to secure 1,000 pre-orders of the $35 plate by December 2019 to make it happen

Brad Schmitt | The Tennessean

Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms hopes to create a specialty Tennessee license plate celebrating East Nashville and the park.

To do so, the nonprofit needs to secure more than 1,000 pre-orders for the plate — featuring a Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms logo and golf, hiking, baseball and kite symbols to represent park activities — by December 2019, the group said in a press release.

The plate also has the words "East Nashville" on the bottom, with the "I" dotted with a tomato, a nod the East Nashville's annual Tomato Art Fest, which happens this weekend.

The organization will have a booth set up at the festival Saturday where people can pre-order the plate. Tennessee motorists also can pre-order through the organization's website, FriendsOfShelby.org.

If group fails to get the 1,000 pre-orders needed, the $35 fee will be turned over to Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms as a donation.

"We are excited for our friends and East Nashville neighbors to sign up for the specialty license plate, which represents the community and Shelby Park, and gives East Nashvillians a way to showcase their local pride while supporting meaningful, long-term improvements in the park," said Paul Hoffmann, president of Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms.

The state legislature also has to approve the plate, and the group says it plans to approach legislators from the Nashville area in January to ask them to sponsor the effort.

Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or at 615-259-8384 or on Twitter @bradschmitt.

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