It’s a Small World, Right?
What do New York City and San Antonio, TX, have in common? Besides being on Travel & Leisure’s top 15 cities to see in the US for multiple years, I visited them both last month. The Ryerson’s took...
Sunsphere
Iconic Sunsphere Getting Much-Needed Makeover
Did you know the base of the Sunsphere was originally blue? If you did not, you’re with me and in good company. If you did, you were likely here in 1982, attending the World’s Fair, and...
Sunsphere Spotting
(Today’s article is by guest writer Luke Frazier.) I just moved to Knoxville, and I’m really loving it. I live downtown and get to explore cool streets, alleys, and parks whenever I care to. Three days...
New Years Eve Celebration Moves to the Sunsphere (plus a bonus link)
For the second consecutive year, the City of Knoxville will host its long-running ball drop from the World’s Fair Park at the Sunsphere tomorrow night. Lowe’s is the primary sponsor for the event centered on the...
Visit Knoxville Celebrates 10 Years of Promoting the City
This past Friday, inside the Sunsphere, Visit Knoxville celebrated its tenth anniversary in its current incarnation as the city’s official convention and visitors bureau for the City of Knoxville and Knox County. Over that time it...
East Tennessee Community Design Center Celebrates 50+ Years of Service
(Article and photos by guest writer Heather Ryerson) If you are newer to Knoxville like I am, you may not know about the East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC). In 1970, the late Bruce McCarty, came...
The Sunsphere Observation Deck Reopens With a Whole New Look
The Sunsphere is doubtless the most distinguishing characteristic of the Knoxville skyline. Along with the blade sign on the front of the Tennessee Theatre, it has to be one of the two most photographed structures in...
Is Knoxville the “Boulder of the East?”
I’ve heard about Boulder, Colorado since sometime in the 1970s. In the 1960s it became a gathering point for some members of the counter-culture and I had friends who moved there a few years later. They...
Ice and Snow in the City, February 2015
It’s become a tradition for me to walk about in the snow each winter and take photographs of downtown Knoxville. The twist this year was that our initial snow wasn’t a snow at all, but was...
Sunsphere Observation Deck, Freshened Up and Re-opened
Images of the Sunsphere are ubiquitous in Knoxville. Visible from all along the western edge of downtown, while only 32 years old, it has become the iconic symbol of our city. It’s part campy curiosity and...