Culture
Knoxville Poetry Slam Provides a Brave Space for Over 30 Years
New years always prompt reflection for me. Rather than making resolutions, I look for ways to challenge myself as one year gives way to the next (probably semantics, but it works for me). As 2025 prepared...
Meet ‘Hellmouth,’ Knoxville’s New Arts & Culture Magazine (& Movement)
In the Year of Our Lord 2026, I can’t think of many ideas more audacious than launching an ad-free print magazine. Enter Hellmouth, whose inaugural edition landed with a splash last fall. The publication is the...
The 8 Great: January’s Can’t-Miss Arts & Culture Picks
Editor’s note: New for 2026 we are excited to partner with local arts nonprofit Hellmouth Magazine, whose team will be curating a monthly lineup of can’t-miss arts and culture events, exhibitions and more. Hellmouth is dedicated...
Tarik’s North African Hosts ‘The JFG Exhibit’ Honoring Iconic South Knoxville Sign
The spirit of South Knoxville’s venerable and beloved JFG Sign is alive and well at Tarik’s North African. While the sign itself remains in storage, the restaurant is hosting a small but intriguing exhibit featuring artistic...
Business
A First Look at Earl’s, a New Restaurant Opening Today on the South Waterfront
If you watched the South Banks development take shape on the South Waterfront, you have probably wondered what would happen to that standalone retail space along the river. With the gorgeous water tower mural by Curtis Glover on one...
East Depot Avenue: Danger Company Moves Online + Last Days of Autumn Announces Closure
Editor’s Note: Just shy of Old City proper, across the railroad tracks and up a block from Covenant Health Park, East Depot Avenue exudes the spirit of a defiant, post-industrial dandelion. Alan first wrote this about...
West Family Takes a Tip of the Hat with New Hat Bar on Market Square (And It’s NOT a Bar!)
Downtown’s First Family of Bars (with a strong side of retail) has entered their latest venture with See Scruffy City, a Hat Bar and Souvenir Shop, at 27 Market Square. Notably, among their long list of...
Downtown (& Beyond) Restauranteur Chad Kennedy Has Died at 48
I have written a lot of words in the last three-plus years, but these are likely my most difficult to date. My affinity for food, restaurants and seeing the process from the ground up has taken...
Development
U.S. Bank Building Under Contract; Initial Plans Released
Last July when Leslie reported the U.S. Bank Building was being offered for purchase, a number of questions surfaced immediately. Would the new owner (like the current owner) come from outside Knoxville, or would a local...
Here’s to the Next 100 Years: Ribbon Cut on Renovated YWCA Nancy J. Land Center
After more than a year and a half of active construction and nearly a decade of planning, the doors of a familiar downtown building are open once again. On Wednesday morning, YWCA Knoxville & the Tennessee...
Town Homes Planned for North Central (Former Site of the Dempster Building)
Long time readers may remember a story from 2019 in which I detailed plans to renovate and bring back to life the Dempster Building at 609-617 North Central Street. Then owned by Dewhirst Properties, they hoped...
Gay Street Bridge Reopens to Pedestrians & Cyclists—On Time, Under Budget
After 18 months of uncertainty, detours and collective bridge-education the city never asked for, the Gay Street Bridge is once again open—this time to pedestrians and bicyclists only. City leaders cut the ribbon this morning on...
Events
10-Day Downtown-ish Planner: January 18-27
Welcome to the 10-Day Planner! If you want your event included, please create a Facebook event, invite editor Leslie Wylie Bateman via the “invite” button on the event page (you’ll need to friend her), and it...
2026 Festival (& Other Big Events) Planner
January is for recovery and resolve. February, we start feeling a little stir-crazy. And then, somewhere around March, we start to remember that leaving the house is actually kind of fun. Spring kicks off festival season...
10-Day Downtown-ish Planner: January 11 – 20
Welcome to the 10-Day Planner! If you want your event included, please create a Facebook event, invite editor Leslie Wylie Bateman via the “invite” button on the event page (you’ll need to friend her), and it...
10-Day Downtown(ish) Planner: January 4-13
Welcome to the 10-Day Planner! If you want your event included, please create a Facebook event, invite editor Leslie Wylie Bateman via the “invite” button on the event page (you’ll need to friend her), and it...
Life
Honored in Name, Owed in Investment: The Story of Knoxville’s MLK Avenue
Every year, as the third Monday in January approaches, I feel the same unease settle in. I prepare myself for a week of service and celebration and for the familiar sanitizing of a man much of...
How to Get Your Visit Knoxville & WDVX Blue Plate Special Fix During Visitors Center Renovation
The Visit Knoxville Visitors Center at 301 S. Gay Street is a kind of front porch for downtown Knoxville. Tourists wander in clutching maps. Locals pop by for a last-minute gift. And, right on cue almost...
A New Year & a Lovely Day in a Future We Can Say YES! To
You’re back at work. As with every December, the long, end-of-year break that comes with the onslaught of various holidays has gone by too quickly. And now, here you are, already one week into January of...
Ghost Walking Around the Former Whittle Communications Building on Main Street
Have you ever noticed how quiet it is around Gay Street and Main Street in the evening? During the day, it’s reasonably lively with lawyers, bankers, government employees milling about. It will be even more so...