KaBOOM! City gets 'slide' grant

You never know where fun might strike.

KaBOOM! announced today that the City of Knoxville was selected as a $25,000 winner for its “Downtown Slides” project in the Play Everywhere Challenge, a $1 million national competition that will fund innovative ideas to make play easy, available, and fun for kids and families in cities across the nation.

The “Downtown Slides” project was selected as one of 50 winners out of a pool of more than 1,000 applications nationwide. KaBOOM! is a national non-profit dedicated to bringing balanced and active play into the daily lives of all kids, particularly those growing up in poverty.

A grant committee including representatives from the City, the Knox County Health Department, Knoxville Area Transit, Visit Knoxville, the Childhood Obesity Coalition, the Legacy Parks Foundation, Great Schools Partnership, SMG, and The Muse created a plan to build embankment slides within City infrastructure, taking advantage of Knoxville’s hilly topography.

The in-ground slides will be constructed adjacent to existing outdoor stairs throughout the city. The pilot project will be a slide located next to the stairs of the Civic Coliseum parking garage and is slated to be completed by the end of the year. Other sites will be selected and announced after seeking public input.

“The location of this project was chosen because it’s accessible by a large number of children,” said Joe Walsh, Director of Knoxville Parks and Recreation. “This slide will be near a trolley stop, the Coliseum and Cal Johnson Recreation Center. We’re always looking for creative ways to get kids’ attention to play, and we feel this project will do just that.”

The Play Everywhere Challenge was developed in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Target, Playworld, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

To view Knoxville’s “Downtown Slides” project on KaBOOM’s website, visit www.kaboom.org/playability/play_everywhere/gallery/downtown_slides.

Knoxville named 1015 top big city

Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine has named Knoxville its 2015 Top Big City. 

The race was intense over the summer as Knoxville went up against Durham, Atlanta, Chattanooga and Charleston, West Virginia.

The magazine hits newsstands and the web today with stories featuring each of the winners.

In addition to Knoxville, Roanoke (VA) was named Top Mid-Sized and Franklin (NC) was named Top Small Town.

Feature writer for Blue Ridge Outdoors, Jess Daddio, states, "...perhaps even more unique than the city's close proximity to recreational resources is the vibe of present-day Knoxville, a feeling of progression and unity that can most aptly be described with one word: collaboration."

Said Visit Knoxville President Kim Bumpas: "Knoxvillians know how awesome Knoxville is and now the word is getting out,". "Our Urban Wilderness is easily accessible from various parts of town including our vibrant downtown. For these reasons and many others, Knoxville really offers a great deal to visitors, plus the sense of community is amazing."

To read the article, go to Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.

Knoxville to celerbate 225th B-Day

The City of Knoxville turns 225 on Oct. 3 next year.

So, starting in January, Visit Knoxville will collaborate with numerous art, historical, and cultural organizations to highlight Knoxville's unique past.

The 2016 Knoxville Visitors and Relocation Guide will have a heavy focus on the 225th Anniversary, offering current residents, newcomers, and out-of-town guests the opportunity to explore and actively engage in our history and culture.

Visit Knoxville is coordinating all events and information regarding the 225th Anniversary. For more information, go to 225.visitknoxville.com or call (800) 727-8045.

Knoxville in 'Top Towns' finals

After a busy weekend of voting and sharing, Knoxville has beaten Chattanooga to move on to the final round of the Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine's Top Towns contest, according to a release from Visit Knoxville.

The new round of voting starts Monday at noon at www.BlueRidgeOutdoors.com.

"We were ecstatic this morning when we saw all the voting that had taken place over the weekend. While we were sharing on all of our social media platforms, our friends and fans really took this to heart and we appreciate them," says Visit Knoxville President, Kim Bumpas. "We know what a Top Town we have here. Now we have to overcome Charleston, West Virginia. Please keep voting for Knoxville and, hopefully, we will see you in the November issue of Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine."

When you are voting for Knoxville or sharing the message, please tag @visitknoxville on Twitter or Instagram. We are also on Facebook and Pinterest. Keep voting and remember #knoxrocks

The final championship round will run for TWO weeks from noon on Monday the 31st until 9:00 am on Monday, September 14th. Blue Ridge Outdoors will conceal the percentage results in the final championship rounds and publicly reveal and announce the winners in their November issue.

Boomsday set for Sunday, Sept. 6

Visit Knoxville will present the 28th edition of Boomsday on Sunday, Sept. 6 at Volunteer Landing along the Tennessee River.

"We're working daily on creating a weekend of events that will culminate with the Boomsday festivities our community looks forward to seeing each year," stated Kim Bumpas, president of Visit Knoxville.

Boomsday 2015 will kick off at 3:00 p.m. with live music, games, food vendors and more. The evening will wrap up with more than five tons of dynamite lighting the sky to a soundtrack featuring your favorite music.

Boomsday will wrap up a Labor Day weekend featuring FREE events open to the public. Details available RIGHT SMACK HERE. 

Vols move game for Boomsday to create big Labor Day weekend celebration

Just got this in from the good Visit Knoxville folks:

The University of Tennessee Volunteers and Visit Knoxville's Boomsday Team Up for a Spectacular New Labor Day Weekend Celebration.

The Vols' season opening game with Utah State is moving to Sunday, August 31st at 7:00 p.m.  As a result, Visit Knoxville will hold the 27th Annual Boomsday Festival on Saturday, August 30th. The festival will expand down Neyland Drive and feature special programming celebrating Knoxville and the Big Orange. Playing on Sunday provides the opportunity for the game to be broadcast on ESPN's new SEC Network.

"This will be a unique and exciting weekend for our city and our state," said Tennessee head football coach Butch Jones. "With Boomsday on Saturday and our season opener on Sunday, the atmosphere and energy in Knoxville will be unrivaled. We're also excited about being one of the schools featured on the first weekend of SEC Network football telecasts, and we are looking forward to this tremendous opportunity."

The 2014 season opener will mark the seventh time Tennessee has played on Sunday. The Vols are 3-2-1 all-time in the previous six games. The last Sunday contest for Tennessee was the season opener on Sept. 5, 2004, a 42-17 win over UNLV that marks the only Sunday game to date in Neyland Stadium history.

"Holding Boomsday on Saturday in partnership with the University gives the opportunity to provide Vol fans and visitors alike with a truly memorable holiday weekend," said Kim Bumpus, president of Visit Knoxville. "Events like this stimulate our local economy and highlight all that Knoxville has to offer. We look forward to celebrating this great city all weekend long."

Boomsday 27 will feature more music than ever before. The Knoxville based Black Lillies will headline the event on the main stage with other local artists performing a variety of music from jazz to country and bluegrass on a total of 3 stages.  The famous Pyro Shows fireworks will blast off at 9:00pm and broadcast live on WBIR.

Admission to this year's event is $20 per adult (children 12 and under free) and includes access to a programmed and secured fireworks viewing along Neyland.  Your admission grants full access to all performances, a family-friendly kids area, new food vendors, shopping and much more. There's even a VIP area for Veterans (who can attend Boomsday for free with Military I.D.)

Boomsday tickets go on sale in July.

Visit Knoxville to host open house, display Gustin photos this Friday

Knox County bad a$$ photographer and county IT guy Jon Gustin's photos will be on display at the Visit Knoxville Offices, starting Nov. 1. The display is part of the open house kick off event hosted by the tourism group, beginning on First Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Stop by and check them out!

Bumpas renews Visit Knox contract

Kim Bumpas

Well, quite frankly I couldn't tell you what Visit Knoxville really does, but they're certainly more transparent than the previous incarnation (KTSC) led by Gloria Ray.

The Visit Knoxville folks shot over a spin release, letting everyone know that the board renewed a contract with Kim Bumpas, the organization's president, to run thought June 2016. She'll get $140K in folding paper a year and some "fringe benefits," according to the contract.

You can read that bad boy, right smack here.

The board appointed Bumpas about 18 months ago, after the local media exposed Ray for doing . . .  well . . . pretty much nothing and getting paid, like, $10gajillion dollars for it. According to the release, Bumpas is credited with leading the organization "through a restructuring process from the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation to Visit Knoxville."

It goes on to say that she "began focusing on reinvigorating Knoxville as a travel destination for leisure travelers and conventions."

Yeah, that's about it. No more other details, so, like I said, I don't know what they do. But at least you know what the president makes. And that's a start.

Visit Knoxville group unveils guide

I've had this in my email inbox for awhile. Last week, Visit Knoxville released its 2013 City Guide & Visitor Handbook, a 72-page magazine that covers attractions, events, blah, blah, and all sorts of fancy going ons in the city.

The organization's president, Kim Bumpas, called it “an important resource for visitors when planning their trip to Knoxville.” She also noted that it will feature new editorial content from local writers and personalities that are designed to give a visitor and insider's perspective to Knoxville.

No mention of whether visitor's will be assaulted with the popular city and county catch phrase: “You're not from around here, are you?”

Heh.

The guide is actually pretty cool. You can see it online, right smack here, or download it (or have it mailed to you) by clicking here.

You can also get one at the Knoxville Visitor Center at 301 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville.

Mayor appoints four to new KTSC

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett appointed four people today to the board of directors of Visit Knoxville, which used to be called the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp, but abruptly changed its name after the last board got caught doing absolutely nothing other than letting the former executive director run wild and get paid like a gazillion dollars and no one really cared until a former Knoxville mayor started a whisper campaign to get her run out because she made waaaaay too much money for doing whatever she did, and, well, I digress.

Anyhoo the mayor named his senior director of community outreach, Hemal Tailor, Knox County Commissioner Brad Anders, Anita Lane (Hampton Inn Downtown general manager) and Courtney Piper (Piper Communications founding principal) to the board.

Let's hope they pay attention a little bit better than the last batch. Heh.

“Like me, they are all committed to ensuring transparency in the operation of Visit Knoxville, and the efficient use of taxpayer dollars to effectively promote tourism in Knoxville and Knox County,” Burchett said in a released statement.

The city and county recently approved contracts with Visit Knoxville to serve as a “destination marketing service.” No one was surprised.

For more info about the organization, click right smack here.