Comment on this story Seven Days Wednesday, May 5 •Julian Velev, a Bulgarian scientist working for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, finally reenters the U.S. after being detained in Canada for six weeks due to over-zealous homeland security measures. Velev now knows what terrible things befall those who would practice terrorism: crappy weather, Canadian beer, Alanis Morissette, and being surrounded by millions of Fargo extras. Thursday, May 6 •State Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh filibusters to stall an anti-abortion measure, giving fellow legislators a thorough description of his vegetable garden back home in Covington. That seems appropriate, since gardening is so similar to the legislative process: If anyone brings up anything worthwhile, bury it, throw $#!% on it, and hope that something good comes out anyway. Friday, May 7 •A Washington, D.C.-based reverend tells a crowd gathered to protest Saturday’s Gay Day event in Rhea County that homosexuality is a sin because gays have “chosen” their way of life. Since most of us feel tempted to indulge in the things we consider sinful, could it be that the D.C. preacher is trying to tell us something? Saturday, May 8 •Having caused prime-time traffic snafus hereabouts for the last 10 years, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) officials announce in a News Sentinel story that they will consider “amended work schedules” at two area worksites to avoid further rush-hour delays. That it took so long for them to consider such options is further proof that anyone with a pair of I’s can see an IDIOT in the DOT. Sunday, May 9 •An anti-Gay Day protester appears in the News Sentinel with a sign warning that Democrats, Drunks, Rock & Rollers, Adulterers, Potheads, Homosexuals, Lesbians, Masons, Shriners, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Evolutionists, Catholics, Satanists Abortionists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Fornicators, Prosperity Preachers and Rich People are all going to Hell. Killers, Thieves, Racists, War-mongers, Bigots, Fascists, and Pinhead Zealots everywhere breathe sighs of relief. Monday, May 10 •A governor’s task force recommends restrictions on the sale of over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines containing ephedrine, a key ingredient in home-manufactured crystal methamphetamine. Henceforth, having a runny nose could be construed as a legal defense. Tuesday, May 11 •A News Sentinel staff report says this year’s Boomsday Labor Day fireworks show (last year’s attendance: 300,000-plus) could take place the same evening as the University of Tennessee’s season opening college football game with Nevada-Las Vegas (average attendance: 100,000). Julian Velev suddenly decides a Canadian getaway might not be such a bad thing. Knoxville Found What is this? Every week in “Knoxville Found,” we’ll print the photo of a local curiosity. If you’re the first person to correctly identify this oddity, you’ll win a special prize plucked from the desk of the editor (keep in mind that the editor hasn’t cleaned his desk in five years). E-mail your guesses, or send ’em to “Knoxville Found” c/o Metro Pulse, 505 Market St., Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37902. Last Week’s Photo: This giant beauty mark is painted a few doors down from the Downtown Grill and Brewery on the rear wall facing State Street. The mural serves as a loving reminder of the Great Southern Brewing Company and a marvel that it has succumbed to neither the adjacent renovations, nor graffiti artistes. Surprisingly, we didn’t receive a single response. Guess the extremely large “GSBC” on the massive mug wasn’t clue enough. Looks like we’ll hold onto the six-pack of delicious World’s Fair Beer for another time.

Market Day on Market Square
Revival of a 150-year-old tradition?

The Market Square Farmers’ Market, held this past Saturday, was a qualified success. The first of more than 20 weekly market days this year, it brought lots of people out, and they bought things, especially upscale arts and crafts. But it was unlikely to remind old-timers of the square’s salad days as the best market for produce between Norfolk and New Orleans.

Market Square, as is well known, was founded 150 years ago for one purpose, as a curb market for farmers. Over the last century and a half, the old square has served other purposes—every purpose we can think of, in fact, legal and illegal—and several non-farm businesses are thriving on the square today. But there’s a strong sentiment among the current owners and tenants to restore some semblance of the square’s original function, which, by the terms of the original bequest, the city may be legally obliged to observe. So for the last several months, a group of Market Square entrepreneurs, employees, and other interested parties have been putting together an ambitious effort to bring farmers back to Market Square every Saturday morning during the growing season.

Several hundred turned out for the inaugural market day on the sunny, unseasonably hot Saturday morning—700 was one informal estimate—and many visitors were surprised at the quality of the artwork: paintings, pottery, jewelry, even photography, most of which seemed a couple of cuts above what we’ve come to expect of festival art. It wasn’t surprising to learn that it’s a juried thing.

However, several visitors were also dismayed by the dearth of actual fruits, vegetables, and other edible goods. Artists outnumbered farmers and bakers about four to one.

One bona fide farmer, Donald Perkins, did set up in the backstage area. The older brother of Sherill Perkins, now ailing, who was for the last 20 years the square’s most dependable purveyor of corn, greens, and tomatoes, he was selling only gourds, bundles of pussy willows, and poke salad from a basket. Another vendor was selling honey, and V.G.’s of Farragut was selling baked goods. Dorian DeLuca, one of the event’s organizers, was selling organically grown tomato and herb plants. He claims he sold more than he really wanted to.

Perkins explained the scarcity of produce. It’s early in the season, for one thing, he says, and the up-and-down weather has delayed things further; a late freeze killed some early tomatoes and other crops. One stated ethic of the market day as planned is that only regionally grown produce should be available. The selection should get much better in weeks to come, as six or seven more farmers join the event as their crops mature. A representative of another farmer was reportedly on hand Saturday, doing reconnaissance on the crowd. He was said to be impressed with what he saw.

Co-organizer Charlotte Tolley has been talking to prospective farmers, and expects to have onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, some greens, and strawberries by June if not earlier, plus scavenged wild berries, mushrooms, and herbs. Corn and tomatoes will rule later in the summer, with fall greens and squash available in the autumn. Other produce markets have all those things now, of course, but the market day is, at the moment, dedicated to supporting regional farmers—strictly East Tennessee, so far, though some from North Carolina may be creeping in soon—and is, therefore, limited to the harvest of natural growing seasons.

It’s a challenging mandate; Perkins says there are fewer and fewer farmers close enough to consider a Saturday-morning trip to Market Square. “The farms are all going to subdivisions,” he says. It’s happening from Loudon County to Sevier. Downtown Knoxville is now farther from working farms than ever, and regional farmers have to be convinced it’s worth the trip.

The Perkins family still runs their farms in East Knox, though; Perkins said he’d be back, and expects to have a lot more to sell on future Saturdays.

He saw a crowd that came with money; every one of the 20-plus vendors, most of them artists, sold something, and they were all encouraged. The event seemed to have significant spillover to other shops on the square. Maybe the fact that it was the day before Mother’s Day helped. Even the bookstore reported a significantly higher amount of buying traffic.

It’s just a beginning, but an encouraging one. Scott Schimmel, co-owner of Bliss on the square is chair of the effort’s marketing committee, and is impressed but also a little anxious. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he says. “We’ve raised the bar of what we can do with this. I’m excited about it.”

—Jack Neely

Sunsphere City
Imagining the renovation of an icon

In his recent budget address, Mayor Bill Haslam called the Sunsphere “an icon for the whole city” and lamented its inaccessibility. “Any time someone puts out a brochure or a ticket or something relating to Knoxville, you see a picture of our icon, the Sunsphere,” Haslam said. “But right now you can’t even go inside or take an elevator ride up to see the view. It’s time we fix it up and get something in there. Let’s take this symbol that represents Knoxville and make it something special for our citizens and our visitors.”

To gather public opinion regarding how the city might go about improving or redeveloping the Sunsphere and other World’s Fair Park properties, the city has held two public tours guided by officials from the Public Building Authority, the agency that manages the buildings.

A diverse group of people gathered last week on a sunny Friday afternoon at the World’s Fair Park. College-age curiosity seekers, business-minded adults, a city councilman and a mother and daughter interested in butterflies were among about 40 folks who accepted the city’s invitation to tour and analyze several buildings utilized during—and some might say not used to their full potential since—the 1982 World’s Fair.

The Candy Factory, the Victorian houses on 11th Street, the old Knoxville Convention and Exhibition Center (KCEC), the Tennessee Amphitheater and the Sunsphere were open game for questions, second-guesses and fantastic speculation. Guests were divided into two camps: those who wanted to tour all the buildings, and those who wanted nothing more than to ascend into the golden innards of the Sunsphere. About three-quarters of those assembled joined David Griffin on tours of the fourth and eighth floors of the Sunsphere, the former being the one-time observation deck and the latter being the current offices of three lucky PBA employees, including Lisa Williams. “You have a great view, of course,” she says. “We enjoy working up here.”

The other three floors between the PBA offices and the observation deck, formerly home of the World’s Fair era restaurant, are also prime for redevelopment.

Twenty-five stories above downtown, Griffin answered people’s questions as best he could. The city is considering plans for both civic and private development, he said, including multiple uses within the Sunsphere that would allow for a commercial business to operate alongside a public venture. That day inside the Sunsphere, people firmly believed in access to this icon, from which the view is impressively broad yet surprisingly low to the ground. The top floor of one of the TVA Towers might just as easily be commissioned as an observation deck.

“The city’s interested in what you’d like to see,” Griffin said to the group. Some folks already had ideas. One man was adamantly against the reinstatement of a restaurant in the Sunsphere. A mother and her young daughter wanted to explore the feasibility of a butterfly aviary like one in Sioux Falls. Some folks just appeared interested in seeing the city from around 266 feet.

“Knoxville is really ugly,” observed a college kid. Neither of his cohorts supported or countered his claim.

A man answered his ringing cell phone. “Yes,” he responded. “I need to call you back. We are up in the Sunsphere right now.”

A young professional woman looked west toward the UT campus and noted how much the Fort Sanders neighborhood has changed in the mere five years since she graduated. She wondered aloud to her companion how the development of the Fort might have been different if the Sunsphere had been open and people could have viewed the drastic changes from above. There might be more historic homes and fewer high-rise developments, she speculated.

Just below the Sunsphere, the Tennessee Amphitheater, adored by architects because it’s a rare tensile structure, has sat unused for years, awaiting repair or demolition.

Bob Roundtree of the PBA received several pro-amphitheater responses from his tour group. “I mostly got comments from people like, ‘Gee, we sure would like to keep this structure,’” he says. The cost to bring the building up to fire code and American Disabilities Act compliance is a half-million dollars, he said.

The Candy Factory currently houses the South’s Finest Chocolate Factory as well as several art galleries, offices and practice spaces utilized by theater, dance and other performance groups. Both the Candy Factory and the Victorian houses, which were emptied of non-profit tenants during the Ashe administration, have been fingered as possible locations for retail outlets that would help draw customers and boost the tax-recapture rate to help pay back the debt on the new Convention Center.

The old KCEC is still being booked as a cheaper and smaller alternative to the new facility across Clinch Avenue. Recently, it has hosted several high school proms and a Native American Pow-Wow.

“The buildings, should they be renovated or redeveloped, have the potential to add to the vitality of downtown Knoxville and enhance surrounding neighborhoods,” Haslam is quoted on the city’s website. “I am looking forward to hearing ideas and suggestions about how the city should proceed.”

The deadline for public input regarding the Sunsphere and other World’s Fair Park buildings is June 7. Comments can be submitted via email to [email protected] or via mail at World’s Fair Park Public Input, Office of Economic Development, P.O. Box 1631, Knoxville, TN 37901.

—Paige M. Travis

May 13, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 20 © 2004 Metro Pulse