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What's New in 2008
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Bybee
Castalian Springs
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Gallatin
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BYBEE
Briarwood Ranch Safari Park has opened in Cocke County. View hundreds of animals and more than 35 exotic species during the 4-mile safari. The tour winds through beautiful hills and pastureland in beautiful Bybee, TN. You can feed the animals right from your car. The park is open 365 days a year with group and senior rates available. Call 865.919.5072 for more details.
CASTALIAN SPRINGS
The first annual Bledsoe’s Fort Colonial Fair will be held May 3 – 4, 2008 at Bledsoe’s Fort Historical Park. The time period of this event is 1750 – 1790mand features colonial merchants, food and drinks, music, entertainment, period camps, a shooting match with period Flintlocks and much more.
CHATTANOOGA
The transformation of the Chattanooga Clarion Hotel to a Doubletree Inn & Suites is expected to reach completion by June 2008. The hotel will be under new management and ownership upon completion. The new hotel will feature 157 first-class rooms, more than 7,000 square feet of meeting space, a full-service restaurant and bar, a dramatically transformed entrance that is more accessible to the downtown attractions and restaurants, and an outside landscaped terrace with a fire pit that is the perfect venue for corporate and social gatherings.
The city of Chattanooga is planning a $2.8 million upgrade to facilities at Warner Park (scheduled for completion in 2008) and a new $10 million softball complex off Apison Pike (scheduled for completion in 2009). The new complex will be located less than one mile from Interstate 75. According to figures released by the Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee, softball has been one of the major economic impact generators for the community since the Sports Committee’s inception in 1992 (over $50 million in estimated economic impact).
COLLIERVILLE
The Collierville Train Museum features a 2-8-2 Frisco Steam Locomotive, a Southern Caboose and a former Business Car from the Seaboard Railroad. Working with the Smithsonian, the Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Southern Railway Historical Society the Museum brings back to life The Tennessean. Visitors board The Tennessean living museum and step back in time to the 1940s where they can experience fine dining aboard this restored passenger train.
COTTONTOWN
Stay Down on the Farm features a three-bedroom red farmhouse furnished with antiques and located on a 100-acre farm with miles of walking trails and a catfish pond. It is located just off I-65 North and close to Gallatin, TN.
FRANKLIN
The Fleming Center, a brand new visitor’s center, is being built on the grounds of The Carnton Plantation and set to be completed by late Fall of 2008.
GALLATIN
Bull Creek Resort is now open. Located on the beautiful Old Hickory Lake, the resort features cabins with spacious decks and lake views, a boat dock, cable TV and more. It is conveniently located to shopping, dining and historic sites.
GATLINBURG
Smoky Mountain Tunes & Tales – the summer-long Gatlinburg outdoor entertainment production is expanding in 2008 to take in more of the city as a theatrical stage. More acts, more music, more fun!
The Gatlinburg Winter Magic lighting program will reach the $1.5 million benchmark in November 2008 with an anticipated investment match by the private sector. All-new LED lighting displays include sections devoted to animals, romance and international goodwill.
GREENEVILLE
The Bicentennial of the birth of Andrew Johnson will feature events celebrating the life of the 17th president of the United States throughout the year 2008.
JACKSON
Opening 2008, the Bemis Mill Village Museum, located in the historic and rehabilitated Bemis Theater/Auditorium, contains exhibits and memorabilia portraying the story of Bemis, TN, a cotton mill town forged out of the cotton fields in 1900 by Judson Moss Bemis.
KINGSPORT
ETSU and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site opened on Aug. 31, 2007 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. A visit to the Gray Fossil Site includes the sights, sounds and activities of the Miocene, and a guided tour where you have the opportunity to learn about the era and actually dig for fossils.
KNOXVILLE
The Regatta National Championship is coming to Knoxville in May 2008.
AYSO Soccer competition is bringing their national tournament back to Knoxville in summer 2008. The Holiday Inn Cedar Bluff in West Knoxville is the host hotel and is holding registration for the event.
Emporium Annex in downtown Knoxville reopened in August of 2007. Built one floor below the true first level of Gay Street, the Annex’s grand opening took place three years after the Emporium Center’s opening in downtown Knoxville and provides an additional 5,000 square feet of classroom, meeting, and rehearsal space. Throughout the coming year, further additions to the Annex will include a security system, security cameras, mirrors and ballet barres in the dance studio, and a board table in the community room.
MEMPHIS
The 40th commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination will be remembered at the National Civil Rights Museum and throughout the city of Memphis with year-long activities. Events and special museum exhibits will celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy and his profound effect on the world.
MURFREESBORO
The Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, the first development of its kind for the city of Murfreesboro, opens in December of 2007. The 10-story, 283-suite Embassy Suites Hotel is adjoined by an 80,000-square-foot conference center. The all-suite, luxury hotel and conference center will be strategically located near SR-840 in the northeast quadrant of I-24. It is adjacent to “The Avenue Murfreesboro,” a brand new lifestyle center featuring one million square feet of restaurant, home furnishings and fashion shopping in an open-air setting.
NASHVILLE
Frist Center for the Visual Arts features the work of Aaron Douglas and includes approximately 100 paintings, works on paper and book illustrations from this leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance - January 18-April 13, 2008. From February 15- June 1, 2008, the museum will feature 84 works from late 19th and early 20th century artists such as Cezanne, Dali, Degas, Gauguin, and Renoir.
Beginning in March, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will focus on country music’s most iconic family with a major exhibition titled, Family Tradition: The Hank Williams Legacy.
The Adventure Science Center will open its new, state-of-the-art Sudekum Planetarium in spring of 2008. The planetarium’s dome will be 60 feet across, making it among the largest in the nation.
OAK RIDGE
The newest, pet-friendly Oak Ridge hotel, Staybridge Hotel & Suites, features all of the creature comforts you can imagine. It boasts 90 suites with a kitchen in each room, a 6-seat movie theater, an indoor swimming pool, and outdoor putting green, a courtyard with barbecue grills, a free deluxe breakfast buffet and evening Sundowner receptions Tuesday through Thursday.
PIGEON FORGE
The $110 million Belle Island Village project is set to open in the fall with 126 hotel rooms, 95 retail locations, four major restaurants and attractions such as the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Motions Picture Museum and the Darrell Waltrip Racing Experience.
Dollywood will introduce another new ride, a $5 million water adventure called River Battle. The water resort will add a 35,000 square foot park and 336 hotel rooms in Pigeon Forge.
SEVIERVILLE
The Sevierville Events Center at BRIDGEMONT opened in September of 2007. This $65 million, 240,000-square-foot events center has a 224-unit hotel complete with an indoor and outdoor water park.
TOWNSEND
The Smoky Mountain Pottery Festival will be held June 7, 2008 at the Townsend Visitor Center. This juried show will include 30 pottery booths, a children’s tent, wheel-throwing, hand-building demonstrations and a special firing.
TRADE
The Old Trade Mill opens January 2008. Located in Trade, the oldest community in Tennessee and an early trading ground for Indians and pioneers, the working mill is built from the remnants of an 1800s local grist mill. It will house a full-time miller to grind corn and grits as well as locally handcrafted items and historical artifacts from the area.
