Emotions explode: The patriotic spectrum has us feeling red, white and blue in Knoxville
My fellow Americans and Knoxvillians,
I hope you are kicking off July dressed in your finest red, white and blue − the topic of today's discussion, though not how you might imagine.
Knox News journalists Brianna Paciorka, Keenan Thomas and yours truly, Ryan Wilusz, took time to chat about what makes us red with anger and blue with sadness when it comes to Knoxville. And for the sake of keeping things positive, we decided white should represent happiness (and not surrender).
Below, you'll find an edited transcript of our glorious discussion about restaurants, transportation, entertainment, housing and more on this week's episode of "The Scruffy Stuff" podcast. You can listen to the award-winning podcast every time a new episode drops on Tuesdays, including in the podcast player below.
For years, the downtown-focused podcast has explored "anything and everything under the Sunsphere," and this episode is no exception. Want to keep up with "The Scruffy Stuff"? Episodes are available for free on Apple, Spotify and other streaming platforms.
Red is for anger in downtown Knoxville
Ryan: I'm going to start by talking about how angry I was when I found out that the streets in Old City that were closed down were ... closed down by pranksters, and it was not this new pedestrian-only area on Central Street that I've been hoping for for years. ... It's kind of funny, for one, but also made me kind of angry because I was like, "Man, this would be such a good idea."
Brianna: Mine's probably also something that a lot of people can relate to, and it would be the housing situation, especially if you're a renter. My rent went up by like $400 last year ... and it's just kind of frustrating to hear local officials talk about how affordable Knoxville is when clearly that's not the case anymore.
Keenan: We have a decent bus system, but it doesn't reach out west for people like me. Or, it doesn't reach to certain areas that it used to. ... I wish there were more options available for people who maybe want something else or more affordable or don't have a car.
Ryan: I'm going to do two in one, both to do with cars in downtown: People who sit at the garages when the arm is clearly up because there's free parking ... pressing the button over and over again waiting to get a ticket when they could just drive right in. This is a PSA to all those people, as well as those people who when I put my blinker on downtown and I'm obviously about to back into a parallel spot ... because they get right up on your butt and then you can't back in.
Brianna: OK, this one makes me really mad. ... I hate the City-County Building. Hate it. It's huge, it's ugly. I do not know who thought it was a good idea to make such a large, ugly building on the riverfront, but it's awful. It blocks access to the river. It takes up a lot of skyline space. ... It's ugly. I hate it. I hate it.
Ryan: Calm down, Brianna. I can see you're steaming over there.
Keenan: I've also gotten lost in that building before, looking for a source. And I've walked back and forth and I'm like, "Where am I going?"
Ryan: So, I have two to wrap up my anger. One is cash covers at bars - (Preservation Pub), Scruffy City Hall. It's 2023. I feel like they should be able to take a card to pay your cover there. ... The other one is the Sunsphere. You know, based on the sun - the brightest thing in the sky. Yet, it doesn't light up. ... And if it's our icon, it should be illuminated. It should be a sun, even at nighttime.
Brianna: I think this one's probably more of a me problem since I am an LSU grad and I bleed purple and gold, but ... I feel like every other day I'm telling myself, "Stop singing to 'Rocky Top' in your head." So, yeah, that makes me angry sometimes.
White is for happiness in downtown Knoxville
Ryan: I already mentioned the free parking after 6 p.m. I'll add to that: the temporary flasher parking for to-go food. It can be kind of intimidating to come downtown and get carryout if you're having to worry about finding a place to park. But that flasher parking has been very helpful. Since I already talked about that, I'll just go ahead and say I've never met a local beer that I couldn't drink. I feel like there's plenty of beer around here, and it's all good.
Brianna: One of the things I love about Knoxville is how close we are to the Smokies. You can see them from downtown sometimes. It's a close drive away. And if you don't want to go to the Smokies, you're not a far drive from any other cool state park or any other place to do outdoor activities, which is really cool.
Keenan: I think one of my main happiness points in Knoxville is the coffee shop variety, most of which are local. ... I'm a very frequent drinker at Honeybee (in South Knoxville), at Mahalo, Old City Java. These are places I love popping into. I immediately feel safe and comfortable and like I can take on the world.
Ryan: One thing that makes me happy is the pride for sports that is brewing beyond the University of Tennessee. ... We have some really cool things happening with One Knoxville SC, which we have an entire podcast episode dedicated to, as well as (Smokies baseball) moving to Knoxville. And it makes me happy to know that they will be changing the name from the Tennessee Smokies to the Knoxville Smokies, which just gives you a little bit more city pride too.
Brianna: Music is a big thing for me, so Big Ears Festival makes me incredibly happy. You get so many cool musicians that would never come here otherwise, and the vibe of downtown just kind of changes to be a little bit more like big-city feel. And it's a really cool festival, even if some of the music is a little weird sometimes.
Ryan: It's nice that you get that feel for a big city feel just one weekend out of the year, and it's not like that all the time. Because one of the things that makes me super happy, and this is my last one: I'm not a big walker, but I can totally walk from one side of downtown Knoxville to the other side of downtown Knoxville because we are a small town.
Keenan: I feel like I'm always consistently blessed with being in such a strange movie town where I can go to just about any theater, and it's almost a guarantee that they're going to play the movie that I'm wanting to go see. Whether that's Central Cinema bringing in some indie or some older stuff, the various Regals in town that have a variety of things playing. ... Kind of leading into the sadness, the AMC over in East Knoxville closed recently. But there's still that AMC over in West Knox that's available.
Brianna: One small and kind of crazy thing that makes me really happy downtown: When you go to Market Square on a Saturday and you see the musical saw guy and then the steel drum guy playing together in Market Square. I don't know about ya'll, but that just makes me insanely happy. It's such a weird mismatch of stuff, but it's so great.
Ryan: Yeah, that's one of the greatest collabs since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton on "Islands in the Stream." That's awesome to see.
Blue is for sadness in downtown Knoxville
Ryan: I am sad that (Suttree Landing Park) is not used more. ... It's the best view of the skyline. A wide-open grassy space. ... I feel like the new apartments that have gone up there kind of make the park feel smaller. It doesn't feel open. You feel like the buildings are kind of sitting on top of you.
Brianna: Speaking of parks, something that makes me really sad about Knoxville is I've noticed that there's a lot of litter that you just see out and about. I know people who have gone to do litter pickups in the water and stuff at Ijams, and it's just really sad how people don't really take pride in our area and our beautiful city and just trash it up with their trash.
Ryan: Downtown's got a little bit better about that. You can go back and read about the Downtown Focus effort at knoxnews.com, in which they tried to address some of that littering that got worse during the pandemic.
Keenan: For as many incredible restaurants that there are ... I wish that there were more healthy options that were cheaper and affordable, especially for people on the go like me that's running around Knoxville all over the place. It's kind of sad that I rely on McDonald's a little too much just because I can afford it for a quick meal.
Ryan: A silly one for me is that we're no longer the underpants or streaking capital of the United States. ... I guess this ties back to sad about Cumberland Avenue because you hear about all the crazy stuff that used to happen down on Cumberland. And so maybe it's less my sadness about not seeing people running around naked and more my sadness about the change in character of that area.
Brianna: To kind of go along with changing culture, I kind of miss the Biscuit Festival. I don't know if either of you have ever been able to go, but it was such a cool thing. You paid 10 or 15 dollars, and there were at least 20 different vendors that had their own takes on biscuits.
Ryan: It's funny you mentioned that because my sad was that I'll never get to experience Biscuit Festival. ... And we don't have Boomsday. ... So, those are two festivals I'm sad I'll never get to experience.
Keenan: That reminded me of my other sad point, which is that OliBea has closed.
Ryan: But (SmashCity Knoxville) is replacing it.
Keenan: I'm so sad, too, because I unfortunately was not able to go out in the last week of this business just due to time, and I don't know if I will regret that yet or not.
Ryan: My quick one is that Sunset on Central is canceled for 2023, which makes me really sad. It was an awesome, free music-discovery festival over there north of downtown. But they're planning to come back in 2024, so that's hopeful. My last sad point is that Knoxville's professional wrestling history seems to be lost. ... A lot of people went on to WWE (from Knoxville). But it makes me kind of happy that recently I got to see a show over at Hi-Wire Brewing of all places, and it was awesome. And I'm about to go to one at Jackson Terminal, which hopefully will be awesome.
Brianna: I'm still really upset about Central Filling Station. I don't know if I'm going to be over that anytime soon.
Keenan: My last sad point is mostly that I just wish that there were more safe and sober places for the LGBTQ folks here in Knoxville. There's a few, and they're all great: South Press Coffee, Club XYZ the Frog Juice Boocherie and Core. But outside of the Boocherie and South Press, there's not really many sober places as well.
Ryan Wilusz is a downtown growth and development reporter. Phone 865-317-5138. Email ryan.wilusz@knoxnews.com. Instagram @knoxscruff.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What are the best and worst things about living in Knoxville?
