University of Tennessee Knoxville - Volunteer Yearbook (Knoxville, TN)

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Dwelt Noohcvll - , ,• j, M t f% • ‘Jf , ,.f‘ • To everything turn. Jurn turn. v .. ‘t here is a season turn, turn, turn. And .1 lime for every purpose under heaven; •’ A linje to be bortj. a lime to die; ■v Xtfn»e.to plants time to reap: Vtime to kili.'a time to heal: . t A firoe'to-laugh. a time Krjvcepy . 'A tiriiiTpf love, a time of hate: A time of war, a time fvf peace; From Feclesiastes , • '' Adapted bv Pet? Seeger ■

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There Is A Season ... Above: Raymond C'loulicr, a junior in engineering, found the slower pace of summer a good chance lo practice the more important things in life. I eft: Fall weather on the agriculture campus was nice enough to allow outdoor studying. Above: Colorful balloons and a beaut it u I spring day in Circle Park led to fun m the sun for these future Volunteers. Right Although winter weather led to slippery walkways and icy streets, any grumbling was easily outweighed by a ihoughilut task at ills- sur- rounding winter wonderland. Seasons O-en IVscsLi °“f p v«1»

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tii Milunn WORLD’S FAIR Point W jlur I jiiiIhU. tkv-pivsidvnl ■ ' Kmi ilK lniuii.ili-ni.il I n»re I sptiMiUm. Everything fell into place from financing to signing internation: participants. The city of Knoxville agreed to issue $11.6 million in bon anticipation notes to acquire the site and destroy the existing building; and in 1979 KIEF, received 30 million dollars in private financing to star the World’s Fair operations center. Many significant countries signed letters of intent to participate in th Fair early in the its history, and the U.S. commitment to build a $20. million pavilion helped insure the Fair of being an international event “The countries of the world arc certainly not going to come to a Fai if the host country is not participating,” said Lambert. The U.S commitment to the Fair led the way for 19 other countries to give solit committments to KIEF, including China, a country which has no exhibited in the U.S. since the end of the Man-Chu dynasty in 1904. The most important point about the Fair for the city of Knoxville i: the fact that it is going to bring in much needed revenue. The Fair i: going to be an “economic shot in the arm with this great event,” he said. The UT Center for Business and Economic Research hasestimatec that $400 million will be spent in preparation for and during the Fair Lambert said that $100 million will be spent preparing the site for the exposition, and then the exhibitors and concessionaires will spcnc another $100 million preparing their stores and exhibits. What do you think would happen if a “scruffy little town” decided to turn a ditch into a World’s Fair? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, nothing would happen except a disaster, but the exact opposite happened. From its inception, the Fair was on shaky ground with the residents of the city, but when the plans turned into a visual fantasy the com- munity became very supportive of this tremendous task. Walter Lambert, Vice President of the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, said that the concept of a World’s Fair in Knoxville was first met with nothing but ridicule and disbelief. “In 1975, Stuart Evans, Executive director of the Downtown Knoxville Association heard King Cole, past president of the Spokane World’s Fair talk about the effects that the World’s Fair had on downtown Spokane.” It was at this point that Evans returned to Knoxville and started talking to the business community about the possibility of having a fair in Knoxville. With constant determination, he convinced Kyle Tcstcrman, then the mayor, to appoint a citizens’ committee to examine the idea. •‘They went through nearly two years of studies. The site selection committee said look, there is already in existence a redevelopment pro- ject for the Lower Second Creek Valley, so the site was in fact pre- selected by it already being designated as a redevelopment area. That was the initial beginning for the fair and things skyrocketed from that point. “$100 million will be spent preparing the site for exposition, and then the ex- hibitors and concessionaires will spend another $100 million preparing their stores and exhibits.” “The private permanent development on the site consisting of the Station ‘82 com- plex, the Holiday Inn, and the Sunsphere are already returning more in city taxes than the whole site did before we started the fair.” “There has been $225 million spent on highway improvements,” ac- cording to Lambert. These funds would not have been appropriated un- til the mid-80’s if Knoxville had not had the Fair. Lambert said that post-site development will include at least another $100 million in condominium and office building construction, plus a large portion of the site w ill remain as an inter-city park and lake. All of this redevelopment is supplying the city with tax revenues that were non-existent before the fair. “The private permanent development on the site, consisting of the Station ‘82 complex, the Holiday Inn, and the Sunsphere, are already returning more in city taxes than the whole site did before we started the fair, said Lambert. All of this development has revived the dow ntow n area. Seven blocks of the center city have been targeted for construction of office buildings and apartments, and the apartment complexes are the key to downtown survival. “No city will ever be healthy if it is nine to five. A city, to be healthy, has to be around the clock, and what we’ve done is start a round of development which can do exactly that,” said Lambert. When the fair closes on October 31, 1982. an estimated 13 million visitors will have passed through the fair gates, and the community will have supported the fair. Lambert said that this project will make Knox- ville a can-do city because the residents of the city decided to get together and make it work. -------------------------,,arr Malonev 24 World's Fair