ASAP of Anderson is partnering with the City of Rocky Top to present free trunk-or-treating and a showing of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” on Friday, October 28.
It’s scheduled from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on October 28 at Rocky Top’s George Templin Field, a press release said.
“Fun activities and free resources will be available for the whole family!” the release said.
The free event will include food and costume contests, the press release said.
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A unique blend of bluegrass and classical choral music and lively Appalachian storytelling will be presented on October 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church of Knoxville, 2829 Kingston Pike.
The University of Tennessee Chamber Choir and the choirs of First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge and Second Presbyterian Church of Knoxville will perform the choral music. The event is free and open to the public, but an offering will be taken to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank, which serves both Anderson and Knox counties, a press release said.
“Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome Mass,” composed by Tim Sharp and Wes Ramsay, will be the main musical feature, the press release said. It combines the classical structure of the mass with bluegrass and mountain music performed by guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and voice.
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The Lake City Council on Thursday agreed to change the town’s name to Rocky Top as part of an effort to attract a multi-million dollar development that could include a water park, interactive theater with children’s museum, and coal miners music theater, among other things.
Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. June 28.
LAKE CITY—Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee.
For most people, Rocky Top has been, until now, the name of a bluegrass song that is wildly popular in East Tennessee and the unofficial anthem of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Hikers might know it as a sub-peak of Thunderhead Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. And shoppers might recognize it as the name of a bookstore, or gas station, or wine trail, or one of many other businesses registered in Tennessee.
But officials and business leaders here have worked for months to make their town to first to use it in a city name.
The idea is to use the name change to spur developments along Interstate 75 that could be worth up to $237 million. Proposed projects include an indoor and outdoor water park, interactive theater with a children’s museum, a coal miners music theater, and laser tag, among other things. Officials have said those developments—which have also included other options such as a hotel, restaurant, and candy company—won’t happen without the name change.
Residents hope the change and subsequent developments will create jobs, add sales tax revenues, and provide a vital economic boost to this depressed town of 1,800 people in northern Anderson County. [Read more…]
A standing-room-only crowd assembles to watch the Lake City Council vote 4-0 in November to recommend the town’s name be changed to Rocky Top.
Legislation that could clear the way for Lake City to be rechristened Rocky Top cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday as it was approved by the Tennessee House of Representatives’ Local Government Committee in Nashville.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge, is a private act requested by Lake City officials as the first step toward developing Lake City and its two exits off I-75 into a tourist destination.
Developers say that without the name change, the project—which could include a theater, a restaurant, and other amenities—cannot move forward. [Read more…]
The Lake City Council votes 4-0 on Thursday to recommend changing the town’s name to Rocky Top, and Rep. John Ragan, right, said he has drafted legislation to approve the rechristening in the state legislature.
LAKE CITY—Just hours before a historic vote to change this town’s name for the second time in less than a century, Lake City Mayor Tim Sharp received a legal letter warning him that a proposal to build a Rocky Top theme park here could violate trademark rights and should be dropped.
But project supporters packed City Hall on Thursday, and the Lake City Council pressed on, voting 4-0 to recommend changing the name of this former coal mining town to Rocky Top. It’s the first step in a project to build a multi-million dollar theme park that could include an interactive Knotty Pine 3-D theater, water park, hotel, and restaurant.
The last-minute letter from an intellectual property attorney in Nashville could have Lake City officials and the park’s investors scrambling to answer legal questions. The notice was “very unexpected,” Sharp said. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
More than 400 people attended Friday night’s bean and cornbread social and informational meeting on a proposal to change the name of Lake City to Rocky Top as the first step toward the creation of a massive Rocky Top theme park.
The event was held at Main Street Baptist Church and featured a presentation from the developers of the proposed tourist destination as well as from Anderson County Property Assessor Johnny Alley, who told the crowd that property taxes would not only not go up because of the project, but if all goes as planned, residents could actually see their property taxes decline as new revenue comes in. Lake City Mayor Tim Sharp told residents that the only cost to the town will be changing the name.
The park, as proposed, would be built on land owned by the city on Highway 441 between I-75 and Highway 25. The first phase of the development would be called the Rocky Top Pavilion and would feature a theater designed to attract musical acts like those found in Branson, Mo.; an indoor-outdoor water park; and a large restaurant. Developers also envision a sports hall of fame and museum. [Read more…]
Bank of America has agreed to sell this two-story brick building on Main Street in Lake City for $100,000 for a Coal Miners’ Museum and county storage space and satellite offices.
The Lake City Council on Saturday developed a plan for operating and maintaining a coal mining museum, a proposal that will be presented to the Anderson County Commission this evening, a nonprofit organization said this weekend.
The Commission will consider buying the former Bank of America building in Lake City as a home for the Coal Miners’ Museum during a meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday. [Read more…]
