BoA Fest - Battle of Athens Commemoration Festival

BoA Fest - Battle of Athens Commemoration Festival The Battle of Athens is the most historically significant event in the history of McMinn County.

Thanks to everyone who attended our festival today! We enjoyed the walking tours especially. Thanks to Sheriff Joe Guy f...
08/03/2025

Thanks to everyone who attended our festival today! We enjoyed the walking tours especially. Thanks to Sheriff Joe Guy for leading the morning tours. We got lucky on the weather, despite dreading thunderstorms all day. We will go all out for the 80th anniversary next year!

08/02/2025

SCHEDULE UPDATE: the festival is starting at 4:00 pm p.m. due to the likely storms. We will try to do another walking tour no later than 6:00 p.m., possibly sooner.

THE FESTIVAL IS TOMORROW! The Battle took place 79 years ago today!Reminder: "Beat the Heat" Downtown Walking Tours with...
08/01/2025

THE FESTIVAL IS TOMORROW! The Battle took place 79 years ago today!

Reminder: "Beat the Heat" Downtown Walking Tours with Sheriff and Historian Joe Guy at 8 AM and 9 AM. (Meet at the Market Park Pavilion).

The festival begins at 5:00 PM, with two "Sunset" Downtown Walking Tours at 7 PM and 8 PM led by author Tyler L. Boyd.

2 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!This event will forever be known as The Battle of Athens, but in fairness to our friends on th...
07/31/2025

2 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!

This event will forever be known as The Battle of Athens, but in fairness to our friends on the "other side of the creek," some did and still do refer to it as the McMinn County War. After all, it was about the county government!

3 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!This is the only photo taken during the actual firefight! The others are staged. David Hutsell...
07/30/2025

3 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!

This is the only photo taken during the actual firefight! The others are staged. David Hutsell, Carl Mashburn, and Sam Sims are the GIs firing out of the window in this photo. The home they are in has been remodeled significantly since then.

4 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL! Take a look at some inaccurate reporting in newspapers from outside the state. No one died in...
07/29/2025

4 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!

Take a look at some inaccurate reporting in newspapers from outside the state. No one died in the Battle, thankfully!

07/29/2025

5 DAYS UNTIL THE FESTIVAL!

Want to "Beat the Heat" and go on our Downtown Walking Tour of Battle sites? Join Sheriff Joe Guy, who is also our Count...
07/24/2025

Want to "Beat the Heat" and go on our Downtown Walking Tour of Battle sites? Join Sheriff Joe Guy, who is also our County Historian, on the morning of the festival for tours at 8 AM and 9 AM! Meet at the Market Park Pavilion.

The festival itself begins at 5 PM, with two more walking tours at 7 PM and 8 PM!

The Knoxville Journal had the best political cartoons! They were not afraid to call out the corruption in McMinn and Pol...
07/23/2025

The Knoxville Journal had the best political cartoons! They were not afraid to call out the corruption in McMinn and Polk Counties. This is from 1944, two years before the Battle!

Until the TN Constitution abolished poll taxes in 1953, you could not vote here unless you paid a poll tax. In addition ...
07/14/2025

Until the TN Constitution abolished poll taxes in 1953, you could not vote here unless you paid a poll tax. In addition to suppressing the vote of racial minorities, poll taxes were used by political bosses to control voting. The bosses would buy hundreds of poll tax receipts and give them to citizens in exchange for their vote. The proper procedure was for a citizen to pay their own poll tax, not accept a poll tax receipt from someone else. The GIs all made sure to pay their poll tax before the August 1946 election, but that did not stop the Cantrell-Mansfield Machine from trying other voter suppression tactics.

The GIs took up their positions behind this building, the old post office, on a hill across from the jail that once stoo...
07/10/2025

The GIs took up their positions behind this building, the old post office, on a hill across from the jail that once stood on White Street. This building later became the McMinn County Schools Administration building and is now TWU's Reece Hall.

Address

Market Park Pavilion
Athens, TN
37303

Telephone

+14233683607

Website

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