Scruffy City

Scruffy City Scruffy City is the nickname of our beloved home: Knoxville, Tennessee. We've got it all.

Knoxville has it all: from a thriving downtown to the great outdoors, from the University of Tennessee to the beautiful lakes of the Tennessee Valley and to the rolling green virulence of the Great Smoky Mountains, from the top secret investigations at Oak Ridge National Labs, to the moonshine stills and Appalachian music of the East Tennessee hollers. The nickname Scruffy City derives from an in

tended slight by a reporter in 1980, when Susan Harrigan of the Wall Street Journal wrote that Knoxville was a "Scruffy Little City on the banks of the Tennessee River," doubting that Knoxville would be capable of pulling off a World's Fair. Scruffy Citizens did indeed pull off a successful international event in hosting the 1982 World's Fair on the banks of the Tennessee River, and then set about revitalizing Downtown knoxville itself and redefining what the word "scruffy" meant. Nowadays, the Scruffy Little City That Could has embraced its new mantra:

Keep Knoxville Scruffy! Support local food
local music
local culture
local history
and local businesses.

04/09/2026
02/10/2026

The Tennessee Amphitheater at World’s Fair Park has been home to so many important moments in Knoxville’s history, and we want it to be around for generations to come.

Improvements are now underway---- including replacement of the iconic tensile roof.

Additional improvements include:

• Painting and repairs to the steel & concrete structures
• LED Lighting system
• Motorized stage curtain
• Stormwater repairs
• And, electrical upgrades

The Amphitheater will be closed while the work is being done, and is expected to reopen in March of 2027.

(rendering of improvements)

01/08/2026
12/25/2025

Address

32 Market Square
Knoxville, TN
37902

Telephone

+18655242224

Website

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