You may have heard recently, “Let’s wait until after the holidays when things slow down.” Well that is not happening here at the Knoxville Convention Center. Read more »

It is my pleasure to recognize the KCC Leader of the Year each year during our employee holiday party. This award is particularly meaningful because the winner is selected by his or her peers.

We have a lot of excellent employees, so winning this award is not an easy feat.

This year, the announcement came through a creative poem composed by our management team based on “Twas the Night Before Christmas” entitled “Twas the Bright Leader Rewarded.” Read more »

We are in the holiday spirit now in the afterglow of Fantasy of Trees. Always a fabulous way to kick off the holidays, this year’s event was no exception.

We had 55,948 people Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree over this five-day event. While visitors enjoyed the nostalgic 1950s themed decorations, the more than 300 decorated trees, the gingerbread village, traditional carousel, live music, games, activities and of course Santa, they also helped raise money for some important projects at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Read more »

After four months of sharing our kitchen at the Knoxville Convention Center, Mobile Meals has set up operations in the kitchen of the former convention center space below the Holiday Inn.

The spring storms that ripped through Knoxville damaging many homes and businesses caused the ceiling in the Mobile Meals Kitchen to collapse, making their space unusable. Read more »

I imagine this is what the North Pole is like this time of year.

The exhibit hall at the Knoxville Convention Center is bustling with hundreds of busy volunteers preparing for the 27th annual Fantasy of Trees. One of Knoxville’s premier holiday events, this benefit for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital always puts me in the holiday spirit. Read more »

I’ve met the newest member of the Tennessee Vols team, and I think he is a winner!

We recently hosted a welcome reception here at the Convention center for the University of Tennessee’s new Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart and his wife Pam.

More than 200 community leaders, elected officials and UT fans gathered for this festive event. Event sponsors Pilot, the News Sentinel, First Tennessee Bank and UT Medical Center really made this a special evening. The Harts remarked that they felt truly welcomed. Read more »

Congratulations to our Executive Chef, Chris Moore who was chosen as the 2011 Associate of Excellence for the Tennessee Hospitality Association.

The Stars of the Industry awards are presented to individuals for their professional and community leadership. And Chef certainly deserves this honor.

For the past two years, he has not only coordinated the efforts for feeding the thousands of guests we have at the KCC each year, but he has also made a positive impact on individuals in need in our community through his work with the Abundant Life Kitchen, Knox Area Rescue Ministries and Second Harvest Food Bank. Read more »

Photo credit: Bonnie Willard

We have some big celebrities coming to the Knoxville Convention Center this week.

I am not just talking about the O’Jays. Yes they will be here too, and it will be fun to hear that Philadelphia soul that they are known for. I’m sure you remember “Back Stabbers,” “Love Train,” “I Love Music,” and “Use Ta Be My Girl.” Their hit “For the Love of Money” is the theme song of NBC reality series, “The Apprentice,” starring Donald Trump. So I guess they are pretty famous.

But I am talking about really BIG celebrities – they appeared on “Oprah” and “Secret Millionaire!” You know who I’m talking about — the Love Kitchen’s Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner. They may be small in stature, but they are big celebrities in Knoxville. Read more »

The Knoxville Convention Center was full of swag when it played host Sept. 9 to personal injury lawyer Stephen A. Burroughs’ free party and concert dubbed Swagfest 2011.

The event was inspired by a huge internet sensation which began when Burroughs announced that he would throw a party for the people of Knoxville in the Sunsphere if he received over 10,000 “likes” to his Facebook page. Within days, he surpassed his goal and decided to reward his fans with an over-the-top party. Read more »

Chris Moore, executive chef, and Jason Bourgoyne, Director of Operations, supervise the packing of the final meals. The goal of 1 million meals was reached around 11 p.m. Saturday night.

Recently I have been powerfully reminded that we live in the Volunteer State. This weekend, we had a constant stream of volunteers come through the doors of the Convention Center to help package meals for the hungry both in our region and in the horn of Africa as part of Feed the Need 2011.

Our executive chef here at the Convention Center Chris Moore helped organize the packaging of a total of 1 million meals in two days with the help of thousands of community members. From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, shifts of 300 volunteers gathered every two hours in our exhibit hall to package meals for the needy.  The food was donated by the organization Kids Against Hunger.

“The idea came to me after having done a similar project with Kids Against Hunger. We packaged 60,000 meals in four hours,” Moore said. “The experience was incredibly rewarding, but I still felt called to do something bigger.”

Originally, Kids Against Hunger promised to donate food for 300,000 to 400,000 meals, but later allocated food for an incredible 1 million meals! A total of 900,000 of the packaged meals will be sent to Africa for distribution in the refugee camps. The remaining 100,000 meals were cooked for those in need right here in Knoxville. Read more »