First Friday downtown made tourists of us all!

A rainbow of balloons decorated the entrance to the 100 block of Gay Street last Friday.

On a cold night in January of 2005, festivities for the grand re-opening of the historic Tennessee Theatre were about to start. The “grand entertainment palace,” as it was nicknamed,  had just undergone a $25.5 million renovation and I found myself standing beside Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam in the back of the darkened theater just before the doors opened to let the public in.

“Well, Mayor,” I said. “What do you think?”

He paused for a minute and said quietly, “I just can’t believe we get to keep it!”

That’s kind of how I feel about downtown Knoxville in general these days. It’s so magical that I can’t believe we get to keep it.

First Friday this month, which was this past Friday, put that notion on display. Knoxville was like a tourist town that night — and the tourists were us! Some of the gaiety was planned, like the official block party to celebrate the re-opening of the 100 block of Gay Street, but much of it was spontaneous. My husband, Alan, and I left our new office in the historic Miller’s Building around 6 o’clock and we headed out to see what was going on. Here’s what we found.

After entering the 100 block of Gay Street under a rainbow of balloons, we followed the crowd to the stage set up in front of The Emporium, located at 100 Gay Street. A brass quintet from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra was on stage.

The KSO brass quintet opened the festivities on the 100 block of Gay Street.

Marc Simpson, left, and Calvin Smith are members of the KSO brass quintet.

Meanwhile, on the street in front of the stage, other activities were taking place. The folks from nearby Regas restaurant were selling slices of their trademark red velvet cake for $1 a piece.

Grady Regas mans the red velvet cake table. He gave me a taste. It was great!

Meanwhile, the folks from Slamdot were promoting a Halloween party they plan to host on the 100 block on Oct. 29. The party will be called “A Nightmare on Gay Street: A Monstrous Event for the Whole Family!” Love! Click here for more info on that.

Elizabeth Christman in character promoting the Slamdot Halloween party.

The Emporium was attracting a crowd to a special art exhibit featuring works from local artists who were inspired by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The KSO invited artists to sit in on a symphony rehearsal a while back to gather inspiration. The works in the juried show were the result.

Alan Carmichael views a piece by Julie Bernal, a graphic designer with Moxley Carmichael.

Our friend Lynnda Tenpenny took the first place award in the show for her piece titled, "Bridge." Congrats, Lynnda!

A string quarted from the Knoxville Symphony provided beautiful mood music for the art show.

KSO string quartet

Happy crowds flooded into The Emporium.

The crowd at around 6:30 p.m.

Larsen Jay and his son, Henry, were taking in the art.

Meanwhile outside, a group of Bavarian chanters had taken the stage. The quality of the singing was a most pleasant surprise.

Bavarian chanters were unexpectedly good!

The chanters sparked some spontaneous street dancing!

These dancers made me feel like I was in Europe rather than downtown Knoxville, Tennessee!

Then the mayor arrived. You know you are in the middle of a wearying state-wide political campaign when someone dressed like this approaches you and says, “Follow me,” and you do it!

Mayor Haslam hardly even noticed her unusual attire.

She really was the ringleader!

And there really was a circus, of sorts. A group billed as “Cirque de le Gay” performed later in the evening.

"Cirque de le Gay!"

Evening traffic on Gay Street last Friday. Unlike in days past, the traffic was coming INTO downtown -- not leaving it! Awesome.

We stuck our heads into the Knoxville Visitors’ Center and the Hackensaw Boys were performing on the WDVX stage before a standing-room-only crowd.

Hackensaw Boys Friday night

A stop at the S&W Grand for cocktails revealed a mixed crowd. A private party was happening upstairs and downstairs was packed, too.

The red hat ladies paused in the midst of a good time for a photo.

The S&W bar, one of our favorites, was doing a brisk business.

By this time, Alan was so hungry he was getting grumpy. So we headed towards Market Square by way of the Krutch Park extension. You could hear the drum circle before you could see them.

A drum circle formed in the Krutch Park extension.

And then we saw a woman with a flaming hula hoop!

She was hot!

Then, more flaming hula hoopers came along! (I hope some of my photographer friends coach me on how to take pictures at night of people with flaming hula hoops. I apologize for not knowing how yet. But I did think these looked kind of artsy, so I posted them anyway!)

More flaming hula hoops.

The tiny little shop, Coffee and Chocolate, was packed as we passed.

There was a line all the way outside at Coffee and Chocolate.

When we got to Market Square, all the patios were full.

Full patios on east side of Market Square

The patio at Oodles Uncorked

We had dinner inside at Cocoa Moon since we couldn’t snag a seat outside. What did we talk about? How much fun it is to be in downtown Knoxville!

Anybody else have any favorite downtown experiences?

Photo credits: Thanks to Mary Ruden for the photos of the balloon entrance and Cirque de le Gay and to Traci McDonell for the photo of the Bavarian chanters.