Join us as KHP partners with the East Tennessee Historical Society for its inaugural History Hootenanny. The event features the best of the East Tennessee History Center, including live music and fun activities in the Museum of East Tennessee History, genealogy workshops, a used local history book sale, book signings by local history authors, shuttles to the Historic House Museums of Knoxville, walking tours, and much more! Free admission.
KHP historians, including partner Laura Still, will participate in the following programs:
- 10:30 a.m. Local History Authors Showcase – Presented by Arcadia Publishing, including signing sessions and an “Author panel–Putting Local History to Paper” moderated by ETHS CEO Dr. Warren Dockter. There to sign will be Paul James who authored Ijams Nature Center (2010) and Paul and Jack who authored Downtown Knoxville (2022).
- 11:00 a.m. Walking tour: The 1982 World’s Fair with Jack Neely – Take a stroll down Clinch Avenue to World’s Fair Park with Jack Neely, now executive director of the Knoxville History Project but once an employee of the Knoxville International Energy Exposition. Neely will give a tour of World’s Fair Park, locating his memories from 1982 on the present site.
- 1:30 pm Walking tour: The Old City: From Bowery to Baseball with Laura Still – Join local historian Laura Still for a leisurely walk to the Old City, where she will discuss not only its reputation as a saloon district but also how it developed as a neighborhood comprised of different races, faiths, and nationalities. Still will also chronicle the Old City’s revitalization as an entertainment district.
See the full schedule at https://www.easttnhistory.org/historyhootenanny

Jack Neely leads a walking tour for ETHS in 2015. (insideofknoxville.com)