Happy Hollowpalooza

Former residents of Knoxville who left the area five or so years ago might be surprised to see how much the area has changed. As WBIR so insightfully noted with breaking news this week, Market Square is thriving, we have a Downtown North and a Downtown South and plans are popping up all over the city for smarter development and a halt to the sprawl we’ve all complained about for years.

Over on Central Avenue, in the Happy Hollow neighborhood, the North Knoxville Business Association is working to take advantage of city plans that will rezone the area and encourage mixed use buildings and easier pedestrian access to the eclectic and locally owned shops, restaurants and bars that have been open for years, like Toot’s Little Honky Tonky, Friendly’s Antique Store and Time Warp Tea Room, along with new neighbors like Magpies and the Glowing Body Yoga Studio and Apparel.

The neighborhood will celebrate its successes and hopefully bright future with Happy Hollowpalooza Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., a street and business fair with an annual flea market, arts and crafts, food vendors, live music, a free kids’ zone and an introduction for those who don’t typically frequent the area to the businesses that cater to the neighborhood.

Ellen Lee is a member of the NKBA and says the group supports the schools in North Knoxville with donations and is a network for the growing business community.

“It started four or five years ago as an organization to promote the businesses in the 37917 area,” she says. “It started with a couple of businessmen meeting for breakfast and talking about things that needed to happen in the area, with gas prices and everything, you don’t have to travel all over the place to get things done, you can do it right here. The gist is to get people to support the smaller businesses.”

Central Avenue near the intersection of Anderson will be closed from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the street fair while Time Warp Tea Room shows the UT- Georgia football game on a big-screen TV for the diehards.

“There’s so much new lifeblood brought into the area now that the more that invest in businesses, the more will come,” Lee says. “A lot of people are excited about it and we’ve got a lot of good artists in the neighborhood and a lot of talented people who will be coming. I think we’ve pretty well got it lined up.”