Just in time for the 30th anniversary...

...I bought a complete set of the infamous 1982 World's Fair Beer.

Well, why not? You only live once, right?

The beer isn't exactly considered a classic -- that is being kind -- and you can't drink them now.

But, it is a little slice of Knoxville history and memorabilia from our city's magic moment. In a way, it still seems like a fairy tale, or a chapter from someone else's life.

Tangible trinkets prove otherwise. My World's Fair drinking glasses from Wendy's, for instance. Or my "I Was There On Closing Day!" campaign-sized button. And, now, the beer.

Think also of how the Knoxville skyline would be different without the Butcher brothers and the fair. No Sunsphere. No Holiday Inn. No amphitheater. No glass-paneled bank building. Or that other skyscraper beside it, the former Southern Industrial building. Dare I say it: we might still be a scruffy little river city....

Has it really been 30 years?