Where were you in '82?

World's Fair. Knoxville, Tenn. My hometown. Thirty years ago.

Going to the 1982 World's Fair isn't my first memory. But it's one of the highlights of childhood. My dad to this day says all I talked about that year was wanting to go to the "1982 World's Fair."

Remember the TV commercials? "You've GOT to be there!"

What I remember is walking past a gate, Dad holding me while we went into the Sunsphere (which I thought was HUGE at the time), eating Chinese food for the first time, and seeing my cousin, Sheila, who worked at the fair.

The large Rubik's Cube (the popular toy was introduced at the fair) now resides in the lobby of the Holiday Inn next to the Sunsphere. I saw it by happenstance last Saturday. My friend Dean Harned tells me the Ferris wheel that was here is now in New York.

The fair was former Knoxville banker Jake Butcher's triumph. And, with Shakespearean irony, his family's banking empire began to collapse the day after the fair closed that October. The reason? Bank examiners couldn't book hotel rooms.

The "scruffy little river city" showed it could do it and, yep, that fair actually made a profit. The USA has only hosted one other World's Fair since '82 (New Orleans in '84.)

Sadly, the city of Knoxville neglected the World's Fair site for many years. The U.S. Pavilion was imploded in 1991. The Sunsphere itself was closed to visitors until then Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam reopened the observation deck to the public in 2007. (Oh, I forgot to tell you: I did eat in the revolving restaurant up there in 1983-84.) For years and years, the fair site's amphitheater was used as a storage area.

The 1996 episode of "The Simpsons" that spoofed the site was dead-on in some ways, even though the Sunsphere never did house wigs. Heh, heh.

The good news is all that has changed. The Sunsphere, as I mentioned, is open. The amphitheater is no longer storing boxes. The World's Fair Park has a splash pad and is usually filled with folks on sunny, warm days.

Ahh, what memories, 30 years ago. Can't believe it and part of me still can't believe Knoxville did it.

But did it Knoxville did!

Knoxville: Summer 2009

I looked out over our fair city and thought about James Agee.

We were up in the Sunsphere, from the vantage point of the observation deck, and I remembered his lyrical "Knoxville: Summer 1915." I wondered what it looked like nearly 100 years ago. And, I tried to make my peace with this place, to which I have this love-hate relationship.

It looks so beautiful at night, the dimming light mixing with the glow from the houses and places of business. We pointed out the L&N, a ghost from a bygone era; Neyland Stadium, where I've wasted a lot of needless energy rooting for that blasted team; the old UAB building with its glass windows and, finally, to the river that flows through Knoxville town. Shades of the Louvin Brothers.

It was pretty and it was romantic and it was a perfect way to spend a perfect Friday night.

So it is in the Old City, in that eccentric old warehouse that is often my end of the weekend haunt. I will be there tonight. Robin is off, but her ex is filling in, and he's pretty darn good, too.

The place is marred by some signs of decay, by the panhandlers roaming the streets, by the occasional belligerent drunk. But, I like it on lazy Sunday nights. Plus, I'd walk a country mile to hear Robinella.

But, on this night, I drank a particularly good Porter, and enjoyed particularly good conversation with an old friend I hadn't seen in a mess of Friday nights.

And from the fourth floor of what used to be irreverently called Jake Butcher's Erection, I gazed upon our fair hamlet and was glad to notice that summer nights in Knoxville can still be poetic and lyrical, even if James Agee is no longer around to write it.

Here comes the sun

What a view!

Next time you find yourself in downtown Knoxville, take a few minutes and ride the elevator up to the observation deck of the Sunsphere. It's something.

First time I went up there, I was about 4 years old. All I remember is watching a video about the making of the Sunsphere, and how the sun's energy can be used to make power. (The 1982 World's Fair, after all, was an energy exposition.) I held my dad's hand while we rode the elevator.

The last time I was up there, I guess I was about 6 or 7 or so. It was when they put a restaurant up there. A guy Mom was dating at the time took us. Pretty cool.

Give Bill Haslam credit. He took what had previous been known as the Wigsphere (thanks, "Simpsons") and turned it into a fun attraction. In addition to the 360 degree view, the observation deck also boasts kiosks celebrating various aspects of Knoxville history, as well as a continuous video of highlights from the fair.

Nick Frantz, my West Side counterpart, and I stopped by the Sunsphere during lunch after a meeting today downtown. I felt like a kid again.

Up on the screen was Jake Butcher, 25 years younger, celebrating the fair's success on its closing day. I stood there thinking that the next morning (Nov. 1, 1982), Butcher's banking empire collapsed.

What's funny is nobody, and I mean NOBODY, thought the so-called "scruffy little river city" could pull it off. Heck, folks on our own city council were betting against the fair.

But, somehow, it all worked. Knoxville had one hell of a party for six months. We got to keep the Sunsphere, the Holiday Inn, the amphitheater and, for a time, the U.S. Pavilion, not to mention a lifetime worth of memories. The '82 Expo remains the last world's fair (I think) to show a profit.

Haslam gets big time props for making the Sunsphere reopening happen. The big sphere stood vacant for more than a decade. Typical of the Victor Ashe malaise of the period, you couldn't even go up in the city's most visable landmark.

All that's changed. The best part is Mayor Billy used money from the sale of the Candy Factory to pay for the Sunsphere renovation. NO TAX DOLLARS were used at all. Now that's leadership!

Here's hoping the Sunsphere reopening is the beginning of better days for Knoxville. It never should have taken this long.

But let's not complain too loud. Cas just might bust out of his grave and yell those immortal words,

"I'm a'gin it!"