Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam on Thursday kicked off Christmas in the City, the two-month-long holiday celebration in Knoxville that begins in November. Advertisement This year’s celebration features a lineup of more than 60 different holiday events or attractions ranging from dazzling displays of Christmas lights to outdoor ice-skating to the WIVK Christmas Parade, dramatic performances, concerts and church services.
Community organizations, artistic groups, businesses, churches and the city sponsor the different individual events included in Christmas in the City. The City of Knoxville’s Office of Special Events coordinates the celebration. Christmas in the City begins Nov. 1, and continues until Dec. 31, though most of the events are set after the Regal Celebration of Lights on Market Square on Nov. 23.
That event will feature the lighting of the near 40-foot-tall First Tennessee Foundation Christmas Tree as thousands of lights decorate Krutch Park and Market Square. “The Christmas Season is a special time particularly in downtown Knoxville, which is everyone’s neighborhood,” Mayor Bill Haslam said. “Christmas in the City has something for everybody, no matter how old or young, and we’re pleased that it has become a bigger and better celebration each year.
There are new events featured along with old Knoxville favorites like the Christmas Parade and the Fantasy of Trees. There are also solemn celebrations like Christmas Eve services being held by First Baptist Church of Knoxville and Church Street United Methodist Church. Christmas in the City’s beginning dates back to some activities in the lobby of a downtown Knoxville bank in 1978 and it has grown from there.