06/23/2026
Chilhowee Park midway gates are opening, but there's still work to do
by Allie Feinberg, Knoxville News Sentinel, June 22, 2026
The gates closing off the Chilhowee Park midway will open for good July 1 when a full-circle celebration will take place, complete with activities and food trucks.
Neighbors have been asking Mayor Indya Kincannon to open up the park space south of Magnolia Avenue for a long time, and the effort ramped up when the city pushed a plan to sell the 13 acres to a nonprofit last summer. The Knoxville City Council killed the deal after weeks of public outcry.
The fenced midway section of the park, which has a mix of green space, trees and asphalt, will be open from dawn to dusk, just like other city parks.
What about after the celebration July 1? Once the celebration is over, the midway will be a regular park but without amenities until city officials and members of the Chilhowee Park Advisory Group build a plan for the future.
Group members want to see more: City officials are using a detailed process to figure out what to do with the underutilized Chilhowee Park. That requires studying the history of the park, setting guiding principles, observing existing conditions, creating a new vision and building a plan before any tangible progress can be made.
Community members say they feel like city staffers aren't meeting them where they're at, Chilhowee Park Advisory Group member Sherene Jacobs told Knox News. Jacobs owns Perk City, a coffee shop across Magnolia Avenue from the Midway.
"People just want to see something," Jacobs told Knox News. "I understand the concept, but you have to talk about both sides. Give us a bench."
Jacobs said she expected the group to quickly talk about enhancing the midway section of the park because neighbors were so animated about it. The process is more gradual and deliberate than they expected.
"We can't see how this is coming into play," Jacobs said. "If we're not talking about it, we're gonna get snubbed."
But stick with it: Bill Lyons, who served as senior director of policy and chief of staff under former Mayors Bill Haslam, Daniel Brown and Madeline Rogero, said patience is key.
"Stopping something generates a lot of energy," he said. "It's a lot easier to do than creating something. Now that we're in the stage of 'What's next,' you have this first step. But there's challenges there. That can be a long process that involves commitment, work from folks and compromise. Hopefully everybody will stay engaged."
In order for neighbors to trust the process, city officials have to work to earn it: "It's challenging for leaders to go to folks," Lyons said. "You want a large amount of input, but public input doesn't mean everyone gets what they want all the time.
"That's just something that good communication and feedback and interaction can bring about. Instead of saying, 'That's not doable.' Have a dialogue. Explain the constraints. The more the feedback can be proximate to the input makes things better. Having people speak into a black box and getting a response months later is not going to do as much as having a more interactive approach and more immediate feedback."
Chilhowee Park is a blank canvas: At some point, the Chilhowee Park Advisory Group will decide how to spend the $2 million a year Kincannon promised for the park. Kincannon will be in office until 2027, and her successor's first budget will be in 2028. There's a lot to do before spending decisions can be made.
"Once people get in there, maybe conversation (about the midway) will happen," Jacobs said.
Chilhowee leaders will discuss the park: Before the gates open, the Chilhowee Park Advisory Group will meet from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 30 in the Jacob Building, 3301 E Magnolia Ave.
When's the opening celebration? The Celebrate Chilhowee event is from 5-8 p.m. July 1 at the midway section of the park. Cars won't be allowed inside, so attendees should park in the main section of Chilhowee Park and walk through the tunnel under Magnolia Avenue.
Commission may finalize changes to Knox County Sheriff's Office board rules
Knox County commissioners will take a final vote on a proposal from Kim Frazier, who represents the whole county, to update the rules of the Knox County Sheriff's Office Merit System Board of Directors.
What's the Merit System Board of Directors? The KCSO merit board hears employee grievances and appeals related to discipline. It exists to give employees due process and protect from political influence.
Changing when someone can serve: Currently, nobody can serve on the board if they were employed by KCSO within 10 years. Frazier wants to change the minimum to five years.
Changing who can serve:
Currently, there's no rule saying people can serve on the board if they've worked for KCSO under the current sheriff. Frazier wants to add a requirement that says nobody can serve who has been employed by the current sheriff.
Currently, no one who has family in the Knoxville Police Department can serve on the board. Frazier wants to eliminate that rule.
Frazier also wants to expand the definition of "family" from siblings, in-laws or children to siblings, children, grandchild or step, foster, anyone in the same household or in-laws.
Commissioners already supported Frazier's changes in the first vote, and now they need to approve them a second time.
When's the meeting? The commission will meet at 5 p.m. June 22 in the main assembly room of the City-County Building, 400 Main St.
Study up: Check out the agenda at commission.knoxcountytn.gov. Click "agenda" and select the "COMMISSION" option.
Closing the loop
Here's an update on something I wrote about last week:
The Knoxville Audit Committee passed a policy to guide how Internal Auditor Savannah Kirk will handle complaints to the city's waste, fraud and abuse hotline. Kincannon recently added Kirk to the list of people who will receive complaints. She joins Kincannon's chief of staff, David Brace, and Knoxville Chief Financial Officer Boyce Evans.
Kirk will:
Alert the chair of the audit committee and city vice-mayor (a council member) without communicating the contents of the report. The only time the auditor should share what's in a report is if it's about a high-ranking staffer who reports to the mayor or the mayor themselves
Not investigate reports of waste, fraud and abuse
Use the tip to reconcile tips from the city's chief financial officer, who is appointed by the mayor, and from the 311 hotline where tips come in, which is managed by a mayoral appointee.
Last week, I reported Kirk isn't allowed to investigate audit tips after she receives them. That's true, according to the policy, but audit committee Chair Nikki Elliott said at a meeting the policy was designed to prevent Kirk from having to dive into excessive reports without merit.
"We wanted to make sure we put in really high guardrails right now," Elliot said.
The audit committee can't go into executive session: Currently, the audit committee can't go into a private meeting to protect the identity of those accused of waste, fraud and abuse. If Kirk were to investigate someone, it would have to be public knowledge, Elliott said. That goes against common waste, fraud and abuse investigation practices.
"Once we are able to do that, if there are instances of waste, fraud and abuse that we want to dig into, then we can say, 'Hey we want you to get more answers for us,'" Elliott said.
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Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/22/chilhowee-park-midway-gates-are-opening-with-a-celebration/90556413007/
Knoxville is planning to celebrate Chilhowee Park on July 1. The real work on transforming the park is in the early stages.
