Dogwood Arts Festival
The Dogwood Arts Festival is an annual event in
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and celebrate regional art, culture, and natural beauty.[1] The event is held in April and celebrates the blooming of the dogwood trees.[2] It includes a parade, a house and garden show, and demonstrations of various Appalachian arts and crafts such as quilting, bluegrass music, and doll-making. Many events are held in Market Square in downtown Knoxville. Additionally, driving trails are marked in Knoxville and the surrounding area for people to view the dogwoods in bloom.[3]
History
The initial impetus for the dogwood festival came from a description of Knoxville by
Lake Forest neighborhood. In 1959, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Carson Brewer proposed a dogwood festival, pointing to the successful ramp festival in Cosby, Tennessee, as a model for the potential success of a festival in Knoxville. The city's chamber of commerce and Junior League embraced the idea and contributed $20,000 each to make it a reality, leading to the first annual festival in 1961.[5]
In 1995, journalist
lilacs, narcissus, and flowering fruit trees. He said that the festival attracted a quarter-million visitors each year.[8]
In 2020, the event went virtual for the first time in its 66-year history, as the COVID-19 pandemic concerns caused cancellation of most art events.
References
- ^ "About the Dogwood Arts Festival". Dogwood Arts. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ^ "Dogwood Arts Festival". Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
- ^ "Events and Exhibits". Dogwood Arts. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ^ a b c Jack Neely (May 20, 2004). "Myopia: A challenge to our favorite misattribution, and the political context of scruffiness". Metro Pulse.
- ^ a b c Amy McRary (March 28, 2010). "It took an insult to put in motion what became the Dogwood Arts Festival". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ^ John Gunther (1947). Inside U.S.A. Harper & Bros. p. 910.
- ^ Jack Neely (March 28, 2012). "Knoxville's Ever-Changing Public Image; Surveying a few hundred years of media descriptions reveals a city of stark contradictions". Metro Pulse. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012.
- ^ Paul Harvey (April 1995). "A Commentary on the Dogwood Arts Festival". Dogwood Arts. Retrieved April 18, 2013.