An open town hall to discuss the Emerald Youth Foundation RFP for the former midway property at Chilhowee Park has been set for 6-8 p.m. Monday, August 25, 2025, at Los Portales Event Center, 4505 Asheville Highway. The meeting will be hosted by Gwen McKenzie, Knoxville City Council member from District 6, East Knoxville.
McKenzie announced the town hall at this week’s city council meeting as she moved to postpone a vote on the resolution she is sponsoring to have the city sell some 13 acres on the south side of Magnolia Avenue (the old midway site of the Tennessee Valley Fair) to Emerald Youth Foundation for the appraised value, some $900,000. Emerald proposes to invest $20 to $30 million to develop a complex similar to the Haslam-Sansom facility in Lonsdale.
The land is currently unused and surrounded by a high fence. Our earlier story is here…