Letter from the Mayor Our Hometown in the Smokies! - Mayor Bryan Atchley
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Letter from the Mayor Our hometown in the Smokies! - Mayor Bryan Atchley What a truly exciting time to live and work in Sevierville! Over the past several years, our City has continued to grow in leaps and bounds. Being a life-long native of Sevierville, I have watched this city evolve from a quiet mountain town into a tourist destination and bustling county seat. Still, Sevierville has remained home to some of the warmest, friendliest people in Tennessee and the Southeast. My enthusiasm for Sevierville is most sincere and is a natural way of life for those of us fortunate enough to call this place home. Mayor Bryan Atchley The growth of Sevierville shows positive indicators for a city of its size. This progressive way of thinking and the desire for growth, not only from the city officials but also from the citizens I have been elected to represent, is what gives Sevierville its strength. The city is blessed with solid and forward-thinking leaders who are dedicated to improving our standard of living and maintaining our strong heritage. Operating as the county seat for Sevier County, Sevierville has developed as a diverse business community and serves as the area’s hub for banking and legal services. This diversity has provided Sevierville with a strong and stable economy built around industry, retail and professional services. The downtown area, home to many professional businesses, will be undergoing a facelift and will benefit from the planned development of a large parking facility and trolley system hub in the near future. Tourism in the area promises the most explosive growth. In Tennessee, tourism represents an $8 billion industry. For this reason, the city of Sevierville has made a commitment to attract major commercial developers with visions for expansive projects. To this end, Sevierville has been developing a $200 million Central Business Improvement District project that includes the recently opened state of the art Sevierville Events Center, which features a 108,000 square foot exhibit hall and a privately funded 260+ room hotel with an outdoor water park. Highly acclaimed Eagles Landing Golf Club is adding another 18-hole course and revamping the current course as well. The project is also funding significant infrastructure improvements, such as new and expanded roadways. On the retail front, Sevierville continues to attract large scale interest. Planned to open in the next several years is a 1.2 million square foot diverse retail development near Interstate 40 and a 700,000 square foot upscale development adjacent to the new Events Center. Growth of this magnitude will continue to take Sevierville into the future … where residents will enjoy higher standards of living, a better infrastructure and a strong economy. For example, Sevierville will soon be home to a truly regional health care center with the planned opening in 2009 of the new Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center campus. And just down the street from the Municipal Complex, the new Sevier County Library main branch will be built and include a children’s center, computing lab, teen cyber café and Sevier County history and genealogy centers. Sevierville holds a very special place in my heart. After living here all of my life and having raised and educated a wonderful family in Sevierville, the memories I have made here and shared with my family and friends are irreplaceable. My family and I feel very fortunate to call Sevierville our home. The idea of calling Sevierville home is appealing for many different reasons. But, the number one reason Sevierville is such an appealing place to live is its citizens. When you’re looking for warm Southern hospitality, there’s no better place to start than right here in the hills of East Tennessee. Whether it’s helping a tourist with directions, greeting a neighbor in the grocery store or welcoming new members to church, Sevierville residents cannot be surpassed in genuine warmth and friendliness. SEVIERVILLE, TN 1 Letter from the Chief Executive Officer Sevierville Chamber of Commerce Sevierville, Tennessee is many things to many people. To some, Sevierville is a shopping and vacation hub. To others, it is a developing destination that is ideal for their business operation. While it is the role of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce to promote Sevierville to visitors and businesses, we are always mindful that first and foremost, Sevierville is our hometown and we want to welcome you. The Sevierville Chamber of Commerce is a diverse group of individuals and businesses led by a board of directors that set our policies and oversee the actions of the Chamber. These individuals and businesses guide the chamber in its promotion of tourism and business development programs. For many years, tourism has been a large part of what makes the entire Great Smoky Mountains area such a special place to live. Whether it’s providing money to our schools, additions to our city parks or improvements to our roads, tourism keeps all aspects of Sevierville’s economy growing and gives our residents the quality of life they deserve Brenda McCroskey with the added advantage of living in a vacation destination. Chief Executive Officer Sevierville is in an ideal location. Because we are at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, America’s most visited national park, and right beside nationally-known towns Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, we are blessed to have some of the top vacation activities nationwide, including Dollywood, either within a few minutes from downtown Sevierville or right within our corporate city limits. The combination of these things has helped our town draw many visitors over the years, and we project that the future will be even brighter. Sevierville is currently undergoing an exciting period of growth that will bring many new attractions, outdoor adventures, shopping opportunities, entertainment venues, restaurants, and lodging properties to our city. These new beacons for tourism will complement Sevierville’s existing activities and attractions and help draw new visitors to the area. To help bring new visitors here, the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce promotes our city with Internet, television, radio and print advertising as well as our official tourism website www.VisitSevierville.com. The resulting vacation inquiries are fulfilled with publications such as the Sevierville Vacation Planner, Sevierville Group Tour Planner, Smoky Mountains Wedding Planner and Sevierville Coupon Book. In addition to promoting all Sevierville has to see and do, the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce also organizes and promotes several events throughout the year including Springfest, Bloomin’ BBQ & Bluegrass, Harvest Fest, Sevierville’s Winterfest Kick-off Music, Lights & Magic and the Sevierville Christmas Parade. Because of the business and economic growth in Sevierville, it seems like everyone is working longer and harder these days to keep their businesses running smoothly. Many longtime residents remember the days of an “off season”, when motels and attractions would close from November through Memorial Day, but those days are long gone. Each year the Smoky Mountains area becomes more and more of a year-round destination and our businesses and residents are happy to see the continued positive growth. Just like our businesses, the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce must work day in and day out to meet business needs and help our economy grow. Businesses that join the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce find an excellent value in membership, which offers advertising, marketing, educational and networking opportunities. The Sevierville Chamber, sometimes lovingly called “ridiculously active” by our membership, hosts monthly Coffee Talk and Business After or During Hours networking events as well as an annual educational series, the Chamber Membership Breakfast and the Annual Chamber Banquet. While the Chamber of Commerce provides excellent benefits to business members, there are also many ways for business members to help us. Since the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce is one of the largest governing bodies in our community, Chamber members have the opportunity to actively participate in the growth and prosperity of our area by serving on one of our committees, including Beautification, Education, Marketing and Membership. We hope that you enjoy life in Sevierville. As you settle in, it is important to remember that the people who live and work here are responsible for making Sevierville a wonderful place to reside and a destination millions of people want to visit. It is those same people who make up the caring board, membership and staff of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. This action-oriented organization has been designed by our community to meet its needs. Simply put, the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce is people working together to make their community the best place to live and work. For more information on Sevierville and the surrounding area or to become a member of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce, contact us at 1-888- SMOKY 4-U or, locally 865-453-6411 or visit us online at www.SCOC.org. Thank you, Brenda McCroskey Chief Executive Officer Sevierville Chamber of Commerce 2 WWW.VISITSEVIERVILLE.COM 888-738-4378 Contents 4 WELCOME TO SEVIERVILLE 5 INNOVATIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT 6 AREA STATISTICS 7 UTILITIES & SERVICES 11 GOVERNMENT 13 POLICE 15 FIRE 17 17 POST OFFICE & TROLLEY 18 CHURCHES 19 LIBRARY 21 CIVIC CENTER 22 PARKS & RECREATION 26 GENERAL TELEPHONE 32 NUMBERS 27 ROAD RULES 28 EDUCATION 31 TENNESSEE SMOKIES BASEBALL 32 HOSPITAL 33 BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 35 EAGLE’S LANDING GOLF CLUB 38 37 GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK 38 FESTIVALS & EVENTS 39 SEVIERVILLE HISTORY 41 RETIRING TO SEVIERVILLE Front cover photo courtesy of 42 DOLLY PARTON “Reasons to Remember” the RobertCover A. image Tino courtesy Gallery of the 42 Robert A. Tino Gallery SEVIERVILLE, TN 3 Sevierville, Sevier County and the Great Smoky Mountains are an extremely popular vacation destination visited by close to 13,000,000 guests each year.