What's New in Tennessee

There's always something exciting going on in Tennessee. Take a look at a few of the newest events, attractions, and facilities across the state.

Browse What's New In Tennessee

Briarwood Ranch Safari Park

BYBEE

Briarwood Ranch Safari Park has opened in Cocke County. View hundreds of animals and more than 35 exotic species during the four-mile safari. The tour winds through beautiful hills and pastureland in beautiful Bybee, Tenn. You can feed the animals right from your car. The park is open 365 days a year with group and senior rates available. Call 865.919.5072 for more details.

Bledsoe's Fort Colonial Fair

CASTALIAN SPRINGS

The first annual Bledsoe's Fort Colonial Fair will be held May 3 - 4, 2008 at Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park. The time period of this event is 1750 - 1790 and features colonial merchants, food and drinks, music, entertainment, period camps, a shooting match with period flintlocks and much more.

Doubletree Inn & Suites

CHATTANOOGA

The transformation of the Chattanooga Clarion Hotel to a Doubletree Inn & Suites is expected to reach completion by June 2008. The hotel will be under new management and ownership upon completion. The new hotel will feature 157 first-class rooms, more than 7,000 square feet of meeting space, a full-service restaurant and bar, a dramatically transformed entrance that is more accessible to the downtown attractions and restaurants, and an outside landscaped terrace with a fire pit that is the perfect venue for corporate and social gatherings.

The city of Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA

The city of Chattanooga is planning a $2.8 million upgrade to facilities at Warner Park (scheduled for completion in 2008) and a new $10 million softball complex off Apison Pike (scheduled for completion in 2009). The new complex will be located less than one mile from Interstate 75. According to figures released by the Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee, softball has been one of the major economic impact generators for the community since the Sports Committee’s inception in 1992 (over $50 million in estimated economic impact).

Collierville Train Museum

COLLIERVILLE

The Collierville Train Museum features a 2-8-2 Frisco Steam Locomotive, a Southern Caboose and a former Business Car from the Seaboard Railroad. Working with the Smithsonian, the Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Southern Railway Historical Society, the museum brings back to life The Tennessean. Visitors board The Tennessean living museum and step back in time to the 1940’s, where they experience fine dining aboard this restored passenger train.

Stay Down on the Farm

COTTONTOWN

Stay Down on the Farm features a three-bedroom red farmhouse furnished with antiques and located on a 100-acre farm with miles of walking trails and a catfish pond. It is located just off I-65 North and close to Gallatin, Tenn.

The Fleming Center

FRANKLIN

The Fleming Center, a brand new visitor’s center, is being built of the grounds of the Carnton Plantation and set to be completed by late Fall of 2008.

Bull Creek Resort

GALLATIN

GALLATIN Bull Creek Resort is now open. Located on the beautiful Old Hickory Lake, the resort features cabins with spacious decks and lake views, a boat dock, cable TV and more. It is conveniently located to shopping, dining and historic sites.

Smoky Mountain Tunes & Tales

GATLINBURG

Smoky Mountain Tunes & Tales, the summer-long Gatlinburg outdoor entertainment production, is expanding in 2008 to take in more of the city as a theatrical stage. More acts, more music, more fun!

Gatlinburg Winter Magic

GATLINBURG

The Gatlinburg Winter Magic lighting program will reach the $1.5 million benchmark in November 2008 with an anticipated investment match by the private sector. All-new LED lighting displays include sections devoted to animals, romance and international goodwill.

Bemis Mill Village Museum

JACKSON

Opening 2008, the Bemis Mill Village Museum, located in the historic and rehabilitated Bemis Theater/Auditorium, contains exhibits and memorabilia portraying the story of Bemis, a mill town forged out of the cotton fields in 1900 by Judson Moss Bemis.

Gray Fossil Site

KINGSPORT

ETSU and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site opened on Aug. 31, 2007. A visit to the Gray Fossil Site includes the sights, sounds and activities of the Miocene Age, and a guided tour with the opportunity to learn about the era and actually dig for fossils. The museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Regatta National Championship

KNOXVILLE

The Regatta National Championship is coming to Knoxville in May 2008

AYSO Soccer

KNOXVILLE

AYSO Soccer competition is bringing its national tournament back to Knoxville in summer 2008. The Holiday Inn Cedar Bluff in West Knoxville is the host hotel and is holding registration for the event.

Emporium Annex

KNOXVILLE

Emporium Annex in downtown Knoxville reopened in August of 2007. Built one floor below the true first level of Gay Street, the Annex's grand opening took place three years after the Emporium Center's opening in downtown Knoxville and provides an additional 5,000 square feet of classroom, meeting, and rehearsal space. Throughout the coming year, further additions to the Annex will include a security system, security cameras, mirrors and ballet barres in the dance studio, and a board table in the community room.

National Civil Rights Museum

MEMPHIS

The 40th commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination will be remembered at the National Civil Rights Museum and throughout the city of Memphis with a year-long slate of activities. Events and special museum exhibits will celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy and his profound effect on the world.

Frist Center for the Visual Arts

NASHVILLE

Frist Center for the Visual Arts features the work of Aaron Douglas and includes approximately 100 paintings, works on paper, and book illustrations from this leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, January 18-April 13, 2008. From February 15-June 1, 2008, the museum will feature 84 works from late 19th and early 20th century artists such as Cezanne, Dali, Degas, Gauguin, and Renoir.

Staybridge Hotel & Suites

OAK RIDGE

The newest, pet-friendly Oak Ridge hotel, Staybridge Hotel & Suites, features all of the creature comforts you can imagine. It boasts 90 suites, with a kitchen in each, a six-seat movie theater, an indoor swimming pool, outdoor putting green, a courtyard with barbecue grills, a free deluxe breakfast buffet and evening Sundowner receptions Tuesday through Thursday.

Triton Boat Owners’ Bass Fishing Tournament

BUCHANAN

Buchanan Resort and Paris Landing State Park will host the Triton Boat Owners' Bass Fishing Tournament May 28-31. A first for Paris Landing, the tournament is sponsored by Triton Boat Company from Ashland City and expected to draw close to 1,000 people.

Bassmaster Open Series

BUCHANAN

For the first time, the B.A.S.S. Bassmaster Open Series will be held in Paris Landing State Park on September 25-27th.

Crappie Masters Regional Tournament

BUCHANAN

May 17 there will be a Crappie Masters Regional Tournament which will be held at Kentucky Lake in Henry County.