Blog: City Blog

UT Homecoming Parade to Deliver Bounty of Prizes in Addition to Vol Pride

What: University of Tennessee Homecoming Parade
Where: Along Cumberland Avenue, Volunteer Boulevard, and Circle Park
When: Friday, Nov. 2, beginning at 4 p.m.
Who: All members of the Knoxville community invited to celebrate

“Pop-up” prizes. A look at the completed $25 million Cumberland Avenue Corridor project. Dozens of parade floats. A chance to cheer on the Vols.

It really will be as “Sweet as Soda Pop,” the official theme for Homecoming 2018!

UT’s Homecoming Parade will deliver on all of this and more. The parade is open for all Knoxville community members to come and celebrate with the Vols.

Beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, Grand Marshal Inky Johnson will lead the parade along the route from Circle Park, heading north on Volunteer Boulevard, and then west on Cumberland Avenue.

UT Homecoming Parade Route

This is the second year the parade has toured the recently developed corridor, and the Cumberland Avenue Merchants Association (CAMA) is excited to welcome back the community.

“With this event, we’re really looking to get merchants, students, faculty—the whole community—involved so they can enjoy and be a part of Cumberland Avenue’s exciting redevelopment,” said Anne Wallace, Deputy Director with the City’s Redevelopment Office and project manager for the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project.

In fact, Homecoming Week is giving a good look at the personal sweat equity that CAMA is truly investing in the corridor and in its neighbors, including students, alumni and future students.

CAMA organizers had planned to hold another cleanup/Day of Service in partnership with Keep Knoxville Beautiful and University of Tennessee students the day before the parade, but made the tough decision to cancel because of storms predicted for Thursday.

CAMA reps prep pop-up prizes

CAMA members Joe Burger, Ivanna Andujar (both of McDonald’s) and Helen Morton (University Liquors) sorting prizes for the "Pop-Up Prize Zone," which will be on Cumberland Avenue only.

The parade is on rain or shine, (unless there is lighting) so come on out! It’s the merchants who have donated all of the “pop-up” prizes. There are over $1,500 in prizes ranging from free sandwiches and drinks, to t-shirts and hats, to swag and even some gift cards valued at $100 each! The merchants will be walking through the parade crowds on Friday and randomly giving out the prizes. For your chance to win, simply line up to watch the parade on Cumberland Avenue between Volunteer and 18th Street!

A Cleaner Scene

Despite the cancellation of the Day of Service Cleanup, the route will still be in great shape in time for the parade, thanks to help from the City’s Public Service Department and especially because of new ongoing cleanup efforts happening through a campaign called CAMA Cares.

CAMA Cares Cleanup in May 2018

Volunteers at the CAMA Cares kickoff cleanup in May 2018.

“A good thing is that we’ve really grown in merchant membership, and we’re working on ways to make this Cumberland Avenue neighborhood even better,” said Joe Burger, owner of the Cumberland Avenue McDonald’s and CAMA President. “We’ve been working together to identify problems, working together to resolve them, and getting great results. It’s truly becoming a more organized and unified community.”

In May 2018, CAMA representatives announced the initiative as a pledge for merchants to have staff clean up litter around their properties for 10-15 minutes each day.

Even small efforts can make a lasting difference. Within just two hours at a kickoff cleanup event for the CAMA Cares announcement in May, 40 volunteers removed several bags of litter weighing a total of more than 300 pounds.

Additionally, there are now more convenient locations to properly dispose trash along the route. New City-provided trash and recycling containers along Cumberland Avenue are receiving approximately 3,000 pounds of trash and 1,100 pounds of recyclables weekly.

What’s New

If you haven’t visited Cumberland Avenue lately, there will be exciting new progress to check out. In fact, the streetscape project has resulted in $190 million in private investment.

A private development project that was completed since last year’s Homecoming is the TENN mixed-use development at 1830 Cumberland Avenue. The project includes approximately 600 bedrooms and 350 parking spaces along with first floor retail tenants. That’s including the new home of First Tennessee Bank, the official bank of the Tennessee Volunteers and a CAMA Member!

Since last year’s parade, 93 large caliper street trees have been planted between 16th and 22nd streets along with hundreds of plants and bushes to beautify this great street.

This is the perfect chance to enjoy free giveaways, celebrate our favorite SEC team, and scope out all that the redeveloped Cumberland Avenue has to offer. Come connect at Cumberland Avenue.

Click HERE to view info on UT’s Homecoming Parade and other traditions.

Click HERE for more information on the Cumberland Avenue Merchants and Parade Map with Parking.

UT Homecoming Parade

Posted by On 31 October, 2018 at 3:07 PM