Blog: City Blog

1st of 'Knoxville Slides' opened at the Coliseum strikes a chord with kids, media

Last week, Mayor Madeline Rogero and City officials opened the first in the "Knoxville Slides" initiative at the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum in conjunction with KaBOOM! (a non-profit dedicated to increasing play opportunities for children everywhere), Knoxville Area Transit, SMG and other partners.

Knoxville Slides is a new initiative that capitalizes on East Tennessee's hilly terrain by building embankment slides next to existing stairs and ramps within the City.

It's safe to say that the slide was a hit--as were its accompanying "crawl hoop" ladder and permanent outdoor xylophone!

Children from the After School Program at the adjacent Cal Johnson Recreation Center and other children attending the ribbon cutting were crawling up the ladder, running up the stairs, zipping down the slide (while a long line of semi-patient kids observed), and discovering the joy of making music on the xylophone.

The project was fully funded through a "Play Everywhere Challenge" grant from KaBOOM! that asked cities to come up with unexpected "play along the way" opportunities that could be incorporated into families' daily routines within city infrastructure.

Along with the opening of the slide, Knoxville Parks and Recreation also unveiled an online map of potential future sites for Knoxville Slides opportunities in hopes of future sponsorship. To view the map or learn how to sponsor a Knoxville Slide, visit HERE.

Given the unique project that it is, there was hardy coverage of Tuesday's Knoxville Slides ribbon cutting, with all of Knoxville's news stations represented in addition to two newspapers. Click on the links below to view some of the online news story postings:

KaBOOM! Facebook Live

WBIR story

Knoxville News Sentinel story

Knoxville News Sentinel video

Knoxville Focus story

View the full ribbon cutting ceremony on CTV HERE. To view the City of Knoxville's news release on the opening of the slide, click HERE.

To join the fun on social media, share your picture/video on the new slide at the Coliseum, use the hashtag #KnoxvilleSlides.

Posted by On 27 March, 2017 at 6:36 PM