Media Room

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for September 16, 2024.

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a new Blount County Chamber member. So, here we go with our 215th installment visiting with First Fruits Kitchen Executive Chef Tony McClanahan who is returning to the foodservice industry with a new business model where I can use my creativity to offer premium gourmet services. Tell me…

Maryville, Tenn. – On a late summer’s eve, an eager crowd gathered to enjoy some of the best food in Blount County as a record 32 area restaurants, food trucks and caterers participated in the 22nd annual Taste of Blount hosted by the Blount Partnership at the Theater in the Park in Maryville, Tenn. The…

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for September 9, 2024.

As a gateway to the Smoky Mountains, Blount County ranked eighth among Tennessee’s 95 counties in 2023 visitor expenditures at $576.1 million, a six-percent increase from $543.9 million in 2022, according to the Economic Impact of Travel on Tennessee Counties report issued by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and Gov. Bill Lee. On an…

A new National Park Service report shows that 13,297,647 visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2023 spent $2.2 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 33,748 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.4 billion. “I’m so proud that our parks and the…

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter and Orano USA officials announced today the company has selected Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the preferred site to construct a new, multi-billion-dollar, state-of-the-art centrifuge uranium enrichment facility. The uranium enrichment center will be a multi-structure commercial production site covering approximately 750,000…

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for September 2, 2024.

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for August 26, 2024.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced today the approval of Tennessee’s initial proposal for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The department has been allocated $813 million as part of its initial proposal for the BEAD Program, which the state will use to locate high-speed broadband…