Gender neutral proposal spurs more than neutral responses >>See page 4
This Knoxville beer is pretentious as... well, you know >>See page 5
“Tindr has become the greatest learning tool that I ever could have known.”>>See page 7
THERE GOES THE BOOM Twenty-eight year tradition ends due to financial difficulties Megan Patterson Arts & Culture Editor This Labor Day will mark the end of a 28-year Knoxville tradition. This will be the final year to see a waterfall of golden sparks glide off the Henley Street bridge into the Tennessee River. This upcoming Sunday, thousands of people will cram into the downtown streets, flooding every parking lot
Volume 130 Issue 12
and rooftop in the city, just to get a good view of the last Boomsday. For many Knoxvillians, this day is long overdue, but for others it means the nostalgic end of an era. Kim Bumpas, president of Visit Knoxville, was a student at UT when the city first began Boomsday. She reflected on how she has seen the event change throughout the years. “It used to be a thing where maybe people came down earlier in the day and experienced the vendors and hung out, brought their kids and their family,” Bumpas said. “Over the past three or four years I’ve seen it turn into something where, no matter what time you say the
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festivities are going to begin … most people traditionally do not show up until about seven.” According to Bumpas, this sudden influx of spectators is one of the main problems of the event. “The whole footprint kind of gridlocks because there’s just too many people and everyone’s in more of a tailgate fashion,” Bumpas said. “They bring their blanket or chair and just put it down in the middle of a walkway.”
See BOOMSDAY on Page 8
Thursday, September 3, 2015