Downtown Knoxville will be celebrating all things history as we open our new permanent exhibit, Voices of the Land!

On August 23-24, the public is invited to a History Street Fair at Krutch Park and Clinch Avenue, and for free tours of the new museum exhibition at the East Tennessee History Center.

Visitors will find fun and entertainment provided by area historical societies, historic attractions, and associations featuring exhibits, activities, games, and re-enactments. WDVX radio will present area musicians performing throughout the day on the Clayton Music Stage. Downtown businesses, neighboring churches, and the Knox County Public Library are also joining the fun to offer a History Scavenger Hunt in downtown Knoxville. All grand opening events are sponsored by the Knoxville and Holston River Railroad and the Central Business Improvement District.

The Tennessee Theatre will join the celebration, courtesy of A.C. Entertainment. The theater will be open on Saturday, showing cartoons and movie clips ending with a special showing of the Cas Walker show clips produced by Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.

And, of course, the culmination of years of planning and research, Voices of the Land will cover 8500 square feet of exhibit space on the first floor of the History Center. It will include three videos, five program albums of rotating images, three touch-screen stations, and about a dozen sound-stick opportunities to listen to recordings. There are 550 artifacts in the new exhibit and over 350 voices and quotations that tell the story of the land and the people of East Tennessee.