On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, Keep Knoxville Beautiful will host the annual Orchids Beautification Awards at the Standard at 416 West Jackson Avenue from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. The deadline for purchasing tickets is this Friday, March 3rd.

 

From 6:00 until 7:00, there will be a complimentary beer and wine reception with a floral beer specially brewed and donated to the event by Balter Beerworks. During the reception, guests may bid on silent auction items donated by local companies such as Bliss, Smoky Mountain Vintage Lumber, TVB, Knox Whiskey Works, Ijams Nature Center, Meadowsweet Massage and Wellness, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Keep Knoxville Beautiful’s three goals to promote a “cleaner, greener, more beautiful Knoxville” will be highlighted by a photo-booth, a beer garden, and with a live painting by muralist Perry Hodson. Guests will enjoy live music by the Old City Buskers.

 

The ceremony and dinner will begin at 7:00 and will be emceed by Dino Cartwright of WVLT. Keep Knoxville Beautiful will announce its next Community of the Year, the area of Knox County where it will focus the majority of its efforts during the 2017-18 year.

 

Gale Fulton, Director of the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will be the night’s guest speaker.

 

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero will also be in attendance, and will present the first Felicia Harris Hoehne Award. Dino will present the Orchids Awards to a winner from each of the following six categories: Outdoor Space, Public Art, Restaurant/Café/Bar/Brewery, New Architecture, Environmental Stewardship, and Redesign/Reuse. Finally, Tom Salter, Solid Waste Director at Knox County, will close the night by presenting the Mary Lou Horner Award to a previous Orchid winner that has been improved or remains “orchid-worthy.”  A list of all nominees can be found at http://www.keepknoxvillebeautiful.org/orchid-awards.

 

The deadline for purchasing tickets is this Friday, March 3. Individual tickets are $85 each and tables for 10 are $750. Tickets can be purchased at www.keepknoxvillebeautiful.org/orchid-awards/.

 

All proceeds benefit Keep Knoxville Beautiful’s programs.

 

 

About Keep Knoxville Beautiful

Founded in 1978 to help “clean up” prior to the 1982 World’s Fair, Keep Knoxville Beautiful is a local non-profit with a mission to promote a cleaner, greener, and more beautiful community. We pursue this by:

  • Educating students and the public about waste-prevention, litter, recycling, and environmental stewardship
  • Facilitating and supporting litter pickups that make our roads and local waterways cleaner
  • Creating and protecting murals and hosting beautification mobs to make Knoxville a more beautiful and interesting place to live and visit

During 2016, we

  • Facilitated or supported 65 litter pickups
  • Collected 72,100 pounds of litter
  • Planted 18,000+ daffodil and tulip bulbs
  • Planted 100 crepe myrtles
  • Reached 366 kids with our presentations
  • Used our recycling trailer and recycling bins to provide recycling for 7 events
  • Worked with 1,669 volunteers
  • Facilitated 3,997 volunteer hours

To learn more about Keep Knoxville Beautiful, visit keepknoxvillebeautiful.org