Other sponsors included Sen. Howard Baker, HGTV, Home Federal Bank, KUB, Pilot Corporation, B-Note Entertainment and Brian Brooks and Mayor Victor Ashe and the City of Knoxville. The event would not have been possible without help from the Technical Support Committee and the Planning Committee, chaired by Ms. Dorothy Bennett. Each year, this special event honors grandparents who are at least 50 years old and who have played a vital role in the development, guidance and nurturing of children. The relationship can involve natural grandchildren, children of a relative, adopted children, foster children, children in an agency program and children in the community. Emphasis is placed on involvement beyond the home, too, including at school, at work, in training programs or in religious and civic activities.
Artists gather here.
Field trips of school-age children spend hours here. Beck Cultural Exchange Center is the keeper of the record of Knoxville's and East Tennessee's Black History. Highlights of the extensive exhibits include the papers of the country's first black U.S. Circuit Court Judge William Hastie, a black film collection and old Austin High School memorabilia. It's not black history for one month. It's black history for 12 months, year after year.