Update: The vote is in! The public has chosen the lineup for this year’s Drive-In at the Midway. With more than 1,500 votes cast, the No. 1 choice of moviegoers is “Hocus Pocus” (PG, 1993), which will be the final movie screened on Oct. 30. “Aladdin” (G, 1992) will launch the series on Oct. 9, and “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” (PG13, 1986) will be shown on Oct. 16. There will not be a movie on Oct. 24. Admission is free, but all moviegoers must register to gain entrance at www.knoxlib.org/movies. All movies are PG13 or less, but parents are encouraged to check the parental guides for their families.
The pandemic stopped Movies on Market Square this year, but the city of Knoxville and the Knox County Public Library have teamed to present Drive-In at the Midway instead.
On Fridays, Oct. 9, 16 and 30, the public is invited to watch a free movie on the Midway in Chilhowee Park. Participants have voted and the lineup will be announced today (10/1).
Registration is required once the lineup is announced. The series is sponsored by Knoxville TVA Employee Credit Union.
Each vehicle may bring in the number of passengers for which it is rated (number of seatbelts). They will have an adjacent parking space for blankets or lawn chairs. Attendees must have an FM radio as sound will be provided through a FM transmitter. Covid safety rules apply and alcohol is not permitted.
Friends donate $50,000 for e-media
Mayor Glenn Jacobs and the Knox County Public Library are pleased to accept a $50,000 donation from the Friends of the Library for the purchase of about 850 downloadable ebooks and audiobooks. A check presentation was made Sept. 30 at Lawson McGhee Library. The donation is pending approval from the Knox County Commission.
The donation celebrates the 50th anniversary of Friends of the Library. Since its inception on Sept. 29, 1970, the group has donated nearly $1 million to the library system. Its support has made many library programs and ancillary services possible, including:
- Providing seed funding to start the audiovisual collection
- Purchasing equipment for cleaning and restoring CDs and DVDs thereby extending the life of those media
- Acting as fiscal agent to begin Imagination Library with ongoing annual gifts of $5,000
- Restoring important paintings by Knoxville artist Catherine Wiley for the McClung Historical Collection
- Funding Spanish language computer workshops and reference databases
- Supporting Summer Library Club programming and prizes every year
- Launching the Children’s Festival of Reading
- Providing matching funds for many grants.
TAMIS gets $70,000 grant
Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS) has received a grant award of $70,000 from the National Film Preservation Foundation to restore and preserve home movies and films from Dr. Walther Barth. TAMIS is a part of the McClung Historical Collection of the Knox County Public Library. The Friends of the Library is acting as the grant’s fiscal agent and is providing $15,000 in matching funds to complete the project.
Dr. Barth was a skilled amateur filmmaker who immigrated to the United States in the 1931, eventually settling in Knoxville. He captured the hustle and bustle of cosmopolitan continental life, early evidence of Nazi influences on German society, pastoral outings, the verdant landscapes of upstate New York, the Great Smoky Mountains, and vignettes of family life. Dr. Barth’s son donated his films to TAMIS in 2006.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library.