The Possum Set to Bring Old-School Southern Cooking to Maryville This Summer
Jack Townsend wants The Possum to feel like “a pocket in time that doesn’t exist anywhere else.” The Maryville native and chef-owner is set to open his first restaurant this summer at 313 N. Houston St. The restaurant’s unlikely name traces back to a tattoo Townsend got around 2019 — a possum eating a slice […]
Alcoa Overhauls Sign Ordinances, Offering Path to Digital Billboards with Fewer Locations
Changes to Alcoa’s sign ordinances approved in May will mean an easier process that what has been in place for developers to find pertinent information — and potentially fewer billboards in town. The new ordinances will allow advertising companies to swap static billboards for their digital cousins as long as they meet a 16-point list […]
Wells Tavern Brings First Scottish Pub, Rooftop Bar to Downtown
Alice Basler has always trusted her instincts. The Maryville real estate professional once closed on a house the same day she saw it. So when she drove past a vacant building at 114 E. Broadway one evening, called a friend to get inside, and walked out 20 minutes later ready to make an offer, nobody […]
Utilities Become Growth Gatekeepers as County Expands
At the South Blount Utility District Water Treatment Facility, a team of 12 employees monitors pumps and filters, responds to alerts and conducts tests every few hours. For most of them, their work takes place in a control room above the plant, where they keep an eye on the system and fill out paperwork. […]
Sports Tourism Quietly Reshapes Blount County’s Economy
When Mike Myers’ father and five friends leased a muddy limestone lot from a Blount County judge for $1 a year more than 60 years ago, the plan was simple: build their sons a ballpark. Maryville College provided the first bleachers. Willocks Brothers donated block for dugouts. South Central Bell contributed retired telephone poles for […]
Alcoa Students Compete in National Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge
Update 6/11/2026 A team of fourth- and fifth-graders from Alcoa Intermediate School travelled to Washington, D.C., this month to win the national championship of the Presidential AI Challenge, a White House initiative aimed at building artificial intelligence skills in students nationwide. The team, which has worked together since January, advanced through state and regional rounds […]
