The City of Kingsport will celebrate Arbor Day next week with a tree planting at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.

The ceremony will take place behind the school (Overlook Road and D Street) at 1 pm on March 1st. City officials will plant a Redbud tree and issue a proclamation declaring Kingsport’s 38^th Arbor Day celebration.

“Our trees and forests are part of what makes Kingsport such a great place to live,” said Landscaping and Ground Maintenance Manager Tamra Rossi. “We strive to be a leader in proper management of our trees, and I think it shows every year.”

In honor of the city’s commitment to effective urban forestry management, the National Arbor Day Foundation will recognize Kingsport as a Tree City USA for the thirty-eighth year in a row.

A community must meet four standards to receive this national designation and the Tree City USA flag. It must have a tree advisory board or department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an annual Arbor Day celebration. The National Association of State Foresters, USDA Forest Service and the Tennessee Division of Forestry also sponsor the Tree City USA program.

Kingsport’s Streets and Sanitation Department maintains over 12,000 trees and over 15 acres of landscaping in the city. The department also removes damaged or deceased trees on public lands, while providing annual upkeep of 21 park facilities and 827 acres of green space.

This department also maintains a Level II Arboretum Certification at Borden Park, sponsored by Domtar and Keep Kingsport Beautiful. The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture coordinate the arboretum certification program, which encourages public education of the importance of the different species of trees. Level II requirements include labeling over 60 tree species, keeping a map available to the public that shows the locations of the tree species and exemplifying proper tree management practices.

Kingsport’s Arbor Day celebration is a partnership of Domtar, City of Kingsport, Kingsport Tree Advisory Board and Keep Kingsport Beautiful.

The region’s largest book fair returns next week with thousands and thousands of books, audio books, music CDs, movies and vinyl records to choose from.

The Kingsport Book Fair will take place March 1-3 at the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center. The event is coordinated and sponsored by Friends of the Library, the Literacy Council of Kingsport and the Sullivan County Imagination Library Board.

As with previous years, the event will have a special preview sale on February 29 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an admission of $10. Returning this year is the special academic preview sale, also on February 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is $5, and a valid faculty/staff/student ID is required for entry.

Regular Book Fair hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 1-2 and 12:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. on March 3. No admission fee is charged throughout the entire weekend. No pets allowed, please.

The Book Fair will offer thousands of books for sale, along with a good selection of audio books, music CDs, DVDs and vinyl record albums. All of the items in the book fair have been donated for the sale over the past year and were individually priced and sorted by volunteers into one of more than 30 categories.

Major credit cards will be accepted on purchases of at least $25. Sales under $25 are cash only. The half-price sale begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while the $10 bag sale begins at opening on Sunday. Most donated items are priced from 25 cents to $5, based on age, condition, and popularity.

Inventory for this year’s fair includes fiction, non-fiction, history, biography, children’s, religion, music, cookbooks, DIY, gardening, textbooks, vinyl, and art/coffee table books. The Regional Interest category will have books from the FoxFire series, Jefferson Bass, Adriana Trigiani, to cookbooks from local churches and civic groups.

Classic and contemporary books on WWII will be in the History/Biography category. Readers of romance will be especially happy with the depth of the paperback fiction donations, both classic and ‘almost new’ tales of happily-ever-after. A category for Sports and Transportation will contain books on professional athletes, sports, fitness, automobiles, trains, and airplanes, while birders and other nature lovers will find gems in the Nature and Outdoors category.

Profits from the book fair go to support local literacy programs. Last year, the book fair had sales of more than $35,000.

For more information or to volunteer your time call 423-967-7135 or email kingsportbookfair@gmail.com.

The City of Kingsport has received a $7.8 million grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Foundation for the enhancement of a city park along the South Fork of the Holston River.

The BlueCross Healthy Place at Riverfront Park – an 8.8 acre park – is located near the intersection of Netherland Inn Road and Industry Drive. Designs are still in progress, but the proposed features for Riverwalk Park include an inclusive play area, community pavilion, sports courts, water features, fitness area, recreational water access, art installations and restrooms. Construction is expected to begin later this summer.

The BlueCross Foundation is providing $6.5 million for the project and an additional $1.3 million for a maintenance fund, bringing the total investment to $7.8 million. This is the second BlueCross Healthy Place located within the city, with the first being the BlueCross Healthy Place at the Kingsport Miracle League Complex, which opened in 2020.

“We are excited to partner with the City of Kingsport on our second BlueCross Healthy Place in the area,” said Chelsea Johnson, director of the BlueCross Foundation. “These spaces are all about bringing neighbors together, and Riverwalk Park provides us with a unique opportunity to enhance offerings for residents from all walks of life.”

BlueCross Healthy Places are designed to strengthen communities across Tennessee by providing neighbors with spaces for connection and healthy activity.

“We are extremely humbled and honored to have been selected for a BlueCross Healthy Place grant,” said Kingsport City Manager Chris McCartt. “This investment will add yet another attraction along the 11-mile Greenbelt while also serving as a catalyst towards the city’s efforts to improve and protect Riverfront Park. I know our residents and visitors will enjoy this space for years to come.”

The City of Kingsport applied for BlueCross Healthy Place funding with the aim of expanding amenities and programming in the popular space, while providing new opportunities for residents across the city.

To date, the BlueCross Foundation has invested $59 million in BlueCross Healthy Place projects across the state. There are now 21 projects open statewide with more on the way.

For more information on the BlueCross Healthy Place program, see BlueCrossHealthyPlaces.com.