Calendar of Events

Zoo Knoxville is offering $5 off admission tickets during Kroger Discount Days. Guests can discover why winter is an enjoyable time to visit the zoo. Many animals, including red pandas, river otters, elephants, gorillas, red wolves, lions and tigers, enjoy the cooler temperatures. On days when the temperature drops below 40 degrees, some animals will be moved indoors, but visitors can still see most in their indoor viewing areas. The Pilot Flying J Wee Play Adventure is a popular indoor area that’s a warm stop for creative play and reptile viewing during visits as well.

A December trip to the zoo can even include a visit to Santa’s Village, a special holiday encounter and photo opportunity with Santa Claus. Santa’s Village will be open for holiday photos and Christmas wishes Thursday, Dec. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 16 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day in the heated Kids Cove Tent. Santa’s Village is included with general admission. Discounted tickets can be purchased at the zoo ticket window during regular zoo hours and online at zooknoxville.org. Discounted admission tickets must be used by Feb. 28, 2019, and cannot be combined with any other promotion, discount, or coupon.

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open every day except Christmas. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org

18th Annual Messiah Sing Along presented by director Sandy Wells and the Tri-County Orchestra and Chorus. The audience is invited to participate in the major pieces if they so choose. Music will be provided. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

Concert #1: Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. at Norris United Methodist Church, 62 Ridgeway at Oak Road, Norris.
Concert #2: Dec. 2 at 3 pm at the Historic Grove Theater, 123 Randolph Rd., Oak Ridge.

For more information, visit the Tri-County Messiah Sing Along Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Tri-county-Messiah-Sing-along-887260184690820/

Hosted by Historic Old North Knoxville's Annual Holiday Home Tour
Tickets: www.victorianholidayhometour.com

Make plans now to join us for the 30th Annual Victorian Holiday Home Tour on December 1st & 2nd! Old North Knoxville features beautiful homes built in the Queen Anne, Craftsman/Bungalow, Neoclassical Revival, and American Four Square style. To help you kick off your holiday season, Old North Knoxville neighbors will open the doors of select homes in a variety of these styles, restored and decorated for the season for your viewing pleasure!

Candlelight Tour: Saturday Dec. 1st, 2018 4:00PM – 9:00PM
Afternoon Tour: Sunday Dec. 2nd, 2018 12:30PM – 5:00PM

https://www.facebook.com/events/426213777909984/

Families on Mission will be sharing the Real reason for the Season with the people of Knoxville on Saturday & Sunday December 1 & 2. We will have a Live Nativity in Krutch Park, directly behind the Knoxville Christmas tree on Gay Street & connected with Market Square. We need many people to be involved with this mission opportunity through helping to set up or take down the nativity, dress in costume in the nativity, greet people, take photos of people in front of the nativity and share the gospel with those who stop by the nativity. We will have live animals in the nativity along with people dressed as Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, & an angel.

Sat Dec 1, 10 AM
Sun Dec 2, 1 PM

If you or your family are interested in being involved with this mission opportunity, please email us at carl@familiesonmissionintl.org or call Carl Smith at 865-661-5611 and we would love to help you get involved!

https://www.facebook.com/events/338969509983979/

There is no cost for this event! The very next day, December 2, the building will close, for the long awaited renovation. The building will remain closed through 2019, and is expected to re-open in early 2020.

Candoro Arts & Heritage Center, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Information: 865-577-0078, www.candoromarble.org

Christmas With Annie Moses Band is a perennial holiday favorite and stands on the PBS charts as one of the most played specials of the season.

Christmas With the Annie Moses Band is a high-spirits holiday tour-de-force, featuring fiery string playing and soulful renditions of enduring favorites and fresh originals, infused with that unmistakable instrumental sparkle that makes the Annie Moses Band experience so unforgettable. From the spirited rendition of ‘God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen’ to the breathtaking beauty of ‘O Holy Night’, this evening of Christmas music is invigorating, reverential, and transporting.

The Annie Moses Band has been inspiring and entertaining audiences for over a decade, bringing their distinctive style of music across the US and around the world. A captivating blend of folk and classical, the Annie Moses Band is a talented ensemble of songwriters, singers, musicians, and siblings combining technical skill with exhilarating showmanship.
The Band’s innovative sound has delighted audiences in record breaking numbers of airings on PBS and on stages as diverse as Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry. Award-winning composer, Bill Wolaver, weaves musical styles together into cinematic arrangements while the virtuosic siblings bring Juilliard-honed chops to Nashville-styled music-making.
The Annie Moses Band combines the best of beloved genres in a style that unifies audiences, young and old, classical connoisseurs and roots enthusiasts, jazz aficionados and bluegrass buffs. This is outstanding music.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information/tickets: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Venerate: to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference

In this series of seasonal workshops at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens & Arboretum, Gerry Moll will lead an artistic investigation into our relationship with trees. Participants will explore both historic and modern cultural and aesthetic traditions honoring trees and create temporary art installations venerating trees on the Arboretum grounds.

Gerry Moll lives and works as an artist, naturalist and gardener in Knoxville TN. He received an MFA in sculpture from the University of Michigan, is the founder of Mollworks studio and co-founder of the Native Plant Rescue Squad.

No trees will be permanently altered or damaged during the installation of these temporary installations. Good photographic documentation will be a critical part of the artistic process so please bring your cameras.

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An exploration into wreaths and the Japanese enclosed rope or Shiminawa. We will investigate the historical, cultural and formal uses and symbolism embedded in these sculptural traditions. Participants will select a tree to venerate with a wreath or Shiminawa of their making. All supplies will be provided, if you have a favorite hand pruning shears please bring them.
Please wear comfortable work clothes as we will spend most of our time creating art installations.
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Visit http://knoxgarden.org or call 480-239-0506 for more information.

The Oak Ridge Chorus presents its first concert of the 2018–2019 season on Saturday, December 1, 7:30 PM, at First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge. Featured on the program are David Ensley and Melony Dodson performing on the Möller Pipe Organ, and the public is invited to join in the celebration during two sing-alongs..

Music for Royalty: Celebrations of the British Monarchy "will make you feel like royalty,” exclaimed Chorus Director Jaclyn Johnson. “Throughout its history, music has been a central element of every coronation, birthday celebration, and memorial service. From the Catholic and Protestant church services of the Renaissance period, to the Coronation Anthems of Handel, to the funeral of Princess Diana, choral music has played a part.”

Concert goers will experience the immense 1984 M.P. Möller Pipe Organ (console renovations 2007 by Milnar) with IV Manuals, 49 ranks, and 2,795 pipes.

“A unique element of British choral music,” Johnson continues, “is the importance of the church organ. Composers brought out the very best in this instrument during the Victorian era. The organ became a spectacular musical character that had a personality of its own, and this virtuoso writing can be heard in the performance of Sir C. Hubert H. Parry’s I was glad.”

True to the spirit of the season, the Oak Ridge Chorus concert will also include two sing-alongs with the audience. The Oak Ridge Chorus is a community ensemble, welcoming all to participate. Anyone interested in joining is highly encouraged to contact the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association (ORCMA) at 865-483-5568 or by email at office@orcma.org for more information.

Seasonal support for the Oak Ridge Chorus is provided by Dr. Chuck Darling in memory of Dorothy Weight. Information and tickets are available online at www.ORCMA.org, or by calling 865-483-5569. Adult admission is $15, and Young Adult (ages 19-29) admission is $5. The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association is a proud participant in the Penny4Arts initiative, providing free admission to Youth 18 & Under to all ORCMA concerts during the 2018–2019 season.

At First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge. Tickets/information: 865-483-5569, www.orcma.org

Come caroling on December 1, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm, at a family day featuring a partnership with Clarence Brown Theatre (CBT) to promote their seasonal show, A Christmas Carol. Join us as we bring together the fabulous worlds of art, theatre, and performance.

The program is free and open to all.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: M-Sa 9-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

The Opera Ball is an elegant black tie affair held in the fall each year. The Ball features a cocktail hour, a gourmet meal accompanied by fine wine, silent and live auctions, and live entertainment. A fabulous live band accompanies dancing through the end of the event.

The Knoxville Opera Guild’s Opera Ball will take place this season on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at the Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Details TBA.

Knoxville Opera: 865-524-0795, www.knoxvilleopera.com

The Guild of the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center is excited to announce its plans for the eighth annual Home Tour set to take place on Saturday December 1, 2018. Four distinctive homes and one refurbished and unique establishment have been chosen to represent Holiday Mountain Living at its finest in Townsend, Tennessee.
Saturday December 1, 2018
Tours: 12:30-3:30 or 4:00-7:00

Included in your 2018 Holiday Home Tour Admission:
* Transportation provided for the Tour
* Light refreshments at the Heritage Center while checking in for your tour.
* 10% Discount on any purchases in the Museum Gift Shop on the day of your choice thru December 31, 2018
* One Free Admission to the Museum valid through December 31, 2018
* One Complimentary Boarding Pass (admission) to our new Holiday Model Train Exhibit every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Sunday January 6, 2019.
Tickets on Sale Now - Call 865-448-0044: $35.00/person

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: M-Sa 10-5, Su 12-5. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Festival of Music (with the Vox Royale University Choir combined with the Tennessee Music Department)
Orchestra Conductor: Ace Edewards

Where: Johnson University, Phillips-Welshimer Auditorium, 7900 Johnson Drive, Knoxville

Line-Up: A few of the selections include Bizet's "Farandole" from "L'Arlesienne #2” and Vaughan Williams’ "Fantasia on Christmas Carols”as well as traditional pieces such as “Greensleeves”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”.

Tickets: Free admission (donations welcome).

https://www.scruffycityorchestra.com/