Mayor Haslam and Mayor Ragsdale hosted the second annual mayors' luncheon for the parks on Friday, October 17 at Caswell Park. The luncheon celebrated the recent accomplishments of the Legacy Parks Foundation and also highlighted what the Foundation hopes to do in the future.

Ms. Carol Evans - Executive Director of the Legacy Parks Foundation, Senator Howard H. Baker, Senator Lamar Alexander, Congressman John J. Duncan Jr, and former Knox County Executive Tommy Schumpert also attended.

The Legacy Parks Foundation was established in 2005 to assure that our community enjoys exceptional recreational opportunities, natural beauty and open spaces and that those assets exist for generations to come.The Legacy Parks Foundation tries to bridge the gap between what government can afford to do and the resources it takes to create the best possible park and recreational system.

The Legacy Parks Foundation has four primary goals:
to secure funding to buy land and to make improvements to existing parks and facilities; to accept gifts of property; to maintain greenway and conservation easements to be an advocate for parks and outdoor recreation in Knoxville and Knox County

The Legacy Parks Foundation will initiate the Knoxville Urban Wilderness and Historic Corridor by working to acquire the land where Fort Stanley and Fort Higley are located. This is an effort to create a 1,000-acre corridor along the south side of the river containing three civil war forts, historic buildings and diverse ecological and recreational features linked to the South Waterfront by a system of greenways and trails. This corridor would be within view of downtown Knoxville and would be a tremendous addition not only to the South Waterfront but to the entire city.

In the short time the Legacy Parks Foundation has been in existence it has already made significant contributions to the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Last year it accepted the donation of 104 acres in South Knoxville, known as the Georgia Marble Quarry, to add it to the neighboring Ijams Nature Center.Legacy also worked on the private fundraising effort for the city's skatepark and is involved in the fundraising effort for the Fountain City Skatepark. It has also acquired the property adjacent to where the Fountain City Skatepark will be built.

Legacy Parks Foundation is a non-profit and depends on its supporters to achieve its mission.