Mickey Mallonee, the City of Knoxville's longtime Director of Special Events will be retiring on December 31.

Mallonee's office works with individuals and organizations that sponsor the 400 to 500 festivals, parades, picnics, concerts, road races and other events held each year on city-owned property and streets. She has been the special events director since 2000.

Those events range from modest gatherings involving a few dozen participants to large celebrations like Boomsday where the city provides the logistics covering everything from access to electricity and cleanup services to police and emergency medical coverage.

Her office also manages the city's festivals, like the month-long Christmas in the City celebration, promotes activities taking place in Knoxville and plans special events on behalf of the Mayor's office. The Special Events Office is also responsible for scheduling activities and events on Market Square.

"Working with Mickey has been an absolute joy and we're really going to miss her," Mayor Bill Haslam said. "We have great events in Knoxville, wonderful parades and festivals, concerts on Market Square and Mickey is always working behind the scenes to make sure everything goes smoothly and everyone has a good time."

The Knoxville native is retiring to spend more time with her children, other family members and to travel, a favorite activity of Mallonee who has lived in England and Greece among other interesting places before returning to Knoxville.