On Tuesday, March 21 at 4 p.m., Mayor Madeline Rogero, City Council, and representatives from KaBOOM!, Knoxville Area Transit, SMG, and many other local organizations will cut the ribbon for the new slide located at the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum parking garage “A.” The embankment slide is 19 feet in length with an 11-foot drop from top to bottom.

The slide was fully funded through an innovative “Play Everywhere Challenge” grant administered by KaBOOM!, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to giving all kids the childhood they deserve, filled with balanced and active play. The Challenge promotes innovative play for children in unexpected, but everyday, spaces such as sidewalks, vacant lots, parking garages, and beyond. By using existing city infrastructure not previously designated as a play space, kids are encouraged to be creative and “play along the way.”

A team of local organizations in Knoxville worked with the City to come up with several ideas that were submitted for the Play Everywhere Challenge, and the KaBOOM! grant committee selected the “Knoxville Slides” initiative as one of 50 grant recipients out of more than 1,000 applications nationwide.

Taking advantage of East Tennessee’s hilly terrain at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, Knoxville Slides are proposed to be built adjacent to existing stairs within City of Knoxville infrastructure, offering new, unexpected play opportunities within the City. This first project at the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum parking garage received a $25,000 grant from KaBOOM!, paying for the pilot project in full.