"Miracle on 34th Street" is beloved cinema. For many, re-watching the classic 1947 Academy Award winner is a holiday treasure.

But what about the real-life, big, bold, and only-in-Knoxville Miracle on Gay Street? (Our local version is also much beloved!)

Christmas in the City festivities delight tens of thousands of Knoxville families and visitors.

Roughly 19,000 skaters do laps on the Knoxville's Holidays on Ice open-air rink on Market Square each December.

More than 10,000 people gather for both the Regal Celebration of Lights and the WIVK Christmas Parade. 




Here's a quick look at how a few behind-the-scenes City employees perform their special brand of Christmas magic.


Look - there's Santa!

You may wonder: How many City employees are involved in supporting the 51st annual WIVK Christmas Parade?

This year's parade up Gay Street, on a cold Dec. 6 night, boasted 114 units, including eight high school marching bands.

Mayor Indya Kincannon and a crew of City employees rode a float. Police, Fire and Public Service vehicles in the parade were festooned and draped with holiday lights.

St. Nick - and parade Grand Marshal and baseball Hall-of-Famer Todd Helton - drew boisterous cheers.

But back to the original question about City support: A parade of this size and complexity requires the expertise and muscle of no less than 140 City employees.

Seventy-three police officers are there to manage traffic flow and help wherever needed. 

More than 30 Public Service employees lend a hand. Some park large trucks around the parade perimeter to block off cross streets and enhance the safety of parade participants and attendees; others sweep up the mass of discarded garland and glitter afterwards.

Firefighters are on hand for any medical emergencies, and Transportation Engineers are busy marking and managing the temporary street closures.

"The most important thing is to ensure public safety," Public Service Director Rachel Butzler says. "But also, our crews do a thorough cleanup afterward, so downtown looks its very best the Saturday morning after a Friday night parade."


Holiday happiness

Roughly 250,000 holiday lights sparkle throughout downtown. Wrapping and hanging that many lights requires a lot of time, patience and knowhow.

But probably no one enjoys creating the Christmas mood as much as Tommy Cook, a seven-year Public Service Department employee. He and his crew start setting up lights in early October.

"I enjoy doing this every year," he says. "It brings happiness to people when they see all the lights.

"Downtown looks good, all lit up. When we're stringing the lights, people stop and thank us. I take pride in what I do."

Brian Evans, a 16-year Public Service employee, also sets up the holiday lights, plus this year he helped with the Market Square ice rink construction.

"It's great to see the smiles on the kids' faces," Evans says. "People start to get excited when they see the ice rink chillers and the walls going up. For a lot of the kids, their visit to this rink is their first time on skates."





One irritating downside of the downtown holiday setup? Pesky squirrels.

"They chew into the wiring, and one break (in the electrical circuit) will make all the strands of lights in a tree go out," Cook says.

It's an annoyance, but the Public Service downtown crew isn't going to let a few obnoxious varmints diminish everyone's holiday fun.

They dutifully climb up into trees, find the spot of the squirrel's mischief, disconnect the ruined strand of lights and replace it with a new strand.

#KnoxvilleJobWellDone!


'It's all worthwhile'

The City's Special Events staff is small in number but big in effort.

Christmas in the City preparation started in earnest after Labor Day. It snowballed, so to speak, with the Nov. 22 Christmas at Chilhowee kickoff, the Nov. 29 downtown tree lighting, the Dec. 6 parade, then the Dec. 14 Tour de Lights bike ride. 

Until after the New Year's Eve ball drop at the Sunsphere, these Christmas professionals - the trio of Kyndra Brewer, Elaine Frank and Cassie Smith - won't get much of a breather.

"Different families have different Christmas in the City events that are their favorites, so each event is important - to them, and to us," Brewer says.

"By the time we get to mid-December, we're pretty much exhausted. But it's all worthwhile. And it works because so many people in so many City departments care and contribute their best efforts.

"Christmas in the City is about families creating great memories. Then, traditions get established, and they're passed down from generation to generation. Seeing that makes us happy."

(Special Events photo ID: Elaine Frank - Deputy Director of Special Events, Cassie Smith - Special Events Coordinator, and Kyndra Brewer - Director of Special Events.)