Sunsphere 2024 Visit

I originally started this post back in March of 2024; however, I never got around to finishing it. Now it’s November, and I finally find time to crank out a few more words and hit publish…

With our Spring Break plans short circuited by a cold, we called an audible and made it a staycation. That afforded us the opportunity to pay a visit to the Sunsphere in downtown Knoxville.

The Sunsphere with its recently repainted blue steel frame matching its original appearance in 1982.

Originally built for the 1982 World’s Fair, the Sunsphere joins the same family of custom built architectural wonders as the Eiffel Tower and the Seattle Space Needle.

I have fond memories of the ’82 World’s Fair. Shelf stable milk made its debut in the US during that fair. I can’t recall which pavilion it was, but there was one where’d I could pick out a free box of strawberry or chocolate milk every time we visited. There was that day when Ronald Reagan spoke at the fair. I wasn’t present, but his helicopter did fly directly over my house. I remember running to the bottom of our hill to watch it pass over. I never actually went up in the Sunsphere, but I’ve gone up several times during the past twenty or so years.

For our visit, we had to make a reservation and pay a small fee. We were the last group up before closing time. Once we were on the observation deck, we joined fifteen or so visitors already there. We were treated to great views of downtown Knoxville and the surrounding area.

Taking the elevator to the observation deck

Wow, we’re high!

Check out that view!

Check out this view.

Retro gaming!