Visit Knoxville tours Town with Tindal, tourism brass

The pandemic has forged special partnerships, including a blossoming one between Visit Farragut and Visit Knoxville.

Town Tourism director Karen Tindal and Visit Knoxville president Kim Bumpas and her team worked together on distribution of the CARES ACT (COVD-19-related) funding last year.

“Angie Wilson, their senior director of Marketing, was a huge help in getting our ‘For the Love of Farragut’ commercial done,” Tindal said, adding that while touring the Town, “Angie was really impressed with the museum, Campbell Station Inn and Community Center and mentioned that it would be beneficial to have the sales team come out and do a tour.

The tour took place Tuesday, March 9.

Nine VK employees took in nearly a dozen sights, sounds and tastes specific only to Farragut. “I wanted to make sure that they were aware of all of the assets we have in Farragut since they are the primary (point of contact) in the area to book meetings, conventions and events,” Tindal said.

“It was interesting because one of the (ladies attending) actually lives in Sugarwood, and she said she passed by so many things every day that she didn’t realize were part of what makes Farragut so special,” she added.

When touring the Museum, VK representatives encountered Farragut resident and noted area historian Malcolm Shell, who was working as a docent.

“They ended up asking him if he would be interested in contributing information about Farragut’s history to their blog, and he agreed,” Tindal said.

“We’re thankful to the Visit Farragut team for hosting us on this tour,” said Combs. “We frequently welcome journalists and travel writers to Knoxville, and being more knowledgeable about the Farragut community helps us tell the story of our destination to future potential visitors.”

“We are all still in the process of trying to figure out how to get out of COVID, so it is so important that we all work together,” added Tindal. “It’s really nice that across the board, we are all ready and willing to help each other out.”