The Sunsphere Fund
Protecting Our City Icons
Historic buildings are a crucial element in our perception of culture and identity through time and are therefore important for our future. By observing and studying historic buildings, we learn from our past and enjoy the accomplishments of our ancestors. However, these valuable resources require protection. Restoring and protecting historic buildings is expensive!
By allowing regular people like us to pay homage to the Sunsphere through art, clothing and…ornaments =) we have been empowered to support the cause. A portion of the proceeds of every Sunsphere ornament sold will be donated to The Sunsphere Fund, a fund that we were thrilled to help establish with the City of Knoxville in 2019. Our hope is that the sale of the Sunsphere ornaments will inspire others in Knoxville to use the Sunsphere in their art and sellable goods so we can make The Sunsphere Fund a material source of funding it can count on for regular maintenance and new projects.
The Purpose of The Sunsphere Fund
Knoxvillians know the story of the Sunsphere post-World’s Fair 1982 – it’s filled with failed restaurants, broken windows and sketchy elevator rides. Needless to say, the experience isn’t anywhere close to what we know it can be.
Instead of remaining a dated relic of the extinct World’s Fair, what if the Sunsphere were a beautiful building inside-and-out that drew crowds from visitors and Knoxvillians alike?
Nestled in the beautiful World’s Fair Park, the Sunsphere bridges the gap between Downtown Knoxville and UT’s campus. It’s potential is endless, but it faces a massive obstacle: resources.
Partnering with The City of Knoxville
Before the ornament was even designed we knew that the city and the Sunsphere needed to benefit in some way.
We explained how we wanted to give a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the ornament directly back to the Sunsphere and Visit Knoxville thought the ornament could be the first item to benefit The Sunsphere Fund and help launch it.
We are so glad the City of Knoxville have let us help establish The Sunsphere Fund because the Sunsphere has never had anything in place for people to give back. We hope the Sunsphere Fund will inspire people to use the Sunsphere in art and business in some way and give back to the Sunsphere Fund too.
Now that the fund is official, the Sunsphere can finally thrive from its image being used in art and throughout the community. We hope that our ornament is just the first of many items to benefit the fund.
On October 10, 2017, the City of Knoxville approved a $2.5 million renovation budget to benefit the Sunsphere and the Amphitheater in World’s Fair Park. Since then, the Sunsphere has been promoted like other attractions by Visit Knoxville, who manages the experience on the 4th floor Observation Deck.
Where Does the Funding Go?
The fund will go to everything from elevator upkeep to cleaning the windows and more as the Sunsphere fund grows.
While we want to give back to the city we love, we also hope for the Sunsphere ornament to be a work of art for people to cherish their memories of Knoxville.
The First Ever Sunsphere Ornament
Glittering almost like the real thing, the Sunsphere ornament adds a glimmer of Knoxville to your home, just in time for the Holiday Season!
Did You Know...
When it was completed, the Sunsphere became the first spherical building in the United States!
The original design for the Sunsphere was only going to be a hundred feet off the ground and have a diameter of 86.5 feet to symbolize the 865,000 mile diameter of the sun.
The Plans
Since the structure was to be built in a valley, it was going to be partially hidden by surrounding buildings and therefore wouldn’t have had a dramatic effect over the fair site. The estimated cost of this design was also too high. The architecture firm figured out that they could reduce the costs and raise the height if the pedestal for the sphere was made entirely of steel.
The Sunsphere design was purposely made small compared to other World’s Fair theme structure predecessors.
Not only was it more economical, but it also addressed a concern of visitors to World’s Fairs… the Space Needle was so tall that it was difficult to see the actual fair site from inside the structure!
Blue Skies & Sunshine
The steel tower was originally painted blue during the time of the World’s Fair to represent the sky. This way the gold ball on top would appear more like the sun! It stands 26 stories tall (266 feet) and 75 feet in diameter.
The exterior of the sphere was constructed of 360 windows coated with 24-carat gold dust.
Circa 1982
During the World’s Fair the Sunsphere saw an average of 60,000 visitors a day from May 1 through October 31 of 1982!
The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst!
It cost $2 to take the elevator to its observation deck (now it’s free).
