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More than 250 people showed up to meet county candidates in the upcoming primary election in Hamblen County.

Hosted by the Citizen Tribune and the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce at Morristown Landing off of Merchants Greene Boulevard, most of the candidates showed up to meet voters and explain their positions on important issues like taxes, capital projects and the direction the county is headed.

“I thought the event was very successful I was very, very impressed and pleased with the number of candidates,” MACC General Manager Debra Williams said. “We invited 38 candidates and 33 attended. Of those that did not attend I think all but one of them were running unopposed.

“I was very impressed with the candidates and how much effort they put into both their displays and some of the information they brought. There were handouts and flyers about tax relief for those who need it and the way taxes are figured and the way property assessment works — I think a lot of the candidates brought information that the voters have been asking about.”

Set up in one of the meeting spaces at Morristown Landing, the environment lent itself to the personal and local event.

“It’s in our mission statement, and you’ve heard me probably say this before, but we are here to provide a gathering space for the community and this is an event that does that,” Morristown Landing General Manager Andy Fischer said. “(This event) allows people to get one-on-one time with candidates that not all towns and all places provide… so it’s not just listening to somebody on the stage or listening to someone on the TV or radio — it’s actually getting face time and you get to talk with them shake their hand and ask questions for which you don’t always get the opportunity.

“We’re not just sports and recreation, we’re also have that event element of it for bringing these community activities here to get people in our building and gathered together.”

Williams agreed and said the exposure to all the people that go to the Landing probably meant more people met candidates.

“I think Morristown Landing was an outstanding location,” she said. “It gave us enough room; the setup was nice and of course the weather being perfect made it great for candidates to put their signs out on the yard

“I think another thing about having it at the Landing is people didn’t necessarily have to make a trip exclusively for the event. They could have been out there with their kids playing ball or exercising or swimming and thought, ‘Hey this is going on so we’re going to just step over here and see what it’s like.’ So I think it helped us draw some crowd that maybe normally wouldn’t have made an effort to come to that.”