With the weather getting balmy, the familiar sight of hanging flower baskets have returned to downtown Morristown and represents the way different organization work together to promote Morristown and Hamblen County.

Starting as new plants in the late spring, the flowers will eventually cascade down from the baskets and provide part of the lively atmosphere that gives downtown character. Three different organizations come together to make it happen. “As the incoming Executive Director of KMHB — Keep Morristown Hamblen Beautiful — I am honored to lead an organization with such a meaningful mission: inspiring and educating our community to embrace the principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling keeping Morristown a beautiful and vibrant place for residents and visitors alike,” Brian Little said. “As a visible example of that commitment is our hanging basket program, made possible through our valued partnership with the Morristown Chamber of Commerce and the city, which brings a burst of color and life to our downtown corridor each spring.”

KMHB and the MACC provide funding for the project and work to source the materials, and the city’s horticulture team, led by Mike Cupp, pick up the flower baskets from a nursery and hang them from the columns of the downtown skywalk.

The city continues to care for and water the plants as they bloom and grow throughout the summer.

“Really, for a relatively small investment, they make a big splash,” MACC General Manager Debra Williams said.

And that investment in the downtown, beautification and other things like tourism bring people, and their spending money, into Morristown.

Hotel taxes in the city are used to invest in and support tourism efforts such as downtown events like the First Friday Concert Series and the effort to make Morristown “Tennessee’s Disc Golf Capital.” The city has hosted the PDGA sanctioned Tennessee State Disc Golf Championships for years.

“In the 13 years of the tournament, the direct economic impact has grown from, approximately, $42,000 with 150 players to $440,000 with 529 players in 2025,” MACC Director of Tourism Anne Ross said in a statement, noting tourism brings in people from all over the country. “On average, we have players coming in from 25 states.”

This year’s tournament kicks off on June 12.

And the tournament highlights a growing trend in the state and the importance of tourism to local economies.

Tennessee has broken tourism records for the past few years and economic impact reporting from the TN Department of Tourist Development said the money spent from visitors is important to state and local governments that receive revenue generated by sales taxes.

“Tourism is a powerful economic driver across all 95 counties, generating $3.3 billion in state and local tax revenue – saving each Tennessee household $1,170 annually on average,” a report released last summer said.

So, the various groups like KMHB, the MACC and the city will keep trying to figure out how to bring visitors to a city that “outpunches our weight class,” as Mayor Gary Chesney says.