Hey Kingsport

09/18/2026

The 9/11 stair climb at Bristol Motor Speedway started in a hospital parking garage on Cassell Drive with about a dozen people.

Most of them worked for Kingsport Fire Department. Still do.

Twelve years later, around 775 people climbed 110 flights and it raised roughly $90,000, which makes Tri-Cities 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb one of the top-earning climbs in the country out of one of the most rural places that holds one.

The name on my tag, the people who built this, and who the money benefits.

This week’s newsletter is live. Link in comments.

09/12/2026

Some trips out of Tri-Cities take two flights and a layover to pull off.

What flight destinations would you like to see come to Tri-Cities Airport?

09/11/2026

Sullivan County has mailed 1,345,000 Dolly Parton books.

It started because six people drove to a state library workshop in 2003 and came home thinking they could run one here. By that July the Kingsport Chamber Foundation had signed the paperwork.

Also in this week’s issue: four Kingsport firefighters at a Dollywood ride opening, the banjo player who ran her band for 20 years and played MeadowView two years ago, and a Ridgefields house with a wood-fired pizza oven out back.

Link in comments.

09/10/2026

Time for a friendly debate!

A project application hit the City of Kingsport this week for a proposed In-N-Out at 1920 N. Eastman Road. Nothing official yet, just a conceptual plan review, but half the town is already planning what they're ordering.

So let's do this the fun way. Best burger in Kingsport. Four contenders.

Pal's. In-N-Out. Smashed Tri-Cities. Five Guys.

09/08/2026

What is your Go-To grocery store in Kingsport?

09/05/2026

This season we’re giving a new meaning to “Feels like ‘98”

09/04/2026

Rules are simple. One guess, in the comments, no looking it up.

Guess the list price!

2277 Rock Springs Road. Five bed, two bath, 2,500 square feet on 11.8 acres. Creek out front with a bridge over it. Four-stall barn with a porch. Chicken coop. Pool and a hot tub.

Go!

09/04/2026

A president of the United States has family ties to Kingsport, Tennessee.

George H.W. Bush’s parents rented a house on Norwood Street in White City for six months in 1922, two years before he was born. He came back in 1988 as a sitting vice president to see it. The man who owned it by then staked a FOR SALE sign in the lawn an hour before he arrived as a joke. His wife had coffee and chocolate chip cookies waiting inside.

This week’s newsletter is live. Link in comments

09/02/2026

Time for some school spirit!

Which graduating class holds the throne of “Best Class Ever”?

09/01/2026

Hey Tiebreakers,

Welcome to Kingsport!

…this crown’s gonna look so good on you.