Covenant Health Park Restaurants in Old City Beyond Game Days

The Knoxville Smokies played their last regular-season home game at Covenant Health Park on Sept. 6. October has 31 days, and the park has four scheduled events in it: three One Knox home matches and a beer festival. That leaves 27 days with nothing on the pitch. The businesses ringing the stadium are counting on those 27 days.

Every commercial space in the stadium district is now spoken for. Christi Branscom of Partners Development, who leases the residential and restaurant units in The Delaney, confirmed it to Inside of Knoxville at a ribbon-cutting in early September. The tenants already open and the ones on the way have something in common. Their hours, menus and formats fit a regular Tuesday better than a sellout.

A Lease Signed for the Gate Line, Open at 9 a.m.

Berry Social opened Friday, Sept. 4, at 122 Stadium Way, at the base of The Delaney just outside the stadium's west entrance. Owners Heather and Chad Jenkins signed the lease the July before. Heather told Inside of Knoxville they got "the pick of the litter" and chose the space partly because it sits right where crowds line up to get into the stadium.

That sounds like a business built for game nights. The menu says otherwise. Berry Social is a franchise of Arizona-based Berry Divine, serving açaí bowls with fresh toppings, smoothies and a cold-pressed, soft-serve style of açaí. The Jenkinses put their own stamp on the menu and on the decor, which Heather calls "Miami meets Knoxville with a boho spin." The shop's online ordering page lists a 9 a.m. opening, a breakfast hour with no game anywhere near it. The mural behind the counter shows the Knoxville skyline with the Sunsphere drawn as an açaí berry.

Jackie's Dream Set Its Hours Around a Normal Week

The clearest example sits on the Jackson Avenue side. Jackie Griffin opened the third version of Jackie's Dream at 498 E. Jackson Ave. with a ribbon-cutting on June 8. Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and Smokies owner Randy Boyd were there, and Boyd had outfitted the 2,000-square-foot space. Griffin has run Jackie's Dream for eleven years, first on McCalla Avenue in East Knoxville and then on Woodland Avenue in North Knoxville. The new room has 69 seats inside, more on the patio when the weather allows, and sits two doors down from the Smokies' team merchandise store.

The schedule was announced at the opening, and it has nothing to do with the baseball calendar:

• Monday: closed
• Tuesday through Saturday: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sunday: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Blue Streak reported that Griffin said the restaurant would stay open even when nothing is happening at Covenant Health Park. The menu carries the same comfort food her longtime customers know: fried chicken, meatloaf, pork chops, collard greens and fried green tomatoes. At this location she added fried chicken livers, as an appetizer and as an entrée. A Sunday that closes at 3 p.m. is built around after-church lunch, not first pitch.

Iron Forge Brewing Co., the Sevierville brewery whose second location opened June 4, says the same thing in its FAQ. The taproom sits outside the stadium at the Third Base Entrance, needs no game ticket, and is open on days with no game scheduled. Its official page doesn't post regular hours, so check before a weeknight visit.

Some of the district's ground floor isn't food at all. D1 Training and Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance opened a shared space on the ground floor of Yardley Flats in April. TOA's physical therapy clinic there now lists hours of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A gym and a physical therapy clinic run on appointments, and appointments run on the work week.

Four Event Days in October

Here is the fall calendar for the park, along with the two nearby Old City dates that fall in the same weeks:

Xul is advertising 100 breweries from the U.S. and Europe for the Oct. 24 festival. First Frightday is the Halloween edition of the Old City's First Friday, with spooky makers, live music, tarot readings, local stories and open galleries. The RED Gallery's BIG PRINTS! Steamroller Showcase runs all month, Oct. 2 through 30. After the Nov. 1 race, the park has no confirmed public events on the calendar until the Smokies' Winter Wonderland Light Show, which a local planner lists for December without 2026 dates.

So roughly one October day in eight brings a crowd to the stadium. Inside of Knoxville's Leslie Bateman put it directly in her September roundup: "These businesses aren't just for game days."

The Next Wave Fits the Same Pattern

The tenants due this fall fit a slow weeknight as well as the opening ones do, and several already have Knoxville followings. These are the latest dates each has announced, and opening dates around the stadium have slipped before:

• ParTee Golf at 122 Stadium Way, from two UT graduates including co-founder Brennan Hunt, with food, a full bar and TrackMan indoor golf simulator bays. Knox News reported a September target in August. The September roundup moved it to October, and the company's site still says "Coming Soon."
• T-Ralph's Burgers & Fries and Disco Chicken & Donuts, both opening second locations in The Delaney after starting out at Kern's Bakery. Both are expected in October.
• Knox-Quila Cantina, a local family-owned Mexican restaurant with tacos and a list of 200 tequilas. The September roundup still listed it as coming, with no opening date.
• Jonathan's Grille, the Nashville-based sports bar, caddy-corner to The Delaney. No opening date yet.
• Crispy Cones at 500 E. Jackson Ave., just below Jackie's Dream and Iron Forge, expected in early November.

Letters of intent are also signed for the last two bays in The Delaney, and those concepts haven't been announced.

Two of these moves show how the district is being filled. Crispy Cones, the Shark Tank-born soft-serve shop that bakes fresh dough cones rotisserie-style, closed its first Knoxville location near Karns earlier this year so it could relocate to the stadium. Local franchisee Brad Burcham owns this one, and contractor Charlie Mubarak of Mubarak Construction is building it out. T-Ralph's and Disco Chicken already have customers from Kern's. A business doesn't give up an existing address, or open a second location of a proven counter, to sell 70 nights a year. An indoor golf simulator doesn't care about rain delays or the off-season either.

Where the Stadium Blocks Meet the Rest of the Old City

Jackson Avenue ties all of this together. Up the street from the park, Boo Jackson is turning the former Sweet P's at 410 W. Jackson Ave. into Boo Jack's Chick-N-Sack Sports Lounge. In early September, soft openings were planned for around Sept. 16, with a grand opening in October. On the same stretch, Jesse and Corey Vose of Fiori Bar & Lounge are planning a cocktail lounge called Sidecar at 108 E. Jackson Ave., in the former Bethie Lou's gift shop. They haven't announced an opening date.

More is coming behind them. The Design Review Board approved a six-story, 175-room Springhill and Towneplace Suites next to Barley's in December, and a seven-story mixed-use building with ground-floor retail is proposed parallel to Yardley Flats. Bateman wrote that she was glad to see two minority-owned businesses in this first wave. She hopes the district keeps "plenty of room for entrepreneurs and locally owned businesses," with respect for existing Old City businesses. Heather Jenkins described what the stadium has brought to the area more simply: "It's exciting, and exciting that we get to be a part of it."

For the next few weeks, a plain Tuesday is a good test. Jackie's Dream opens at 11 a.m., Berry Social has been open since 9, and the Iron Forge taproom by the Third Base Entrance is open with nothing scheduled inside the stadium.

The blocks around the stadium are filling up fast, and each new lease shapes what Old City lofts and homes nearby are worth. If you own in the Old City and want to know how the district's growth shows up in your property's value, Seth Jenkins can walk you through it with local comps. Get your free home valuation.