The City of Knoxville will celebrate the official naming of a section of North Central to "Happy Holler" Saturday with a ceremony at the 6th Annual Hollarpalooza Street Fair.

More info and a little history in the press release after the break...

What: Ceremony celebrating the honorary naming of the section of North Central Street between Pearl and Scott Avenues as "Happy Holler" in recognition of the area’s role in Knoxville’s history. The event will take place during the Sixth Annual Happy Hollarpalooza Street Fair.

City Council approved the honorary street name during a meeting earlier this year.

When: 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22

Where: Near the intersection of North Central and Anderson Streets, the heart of Happy Hollow.

Who: Mayor Daniel Brown and others will take part in the brief ceremony

Happy Hollow was located at the center of a thriving manufacturing and textile industry in Knoxville in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At one point the "Holler" featured bars on all four corners of the North Central and Anderson intersection and had a reputation as a rough and colorful part of town.

It was also, however, surrounded by neighborhoods where the people who worked in the mills and factories made their homes. The area around Happy Hollow featured a furniture store, three grocery stores, a movie theater, barbershops, a funeral home, drug stores and a public watering trough.

The area declined as the mills and factories began to close and move away in the mid-20th century and the era ended for good with the closing of Brookside Mills in 1956.

In recent years North Central and the surrounding neighborhoods has seen something of a revival with homeowners renovating many of the Victorian Homes in the area and the establishment of several new businesses in what had been empty or underused buildings.

The City of Knoxville created a Downtown North Redevelopment Area in 2007 to encourage continued economic development in the area and has been engaged in several infrastructure and streetscape improvement projects in the area leading north out of downtown Knoxville.

Happy Hollerpalooza is set for noon until 5 p.m., Saturday, along Central from Baxter Avenue to Scott Avenue. It features children’s events, games, live music, crafts, food and a vintage motorcycle show among many other offerings.