The new temporary sign for Rocky Top will go over the existing interstate exit sign for Lake City. From left: Christy Vowell, Brittney Phillips and business owner Donna Cornett.NASHVILLE – A former mining town in East Tennessee changed its name to Rocky Top on Thursday on a gamble that the popularity of the bluegrass standard will bring prosperity.
Tim Sharp, mayor of the town of 1,800 people formerly known as Lake City, confirmed the vote, which came after a failed last-minute bid by publishers of the song to stop the change in federal court.
The song that declares, “Rocky Top, you’ll always be home, sweet home, to me. Good ol’ Rocky Top. Rocky Top, Tennessee,” has been recorded by dozens of performers over the years, including Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, the Osborne Brothers and Lynn Anderson. It is one of the state songs of Tennessee and is played repeatedly at University of Tennessee football games.
A group of developers thinks the name has the cachet to attract tourists. In exchange for Lake City changing its name to Rocky Top, they have promised to build a Disney-style interactive, 3-D animated theater, a live music venue, an indoor-outdoor waterpark and a 500-seat paddleboat restaurant on an as yet-to-be-constructed artificial lake.
That may seem pie-in-the-sky, but the mere promise of money and jobs has been enough to persuade many residents to support the name change.