Kingsport Spirit

I can’t tell you how many times people stopped me during Fun Fest to say “thank you” and express how they felt about living in a place like Kingsport.

They did not necessarily mean the City of Kingsport. They meant the Kingsport community.

They were not really thanking me personally. I happened to be a convenient person to tell—someone they trusted to pass their gratitude along to the many people who make it happen.

We are taught in Leadership Kingsport that we are all community trustees. We hold this community in trust for a time, care for it, and pass it along to the next generation.

Fun Fest may be the best example of the difference between a city and a community.

A city is a legal entity with defined boundaries. A community is harder to define. It does not begin or end at a city-limit sign. It exists wherever people share a sense of place, responsibility and belonging.

In Kingsport, that connection crosses city, county and even state lines.

The City of Kingsport provides essential support for Fun Fest, preparing streets and venues and helping manage safety and logistics. But city government does not create Fun Fest by itself.

Businesses sponsor events. Organizations host them. Volunteers give their time. Families show up. Friends reconnect. Former residents come home.

Examine the roster of Fun Fest volunteers and sponsors, and you will find that many do not live within Kingsport’s city limits. Some do not live in Sullivan or Hawkins County. Some may not even live in Tennessee.

They do not pay Kingsport city taxes, vote in city elections or send their children to Kingsport City Schools. Yet they roll up their sleeves and give everything they have to this community.

They may not be residents of the City of Kingsport, but they are unquestionably part of the Kingsport community.

That may be the clearest distinction of all.

The city provides the framework. The community gives it life. When the two come together, people develop an emotional connection to this place and to one another.

I sometimes compare the example of tithes and offerings.

Tithes, like taxes, are required. Offerings are voluntary—something given above and beyond because someone cares enough to respond.

Government can build a sidewalk, park or school, but it cannot create friendship, belonging or the culture that helps children succeed. It can provide emergency services, but it cannot replace the person who checks on an elderly neighbor, delivers a meal or sits with a family experiencing loss.

Kingsport has understood that distinction almost from its beginning.

Our founders envisioned a professionally managed city, but they also expected businesses, churches, civic organizations and citizens to step forward voluntarily. J. Fred Johnson later described the “Kingsport Spirit” as mutual helpfulness and a willingness to set aside personal interests for the greater good.

That spirit belonged to the community, not simply to City Hall.

The Kingsport community has always been larger than the City of Kingsport.

From Fall Creek to Fall Branch and Cook’s Valley to Carter’s Valley, from Indian Springs to Rock Springs, Lynn Garden to Sullivan Gardens, and from Church Hill to Church Circle, people may live beyond the city limits but still work, worship, volunteer and raise families as part of the larger Kingsport community.

Municipal boundaries still matter. City residents elect the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, pay city taxes and expect city government to perform well.

But neither government nor private charity can do everything alone. Volunteer organizations cannot maintain public infrastructure or provide professional public safety. Government cannot create generosity, friendship or belonging.

The strongest communities emerge when government performs competently, businesses invest, nonprofits respond, churches serve and people understand that community membership carries obligations as well as benefits.

That is what people were really thanking us for during Fun Fest.

They were grateful not just for an event, but for the feeling of being part of something larger than themselves.

A city is something we build.

A community is something we create together.