Tuesday was a day of new beginnings at McGhee Tyson Airport as two events fell on the same day. On the one hand were flowers, and on the other, job opportunities.
The overlap of the two events was more coincidental than purposeful, according to Becky Huckaby, vice president of public relations for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. While a need to fill multiple positions at the airport led staff to host a job fair at the airport Hilton, members of local nonprofit Special Growers diligently updated the flowers lining the walkway to security at the airport terminal building.
Airport staff hosted Tuesday’s job fair because they were looking to fill five positions ranging from part-time to full-time, Huckaby said. A conversation among other employers told a similar story.
“We had a meeting, and there were several others that needed it,” she said. “So we put the fair together.”
Employers present Tuesday included the airport itself, the Hilton and multiple airlines. A total of seven booths filled the conference room.
Nearby, Special Growers was providing employment to a different demographic.
“Our program is basically looking to hire any adult with a disability,” Director of Operations Maria Laughlin said while overseeing planting Tuesday. Many of the Maryville-based nonprofit’s employees come from local high schools, she said, where it offers skills and job training to students.
The group offers flower subscriptions, and garden dinners with food, and also updates the flowers along the stream in the airport terminal building. The flowers, Laughlin said, are coordinated to represent what’s currently blooming in Tennessee, so the airport always features the colors of home.
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