By HAYLEY HARMON
6 News Anchor/Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Because this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Boomsday Festival, it's expected to have one of the largest turnouts of revelers ever.
People were showing up hours early in hopes of beating the crowds, and snagging the best locations to watch the largest Labor Day fireworks show in the nation.
Even though festivities down on Neyland Drive and Volunteer Landing didn't even open to the public until 1 PM, parking attendants were at their posts at 9 this morning, ready for the influx of thousands of cars.
"To get the good spots, you got to get here early," said Donald Larmer, with UT Parking Services.
After years of working Boomsdays, he knows it gets pretty crazy as the day goes on.
"It'll get hectic. It'll get real rough. Just people driving everywhere," said Larmer.
Once they get parked, he turns into their tour guide of sorts.
"We'll tell them where everything's at and we'll tell them everything's on Neyland Drive," said Larmer.
And down on Neyland, vendors were also up with the sun, readying their booths for all the action.
"We've been working since 8 o'clock. So 3 or 4 hours just to set everything up," said Savanna Cummings of the Wish Upon Boutique.
Cummings' booth is just one of the hundreds of vendors setting up for Boomsday, hoping to take advantage of the big crowds, which are expected to top 400,000.
"There's tons and tons and tons of people that will be here and there will be tons of little girls running around saying mommy, look, look," said Cummings.
Getting there early was also the name of the game for a lot of visitors, who were perusing the booths well before the festival officially opened.
"Get here early and get where you want to be before the big crowd gets here so you can just be seated and have fun and get to hang out," said Michael Scifo, of Jamestown.
That plan paid off for this family.
"We've pretty much walked the whole entire strip already and got to see everything," said Scifo.
It's also helped them make the most of this yearly event.
"Two years ago, I proposed to my wife here. It's a good place to come and have a good time and spend time with family," said Scifo.
People were not only getting there early to beat the crowds.
They were also showing up early to claim those best spots to watch the fireworks later on this evening.
Boaters cruised in this morning, picking prize positions on the water to get the best fireworks view.
And families were setting up their chairs all around downtown, staking their claim in area parking garages so they can best see the lights across Knoxville tonight.
"We usually get here early so we can get a spot on the rail and get it so we don't have a big crowd around us. It's kind of a family event," explained Michael Scifo, of Morristown.
