Jack Neely makes the pitch for a new weekly paper to a full crowd at the Knoxville History Center, about two months after the Metro Pulse was shut down in October 2014.

Editor Coury Turczyn attempts to explain a unique concept in newsweekly publishing: a paper owned by an educational nonprofit to be called the Knoxville History Project. The Knoxville Mercury would attempt to avoid corporate ownership in order to be truly local and to retain more editorial freedom.

Jack Neely (left) and senior editor Matthew Everett inspect possible new digs at the Walnut Building downtown.

Love at first sight: editor Coury Turczyn spots his dream desk at the Mid-Mod Collective. Probably should’ve waited until he had an income before buying it.

Our first meeting in our non-operational office in the Walnut Building, December 2014.

Our first meeting in our non-operational office in the Walnut Building, December 2014.

Where’s our Internet?!

Matthew Everett commandeers a work surface for his own.

Just look at that view!

The Walnut Building, one of Knoxville’s few mod office buildings downtown. Perfect place to publish a new paper. Except for the rent.

We got our first piece of mail! What the heck is it?

Benton’s Bacon!

Keeping our banking local by starting a checking account at Clayton Bank. Original business manager Jerry Collins oversees the transaction.

A real bank account? Now we exist, probably! Matthew Everett and Jerry Collins sign the paperwork.

Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop donated a portion of sales to support our effort. Those were the days!

We held a dinner fundraiser at the Standard in January 2015, with food donated by chef Matt Gallaher of Knox Mason fame. It was pretty damn good. Art Director Tricia Bateman made some last-minute adjustments to the slide show.

Lots of important people hobnobbing!

Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego performed. It was a lovely evening.

Appalachia Business Communications generously let us borrow one of their top printer/copier/scanner/fax machines. We couldn’t have operated without it.

Computers! Now we’re getting close to actually writing stuff.

Famed stage manager Mark Arnold donated these items. Yup.

Mark Arnold also gave us this awesome 3D map of Iceland.

Publisher and sales director Charlie Vogel

Senior sales executive Scott Hamstead

Photographer David Luttrell shoots donor/cable TV magnate Zak Weisfeld. In our first issue, we ran a gallery of our “Coalition of the Willing” — people who pitched in to help make the Mercury happen.

Knoxville History Project director Jack Neely signs stuff! Who knew that starting up a nonprofit would require so much paperwork?

The first issue hits our desk after being printed in Bristol, Tenn. and trucked over the mountains, March 11, 2015. The weekly grind begins.

Purty!

Somebody sent Jack Neely a good-luck “money” bonsai tree. Oh, if it had only worked.

Photographer Katharine Emlen drops in with some hot coffee, just for the heck of it!

Our very first ticket-giveaway winner! Carly Duckett got take a friend to Big Ears 2015.

In May 2015, we began a monthly series of Mercury Meetups at local establishments around town. No presentations or speeches — it was just an opportunity for readers and staffers to meet and chat. The first one was held at Chandler’s Deli in East Knoxville.

Hey, we got some schwag for our League of Supporters! Ian Blackburn was among the first to snag a valuable tote bag.

Another Mercury Meetup, this time in North Knoxville’s Casual Pint.

Who’s that familiar-looking guy in the background?!

One of our very first editorial interns, Liv McConnell. Now she’s a big-time editor in NYC!