Free TVA trading cards promote lakes, rivers
The Tennessee Valley Authority has come up with a new way to promote its many assets — trading cards.
Just like baseball trading cards, the cards come wrapped with a piece of gum, but instead of Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, they highlight places such as Great Falls and Melton Hill Reservoir.
One other difference is that the packs are free and available at welcome centers across the TVA’s sevenstate area.
“I have a feeling those are going to be pretty popular,” said TVA spokesman Travis Brickey, who had a big role in coming up with the idea for the cards. “We took the cards to a school to see how they would go over, and the kids couldn’t get enough of them.”
A total of 25 places were featured in the first edition. With 49 reservoirs in the system and other places that could be highlighted, there are options for more editions.
The cards feature the artwork of Knoxville’s Cindy Day, who created the works on computer in a style reminiscent of old billboards for the National Park Service.
“TVA told me they wanted a vintage style, so that’s what I went with,” Day explained.
On each card’s back are the vital statistics — not batting average, but helpful information. The Fontana Reservoir card, for example, has a listing of when it was constructed, its height, length, shoreline, etc. There are also a couple of paragraphs about the virtues of the place depicted.
The pack also includes a pitch to participate in TVA’s “TVAfun” summer photography contest. People are encouraged to send in photos from their visits to various TVA sites. Entries will be judged and winners announced Sept. 11. Go to tva.com/TVAfun.
Brickey said he thinks the trading cards will catch on. A tent is being planned for TVA retiree events so that group — some of whom might have even helped construct the projects pictured — can acquire and collect the cards.
He said it hasn’t been decided whether the trading cards will be a one-time thing, but he suspects their popularity will make them an ongoing product.