Chattanooga Is Home

Cookin’ on the Quarter
September 1, 2007
5 p.m. to 12 a.m.
First Tennessee Pavilion
$10 admission

As most long weekend in Chattanooga are packed with fun events, this coming Labor Day weekend is no exception. Besides the music festival on Lookout Mountain, there is Cookin’ on the Quarter.

On September 1st, Cookin’ on the Quarter returns for an evening of music and food at the First Tennessee Pavilion. The musicians will start up at 5 p.m. and will represent the three states of Tennessee- mountains, plateau, river. The three states translate roughly into bluegrass, country and blues and there will be one local and one national music group performing for each genre.

This quarter’s lineup of musicians are Leaving Miss Blue, Tony Joe White, Lou Wamp and The Dappled Grays, The Waybacks, Buck and Duke, and David Lee Murphy. Music starts at 5 and end roughly around midnight.

The cooking is provided by local food vendors. Moss’ Catering (barbecue and fish sandwiches), Blue Orleans, Griffin’s Foot Longs, Main & Mocha (coffee), and Niedlov’s Breads.

An added benefit of the Southside festival is the Pooch Sitting Service that benefits the local Humane Educational Society.

The Humane Educational Society is excited to provide pooch sitting services for Cookin’ on the Quarter patrons. For a donation of $15, your pooch will be able to play in the Chattanooga Chew Chew Canine Park accompanied by an HES employee or volunteer for one hour. Dog sitting will be done between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. All dogs must be picked up by 8 p.m.!

You have to register your pooch by August 30th, call Jeanine Cloyd at 624-5302, ext. 242 for more information. Visit the Cookin’ on the Quarter website for even more information.

Wristbands are $10 at the gate.

Rock City, the tourist attraction that towers over Chattanooga, wraps up their 75th Anniversary celebration this coming weekend.

To cap off their summer festivities, Rock City will be hosting a Labor Day Music Festival. Admission to the festival is the cost of admission to see Rock City. Music begins on Friday, August 31st, at 2 p.m. and will continue through Monday, September 3rd. Jam sessions will be held at Lover’s Leap. All musicians are welcome to bring their instruments and participate.
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Rock Point Books
401 Broad Street
423-756-2855

Each month, Rock Point Books hosts the Southern Lit Book Club. Anyone is welcome to come and discuss a selected Southern author, to explore his/ her life and the book of the month.

The Southern Lit Book Club met this evening to discuss Salvation on Sand Mountain. Now you can get ready for the next month’s book. Each months’ selected title is available for purchase to participating members at a discount of 10% off of the regular price.

September’s book is All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. The next gathering of the Southern Lit Book Club will be on September 24th, at 6 p.m.
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Creative Discovery Museum
321 Chestnut Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402

We have really enjoyed the Creative Discovery Museum this past summer. It allowed for our son to have somewhere cool to go and lots of activity to keep him occupied. The bonus? It is so educational.

During the summer, the Creative Discovery extended its hours. It allowed for more visitors and family fun all summer long.

And now that Hamilton County Schools have gone back into session, CDM has reduced its hours again, until spring:

Creative Discovery Museum’s extended hours ended Sunday, August 12. We are now back to our regular hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. We will still be open Wednesdays until Labor Day, after which we will be closed Wednesdays until Spring.

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Between the Bridges
Wakeboard Festival
August 10, 11, 12
Chattanooga Riverfront
$22 for three days
$15 for one day

Today at 2 pm, the gates open for this year’s Between the Bridges Festival. This wakeboard and skateboard festival and competition started last year as a way to raise funds for the Joseph Grubbs Memorial Fund. Joseph Grubbs passed away in August of 2005. He was the bassist for Chattanooga’s own Up with the Joneses. The Joseph Grubbs Memorial Fund helps the people of Chattanooga through the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.

The Between the Bridges Festival mission statement is:

Between the Bridges will introduce Chattanoogas unique 21st Century Waterfront to the wakeboarding community as one of the premier locales for pro and grassroots competitions. By utilizing the cities resources we will unite the boater community in Chattanooga for water sports; establish a working relationship with the City of Chattanooga and local businesses, promote wakeboarding in the city, and provide a venue for local retailers to market their products.

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Yesterday evening we went to the park to enjoy some time with our neighbors for National Night Out.

The Mayor made it to our neighborhood and we learned that he is an Auburn alum. When he found out that Damon is Auburn Elvis, Mayor Littlefield told Damon he might want him to come to City Hall at some point!
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From the CAHSE President, Scott Noll:

National Night Out is TONIGHT. We will have a casual gathering from 7 pm to 9 pm down at the park (in between W. 49th and W. 51st on St. Elmo Ave.). There will be:

- A fire truck on site for the kids to check out
- Reps from the police department present when they are not out on calls
- Dog treats for those of you that might choose to walk your dog by
- Helium balloons for the kids
- An amazing playground to run around on

Other ideas:

- Bring a picnic down to the park for your family before or during those hours
- Organize a game or two out on the park lawn
- Leave your porch light on a little longer
- Sit out on your front porch
- Go for a walk

Basically this is just an opportunity to meet and/or hang out with other St. Elmo residents, so we hope to see you out tonight in some form or fashion.

The National Night Out from last year was a lot of fun. We met down in the “business district” of St. Elmo, heard live music, and got some freebies from local law enforcement.

The National Night Out is not just for established Neighborhood Watch programs, and you don’t have to register with NNO to enjoy an evening of getting out and meeting your neighbors. Enjoy the evening, have fun, and if you are in St. Elmo we might see you there!

If you know of other NNO gatherings in Chattanooga, please let me know or leave it in the comments section.

[tags]Chattanooga National Night Out, National Night Out, NNO, neighborhood watch, St. Elmo National Night Out, St. Elmo[/tags]

The weekend was a busy one in Chattanooga. Saturday, the celebration of the completion of the Market Street Bridge commenced. I went to the Riverfront early to watch the Dragon Boats race, and check out the vendors on the bridge. There were folks from First Tennessee Bank, Suntrust Bank, North Shore Merchants Collective, Chattanooga’s chapter of the Red Cross, EPB, CoverKids, and local North Shore merchants like Groomingdale’s.

.I took a walk down the middle of the bridge (not an easy task with the stroller I was pushing), stopping to take a picture at the seam.
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When I was in college, my parents were stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. I visited there on school breaks, but never really felt the city was mine to call home. (But anywhere my parents live, their house is definitely a home for me.)

One Christmas my sisters and I received a book of tickets to local tourist attractions. The Charleston board of tourism sold these books of discounted tickets to residents and called them “Be a Tourist in Your Hometown.” For the rest of Christmas break my sisters and I toured historic homes and other tourist spots in Charleston. And we have some wonderful memories of just being together.

I keep thinking about that Christmas break every time I drive by something that is rather touristy here in Chattanooga- from the Choo Choo to the Aquarium to the Chattanooga Ducks. I really want to experience them, but often feel like I have to have an out of town visitor accompanying me in order to make it appropriate.

Well, I decided I don’t have to wait for visitors, I can just take the time to be a tourist in my hometown. I don’t necessarily get a discount for being a resident, but I do get to spend some time with my son and understand my hometown a little better.

And if I write about my experience here, it might help someone who is coming to visit know what to expect as well.

I want to start with the CARTA Electric Shuttle. To me, the shuttles are one thing (out of many) that makes downtown truly special. First, they are free transportation around downtown. Second, they are electric, which is great for the environment. In fact, Chattanooga runs the largest fleet of electric vehicles in the world. If you want to know more about them, you can go to the Electric Vehicle Information Center, located at Shuttle Park South (the Chattanooga Choo-Choo).

While I know that it is not strictly tourists who use the free shuttle (I used it often when I worked downtown), but I think that some tourists may not know what it is all about.
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A while back I visited Niedlov’s new space on Main Street. It was a great experience, wonderful bread, and a great atmosphere. And this afternoon my email box let me know that there is even more than bread and atmosphere at Niedlov’s the next time I visit. They have sandwiches!

From their press release:

Niedlov’s Sandwiches Invite Chattanoogans to Love Their Lunch
Niedlov’s Breadworks, Chattanooga’s favorite artisan bakery, announces the launch of lunch.

A sandwich should be more than what is squeezed between the pieces of bread, just like lunch should be more than a quick fix squeezed into your day.

Expanding the in-store offerings at its new location, Niedlov’s has added sandwiches to its menu of breakfast pastries, barista eggs, coffee and espresso - and the naturally leavened, organic, whole grain breads upon which the bakery has built its reputation.

Like every loaf that comes out of the bakery, Niedlov’s sandwiches are healthy and delicious. The sandwiches use only the highest quality clean lunch meats, free of hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives. Adding cheese, vegetables, and spreads made in house, the bakery’s owner John Sweet pairs each combination with the perfect bread.
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