Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Festival features ‘something for everyone’

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Homemade Wine Band

The Homemade Wine Band played after the Friday morning opening ceremony at the Secret City Festival.

The annual Secret City Festival started today, and it features Manhattan Project bus tours and history displays, World War II living history activities and demonstrations, arts and crafts and antiques dealers, food vendors and exhibitors, a children’s festival area and youth events, and a car show and concerts.

“Join more than 20,000 visitors and residents to celebrate the end of World War II and the heritage of Oak Ridge from 1945 to the present,” a press release said.

Oak Ridge was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s atomic bombs, and the festival celebrates the city’s heritage.

Festival organizers have provided an overview of some of the many activities and events taking place at this year’s festival:
 [Read more…]

Secret City Festival announces return of ‘Kid City Circuit’

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Submitted

For the second year in a row, Oak Ridge has been named a Playful City and is proud to announce the return of the Kid City Circuit to the children’s area of the Secret City Festival. Playful City USA is a nationally recognized program honoring cities and towns that make play a priority and use innovative programs to get children active, playing, and healthy.

Because the Secret City Festival is focused on community unity and children’s and family activities are such a big part of the festival, organizers are excited about the return of this festival favorite. [Read more…]

UT football coach helps ORNL kick off United Way campaign

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Butch Jones at ORNL United Way Kickoff

Fans of University of Tennessee football and supporters of the United Way had a chance to see UT coach Butch Jones, right, on Monday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s United Way campaign kickoff. (ORNL photo by Jason Richards)

University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones helped Oak Ridge National Laboratory kick off this year’s United Way campaign on Monday morning.

“United Way means everything,” Jones said after discussing leadership—and football—with several hundred workers at ORNL. “It’s a great way to give back to your community.”

He said United Way agencies help about 100,000 people in the Knoxville area. [Read more…]

Charity dog walk on Saturday receives $2,000 donation

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Radio Systems Corp.—home of the PetSafe and SportDOG brands—recently awarded $2,000 to the Mutt Strutt, a charity dog walk created by the Young Professionals of Oak Ridge Community Outreach Committee in partnership with SARG (Shelter Animal Rescue Group).

The Mutt Strutt was created to support the improvement of the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter, and this year’s event will be held at A.K. Bissell Park at 10 a.m. Saturday. [Read more…]

Relay for Life moved indoors tonight, ends at midnight due to forecast

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Relay for Life will be held indoors at the Oak Ridge High School tonight due to the risk of bad weather, the American Cancer Society said.

“We will be in the corridor and the B Gym,” representative Kayla Shelby said in a statement Thursday. She said participants should enter through the doors they would use to go to the arena, and the event will be modified, ending at midnight.

[Read more…]

Council rejects funding for sinkhole repairs, tax rate reduction; approves Habitat property transfer

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Oak Ridge High School Soccer Field Sinkhole

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to reimburse the school system about $36,000 for repairs to this 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to use red light camera money to reimburse the school system $36,000 for sinkhole repairs made in April at the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

Council also agreed to transfer a small burned-out lot on Hillside Road to Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County and rejected a proposal to lower the property tax rate by one cent.

Asked about the sinkhole repair reimbursement on Tuesday, Oak Ridge Schools Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge said the school system, which expects revenues to fall by about $1 million and is cutting 18 positions, has a tight budget. [Read more…]

Final sale day at Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

The first estate sale at the Alexander Inn was very popular, and now the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance plans to have a second.

It will be this Saturday, and the ETPA said it’s the second and final estate “tag” sale.

The sale will from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. ETPA is holding it in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

‘Girls of Atomic City’ author at Lunch with League on Tuesday

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Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II,” will speak at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

The program begins at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“The Girls of Atomic City” is the true story of the young women during World War II who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, one of the Manhattan Project’s secret cities. Through their efforts were crucial to the development of the world’s first atomic bomb, the vast majority of Oak Ridge residents did not know what they were working on until the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” detonated above Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. [Read more…]

Women volunteer at construction site for National Women Build Week

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Women Build May 2013

More than 15 women volunteered on a Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County  construction site earlier this month in recognition of National Women Build Week. Now in its sixth year, National Women Build Week challenges women to devote at least one day to help repair or build affordable housing in their local communities.

The volunteers worked to provide weatherization services and exterior repairs to a home owned by a single mother with three children. While new siding was being installed by volunteers, other volunteers worked on landscaping and yard maintenance. [Read more…]

Boys and Girls Club has annual spring picnic today

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The Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge will have its annual spring picnic from 5 to 7:30 p.m. today at 102 South Jefferson Circle.

The all-you-can-eat picnic is $5, and it will include hamburgers and hot dogs and the opportunity to watch some youth baseball, a press release said.

East Tennessee nonprofit has estate sale at Alexander Inn on May 25

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center. An East Tennessee nonprofit will have an estate sale there on May 25.

An East Tennessee nonprofit organization will have an estate sale at the Alexander Inn on May 25.

The historic two-story hotel, unused for about two decades, is being converted into an assisted living center. The estate sale will give the public a one-time opportunity to walk through a portion of the historic inn before renovations begin and purchase furnishings from the 1940s through the 1980s, a press release said.

The sale, which is scheduled form 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25, is being organized by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

‘Sister Rolls the Dice!’ a sure bet to entertain

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Sister’s coming, so brace yourself—for an evening of good-hearted fun! The Ulster Project is hosting her newest comedy act, “Late Nite Catechism Las Vegas: Sister Rolls the Dice!” on Saturday, May 18, as the finale to their fundraiser. Sister will appear on stage to “instruct” the East Tennessee audience at St. Mary’s School gym, 327 Vermont Ave., Oak Ridge.

The Naples News calls the new show “sharp, witty and spectacularly brilliant.” [Read more…]