Oak Ridge Today

Community Band has Christmas Concert Sunday

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The Oak Ridge Community Band performs at the recent Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in A.K. Bissell Park on Dec. 1, 2021. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Community Band will play familiar holiday songs, and you will be able to sing along to favorite carols during a Christmas Concert on Sunday afternoon, December 12.

The family-friendly concert to ring in the holiday season will begin at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church, and there is no admission fee, a press release said.

Among the compositions on Sunday’s program will be one of Leroy Anderson’s most popular holiday tunes, “Sleigh Ride,” in which you can not only hear the bells on the horse pulling the sleigh but the crack of the whip, the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves, and the horse’s distinctive neigh, the press release said. The band will also perform Robert Buckley’s arrangement of “Let the Bells Ring!” based on “Ukrainian Bell Carol,” Alfred Reed’s “Russian Christmas Music,” and Robert Smith’s arrangement of “All is Calm.” More holiday tunes performed by the band will be Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival,” Paul Lavender’s arrangement of “A Home Alone Christmas,” and John K. Evans’s “Angels We Have Heard on High.” [Read more…]

First Presbyterian offers free meals, groceries on Dec. 9

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First Presbyterian Church will provide a free meal and bag of groceries to food-insecure guests who drive by the church between 5:30 and 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 9.

The church’s monthly “Welcome Table” community meal program plans to supply each guest with a meal consisting of a soup, chips, fruit, and brownies. In addition, a bag of groceries will be delivered to each car.

Guests should drive through the church parking lot to the sanctuary building (1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike) at the intersection of the Turnpike and Lafayette Drive to collect the foods donated by church members or paid for by the congregation’s hunger fund. Church volunteers wearing masks will deliver the hot meal and groceries to guests in their cars.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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Memory, hope mark Tuesday church event

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Lighting candles at a previous Service of Memory and Hope at First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

A Service of Memory and Hope will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 14, in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church at 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike. The public is invited. Face coverings will be required.

The service will feature music by local composer and pianist John Purifoy, Steve Boyce (vocal), and Anna Thomas (flute). They will present “Psalms of Comfort” using Purifoy’s musical arrangements of select Psalms for the occasion, a press release said.

Emily Anderson, pastor of New Providence Presbyterian Church in Maryville, will share a brief meditation. [Read more…]

Register now for winter-spring 2022 ORICL courses

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An ORICL course during the winter-spring term will explore Zentangle, a fun, easy-to-learn, relaxing method of drawing beautiful images with structured patterns. As a meditational art form, every Zentangle stroke is mindful rather than mindless (like doodling). (Submitted photo)

 

Would you like to learn about fascinating characters in Oak Ridge history and in the Old West, as well as hear the voices of those who shaped the Golden Age of Radio? Are you familiar with the story about the Oak Ridge Wildcats football team that won the national championship in 1958?

Would you like to learn the best ways to research your family’s history and identify potential ancestors? Do you know all sides of the gun issue in our country? Do you wish to hear from a former Oak Ridge mayor and his wife how to run a local political campaign?

These and other interesting topics will be addressed in courses that will be taught during the winter-spring term of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL), a press release said. Most of the smorgasbord of 65 courses will be presented in person but a few will be online via Zoom or as hybrid classes (in person and online). ORICL’s in-person and hybrid classes will be held mostly in the Coffey-McNally building on Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge Branch Campus at 701 Briarcliff Avenue.

The fall catalog is posted on ORICL’s www.roanestate.edu/oricl website. The registration form and calendar are also posted there, the press release said. Online registration opened Tuesday, December 7. Paper registrations can be brought to the office or mailed by December 14. The office will be closed from December 15 to January 3. [Read more…]

Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market opens Saturday

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Farmer Tracy Monday of Enlightenment Acres is pictured at Winter Farmers Market in Oak Ridge in 2018. (Submitted photo)

More than 30 farmers, bakers, and artisan crafters are moving indoors Saturday, December 4, for the sixth season of the Winter Farmers’ Market, which will be open Saturdays through March from 9 a.m. to noon.

The market is located in the gym at St. Mary’s School at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge. Customers may shop in person or choose curbside pickup or home delivery through the Market-To-Go program.

“The Winter Farmers’ Market brings local food and local folks together in a unique and fun way, with great food, live music, cooking demonstrations, free kids’ activities, artisan crafts, and more, indoors all winter,” said Rebecca Williams, director of Grow Oak Ridge, the local nonprofit that produces the market.

“We have two ways to shop again this year: in-person and online through Market-To-Go.”

The market offers an abundance of locally grown cool season produce like kale, spinach, lettuce, and gourmet mushrooms, and even some winter strawberries and tomatoes, a press release said. It also carries free-range eggs, pasture-raised meats, tilapia, local honey, artisan breads, pastries, unique handmade bath and body products, and handmade gifts from local artisans.

[Read more…]

Kern Methodist has Holiday Bake Sale on Saturday

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All proceeds go to support local and global missions having a focus on women, youth, and children. (Submitted image)

 

Kern Methodist Church in Oak Ridge will have a Holiday Bake Sale from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, December 4.

The sale is from 2-4 p.m. Saturday in the Family Life Center at the church on 451 East Tennessee Avenue. It will include cakes, cookies, candy, breads, jams, and pecans, according to a submitted image. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Christmas Tree Lighting this evening

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oak-ridge-christmas-tree-lighting-a-dec-2-2016
A previous Oak Ridge Christmas tree lighting in 2016 in Alvin K. Bissell Park. (File photo by City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will have its annual Community Christmas Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 2, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Pavilion in A.K. Bissell Park. The tree, a Norway Spruce, was presented by the Oak Ridge Woman’s Club to the city and has become part of a growing community tradition, a press release said.

The event will kick off at the outdoor A.K. Bissell Park Pavilion with seasonal music and the Park Board Awards ceremony. There will also be light refreshments provided by Y-12 Federal Credit Union and the Park Board, the press release said.

Following the program, participants will proceed to the Secret City Commemorative Walk on the east side of the Oak Ridge Public Library parking area for a brief ceremony ending with the tree lighting.

[Read more…]

Children’s Museum Gala features beach theme ‘Surf’s Up!’

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Matt Sieger, enjoying his DJ hobby here, will bring 1960s surf rock to the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (Submitted photo)

 

“Surf’s Up!” at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, where the 20th annual Gala will feature a beach-themed evening with dinner and entertainment and an oceanographer from 6-9:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3.

The event will have a little STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) mixed in with entertainment by area youth, dinner from Calhoun’s, a costume contest, and auctions. Leslie England, TNBank senior vice president of retail banking and a rock singer with the band Jada Blade, will emcee the event.

The School of Rock’s house band will entertain with beach tunes as guests arrive for the Gala. The Knoxville school offers performance-based music lessons for youth to age 18, and its musicians have performed live at such venues as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as local venues including the Tennessee and Bijou Theatres. The band at the Gala will feature youth on guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and vocals.

The Oak Ridge High School Choral Ensemble will bring back memories with a medley of Beach Boys tunes, including “Surfin’ USA,” “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” “Kokomo,” “Surf City,” and “Don’t Worry Baby.” [Read more…]

Medicaid expansion forum, part 2, is Tuesday

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The second part of a forum about Medicaid expansion will be online at lunchtime Tuesday, featuring two legislators who have supported Medicaid expansion.

The legislators are Tennessee Senator Richard Briggs, a physician, and Representative Gloria Johnson, a retired educator.

The virtual forum is scheduled to start at noon Tuesday, November 16. You can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting (learn more here).

Here is the Tuesday agenda:

[Read more…]

Christmas Stroll in downtown Clinton

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A Clinton Christmas Stroll this month will feature photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, horse-drawn carriage rides, food trucks, a nativity scene, and a silent auction to benefit the Education Foundation.

“Additionally, the brick-and-mortar shops will be staying open late for shopping on this Small Business Saturday,” a press release said.

The Christmas Stroll, a new event, is scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, November 27, in Historic Downtown Clinton.

The live nativity scene will be held in the Hoskins Park on Market Street. It will feature live animals, caroling, cookies and cider, and a kid’s craft. The horse-drawn carriage rides are $20 per family, and the carriage can hold up to six people at a time, the press release said. The ride will start on Freddy Fagan Way and go behind Shabby Remakes and then circle around down Market Street.

[Read more…]

Free community Thanksgiving Dinner on Nov. 25

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Everyone is invited to a free community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, November 25, a press release said.

“This year, however, our program has been modified out of consideration for social distancing as follows,” the press release said:

[Read more…]

Winners of first Kimmelman ‘Learning from Holocaust’ essay contest

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Winners have been announced for the first Mira Kimmelman “Learning from the Holocaust” essay and project contest. The winners were announced by the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.

“Mira Kimmelman challenged students to reflect upon the history of the Holocaust and contemporary examples of injustice for over 50 years,” a press release said. “The contest continues her work and legacy, asking Tennessee students to create projects that reflect how the lessons of the Holocaust are relevant to current events and their own lives. The contest has both middle school and high school entry options, all of which prompt students to reflect on the lessons learned through the study of Holocaust history.”

The contest is sponsored by the Kimmelman family and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission to honor and further Mira Kimmelman’s lifelong efforts to teach children to never forget and to learn from the horrors of the Holocaust., the press release said.

The high school winners are:

[Read more…]