Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge has Children’s Halloween Party on Oct. 26

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A hay ride at the Children's Halloween Party in Oak Ridge in 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

A hay ride at the Children’s Halloween Party in Oak Ridge in 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will host the 2017 Children’s Halloween Party on Thursday, October 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

This annual event is now in its 35th year and will be attended by hundreds of local children and their parents, a press release said. Activities will be planned for every room in the Oak Ridge Civic Center, and a hay ride will be offered in A.K. Bissell Park, weather permitting.

Businesses and organizations are invited to sponsor a game booth for the party. Sponsors will supply two to four volunteers to operate the game throughout the evening. The Recreation and Parks Department will provide the games and prizes unless sponsors wish to provide their own, the press release said. Games should be appropriate for children age 10 and under. Applications can be emailed or picked up at the Civic Center front desk. [Read more…]

Senior Board to meet with design firm to discuss new Senior Center on Monday

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This site option was unanimously recommended for a new Oak Ridge Senior Center by the Senior Advisory Board on Monday, April 10, 2017. (Image courtesy Studio Four Design/City of Oak Ridge)

This site option was unanimously recommended for a new Oak Ridge Senior Center by the Senior Advisory Board on Monday, April 10, 2017. (Image courtesy Studio Four Design/City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Senior Advisory Board will meet with a design firm to discuss the new Senior Center on Monday.

The special meeting, a work session, is scheduled at 10 a.m. Monday, October 16, in the B room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center. During that work session, the Board will be meeting with Studio 4 Design to discuss the new senior center project.

“Board members and other interested citizens are invited to attend,” a notice said.

If you have any questions, contact Recreation Manager Linda McGhee at lmcghee@oakridgetn.gov or (865) 425-3999.

Clinch River Fall Antique Festival is this weekend

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Handsome and the Humbles: “From the echoes of sadness to the heart of hope emerges the music of Knoxville's Handsome and the Humbles...Music made in a sheen of revelatory honesty, Handsome and the Humbles classify best as keepers." (Submitted photo)

Handsome and the Humbles: “From the echoes of sadness to the heart of hope emerges the music of Knoxville’s Handsome and the Humbles…Music made in a sheen of revelatory honesty, Handsome and the Humbles classify best as keepers.” (Submitted photo)

 

The 17th Annual Clinch River Fall Antique Festival this weekend will feature antiques, music, and food, a press release said. The festival is Friday, October 13, and Saturday, October 14, in Clinton. It’s hosted by the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce.

On Friday evening, October 13, from 6-9 p.m., there will be food vendors in the Hoskins/Lane Park, as well as a “Cruze-In” for muscle cars on Market Street. The antique shops, specialty shops, and eateries will be open late. This year’s entertainment will be provided by “The Tenos” playing in Hoskins/Lane Park from 7-9 p.m., the press release said.

“Don’t forget to bring your lawn chairs!” organizers said.

Admission and parking for the evening’s festivities are free. Cars that participate in the “Cruze-In” are asked to donate $10 to the Education Foundation for Clinton City and Anderson County Schools. [Read more…]

Mediterranean Delight, others to support ADFAC on Monday, October 9

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Mediterranean Delight has an extensive menu of Middle-Eastern fare including chicken skewers with rice, hummus with pita, grape-leaf rolls, and a cucumber salad. Homemade pita chips sprinkled with spices and herbs are a customer favorite. (Submitted photo)

Mediterranean Delight has an extensive menu of Middle Eastern fare including chicken skewers with rice, hummus with pita, grape-leaf rolls, and a cucumber salad. Homemade pita chips sprinkled with spices and herbs are a customer favorite. (Submitted photo)

 

Tucked away in the end of Ridgeway Center, Mediterranean Delight offers a taste of Middle-Eastern fare from owners Najah and Riad Rejoub.

The little restaurant will be one of 10 participating eateries that will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) through the Dine and Donate program this coming Monday, October 9.

The Rejoubs are from Jordan and have owned the restaurant for 13 years. Some of the menu items include dips like hummus and baba ghanouj, with pita chips sprinkled with zaatar, a Jordanian mix of spices and herbs. Other culinary features include tabouli salads, kubeh, grape leave rolls, chicken skewers, and gyros, a press release said.

Additional restaurants in Oak Ridge and Clinton that will participate in Dine and Donate on Monday include: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge woman to compete on ‘Jeopardy!’ on Thursday

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Scarlett Sims, right, of Oak Ridge is pictured above with Alex Trebek, host of the television quiz show "Jeopardy!" (Photo courtesy Jeopardy Productions Inc.)

Scarlett Sims, right, of Oak Ridge is pictured above with Alex Trebek, host of the television quiz show “Jeopardy!” (Photo courtesy Jeopardy Productions Inc.)

 

Scarlett Sims, an Oak Ridge woman, will compete on “Jeopardy!” on Thursday, a press release said. You can watch the quiz show on WBIR-TV in Knoxville at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

The press release describes Sims as a stay-at-home mom from Oak Ridge.

Sims graduated from Mariposa County High School in Mariposa, California, in 2004, and she graduated from Tulane University, where she studied the French language, in 2008, according to her Facebook page. Sims has also studied library science at the University of Alabama, her Facebook page said. [Read more…]

See the future home of the K-25 History Center

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Image courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office

Image courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management

 

The public is invited to walk through the future home of the K-25 History Center on Thursday, October 19.

The K-25 History Center will be built on the second floor of Oak Ridge’s Fire Station Number 4. The fire station is at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

The public walk-through is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. October 19.

The K-25 History Center is expected to help preserve the history of the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Oak Ridge was built during that top-secret project to help build the world’s first atomic weapons.

K-25 was one of three major federal sites built in the city that is now Oak Ridge as part of the Manhattan Project. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary: Fire prevention celebration includes parade Saturday

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Map courtesy City of Oak Ridge

Map courtesy City of Oak Ridge

 

A fire prevention celebration on Saturday will include a parade as part of Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary celebration.

The celebration will kick off with a “Then and Now”-themed parade that will start at Oak Ridge Fire Department Fire Station Number 3 on Tuskegee Drive and end at Alvin K. Bissell Park. Lineup for participants begins at 9 a.m., with the parade getting underway at 10 a.m.

The city that is now Oak Ridge was built as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Among other things, uranium enriched at Y-12 fueled the first atomic bomb used in wartime. Code-named “Little Boy,” it was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of the war. [Read more…]

Street Painting Festival is Saturday at Roane State

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Photo courtesy Roane State Community College

Photo by Roane State Community College

 

The Street Painting Festival is Saturday at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.

Here is an event notice posted by Roane State.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge

When: [Read more…]

16th Annual Pet Fest & Blessing is Saturday

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Sammie Harris blessing a small dog at the 2016 Pet Fest and Blessing. (Submitted photo)

Sammie Harris blessing a small dog at the 2016 Pet Fest and Blessing. (Submitted photo)

 

Grace Lutheran Church will celebrate its 16th Annual Pet Fest and Blessing on Saturday, October 7.

“This year’s event will provide a chance to spend a productive day with your pet while you gather important information about the services and associations available to pets and their owners,” a press release said.

The Blessing of the Animals is held in the pavilion behind the church at 4 p.m. The church will also hold a Bake Sale, Rummage Sale, and Silent Auction to raise funds for all the participating rescue groups. Boy Scouts and other volunteers will walk your pet while you shop.

Activities will take place from 1-5 p.m. and parking will be available for the mobility-impaired at the church or in the Woodland Elementary School parking lot behind the church.

“If you’ve been looking for a new pet, you will meet representatives from numerous pet adoption agencies, some of whom will bring animals that are available for fostering or adoption,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Country singer Lee Ann Womack to headline Tennessee Fall Homecoming this weekend

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Lee Ann Womack

Lee Ann Womack

 

Award-winning country music singer Lee Ann Womack will headline this weekend’s Tennessee Fall Homecoming festival at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris.

The Tennessee Fall Homecoming is one of the region’s largest and most authentic music and folk festivals. It will be held Friday, October 6, through Sunday, October 8, at the Museum of Appalachia.

For its 38th annual event, the Museum is featuring an all-new Family Day and an evening concert series with award-winning artists, a press release said.

Genre-bending ensemble The SteelDrivers will play the first evening show on Friday, October 6, the press release said. Womack will perform on the evening of Saturday, October 7, along with Jerry Douglas’s bluegrass supergroup, The Earls of Leicester, the release said.

Homecoming will continue to feature dozens of musicians performing during the daytime, including Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, Flashback, Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive, Leroy Troy, Jimbo Whaley & Greenbrier, Jeff Brown & Still Lonesome, and many more, the press release said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum offers fall arts & clay classes for public, homeschoolers & Girl Scouts

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The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its 2017 fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts. (Submitted photo)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its 2017 fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts. (Submitted photo)

 

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts.

A four-week Clay Sampler, for ages 7-11 and open to the public and homeschoolers, will offer hand-building and wheel work, surface and finishing techniques, then glazing as students prepare their pieces for the kiln, a press release said. The first session, with a Halloween theme, is from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays on October 4, 18, and 25, and November 1. The second session, with a Holiday theme, will be on Wednesdays on November 8, 15, and 29, and December 6. Cost for the four-week class is $80 for members and $85 for non-members.

Clay Holiday Decorations will be a one-time class from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, November 18. Students will create a personalized holiday ornament and glaze it, to be picked up two weeks after the class. The class is open to all ages, and those under seven years old must have an adult present. Class fee is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.

Sign up for these classes at http://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org or by calling (865) 482-1074. [Read more…]

Third Annual First Responders Appreciation Day is Saturday

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Flags are pictured above at the First Responders Appreciation Day in 2016. (Submitted photo)

Flags are pictured above at the First Responders Appreciation Day in 2016. (Submitted photo)

 

The First Responders Appreciation Committee of Oak Ridge will present the Third Annual First Responders Appreciation Day on Saturday, October 7, in the parking lot of Swifty’s Atomic Bar and Grill in Oak Ridge. The event begins at 2 p.m., a press release said.

“This year’s event will be much larger than last year!” the press release said. “We will have a waterslide for the kids, free food provided by Sysco Foods, and music. We’ll also have booths featuring DotDotSmile; Handmade Wreaths; Honey Pots; The Mystic Orb jewelry; National Martial Arts; Outta the Attic; Paparazzi Jewelry; Plum Crazy Boutique; and SET Guns and Range.

“Most importantly, we will be honoring all local area first responders to include law enforcement officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical services personnel. We will read a roll call of the fallen police, firefighters, and EMS in 2017 and have a candlelight vigil to honor their memory.” [Read more…]