The Oak Ridge City Council will consider an agreement worth up to $150,000 for the 2016 Secret City Festival and will also consider comments on the federal proposal to build a new landfill west of the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Monday, November 16, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue.
See the City Council agenda here. The Secret City Festival agreement is on Page 18 under Resolutions.
See the proposed comments on the U.S. Department of Energy landfill starting on Page 2 of the additions to the agenda. [Read more…]
To celebrate Halloween, the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host a Not-So-Scary Spooktacular Event from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, October 30.
Young visitors are invited to create their own trick-or-treat bags before visiting the exhibits. Activities are free with admission.
Among events at the museum will be: [Read more…]
Photo courtesy Museum of Appalachia
NORRIS—The annual Tennessee Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris this weekend will feature more than 70 musicians, authentic mountain and pioneer demonstrations, and dozens of artisans showcasing and selling handmade goods.
It’s a beloved and historic three-day event, organizers said.
This year, the Homecoming Marketplace, where festival-goers browse heritage arts and crafts from artisans showcasing their skills on site, has been selected as a feature representation of Tennessee Craft Week. Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam will be making a special appearance on Friday afternoon from 2:30-4 p.m. to promote Tennessee Arts programs.
The featured music lineup for this year’s event, now in its 36th year, includes the Del McCoury Band, multiple Grammy and International Bluegrass Music Award recipient and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member; previous two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year, the Gibson Brothers; and the multiple Grammy- and Dove-nominated band, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, also a 7-time IBMA Vocal Group of the Year and Bluegrass Hall of Fame Member. Also returning to the Tennessee Fall Homecoming this year is the legendary Larry Sparks, who was just inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame at the 2015 IBMA awards. [Read more…]
A sidewalk chalk painting from the 2014 Street Painting Festival. (Submitted photo)
The 16th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival is drawing near—it will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, October 3 (rain day on Sunday), at the Oak Ridge Campus, Roane State Community College.
Dozens of artists will be brushing up on their skills as they bring colorful faces and scenes to concrete sidewalk squares using free art supplies. Would-be Rembrandts will “paint†with chalk the squares that sponsors “purchase†by writing checks.
You, too, can write a check to the Roane State Foundation to fund scholarships for RSCC students. These students have been out of high school for a few years and are not eligible for Tennessee Promise scholarships.
The public is invited to this free festival organized by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge in conjunction with Roane State. [Read more…]
In 2014, Ouita Northcutt received the People’s Choice Award and first-place award in the professional artists category for her chalk painting on love and rejection at the Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. (Submitted photo)
Artists of all ages and abilities, it’s time to “talk the talk, then chalk the walk.â€
And you folks who wish to help people in their 20s who otherwise cannot afford to go to college without a scholarship are encouraged to “write checks for chalk art†as sponsors to make our workforce smarter.
Artists are encouraged to invite your artist friends to the Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge to showcase your talents for free while helping others get an education.
Artists and sponsors are needed for the 16th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival, which will be held on Saturday, October 3, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the sidewalks of the RSCC Oak Ridge campus on Briarcliff Road. The rain date is October 4. [Read more…]
Children will have opportunities to dance, cook, create pottery and explore the natural world during Oak Ridge Schools’ fall break at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. Week-long Imagination Station Intersession Camps for elementary and middle school students will be held Oct. 5-9 and Oct. 12-16.
Exercise guru Leah Chance will lead special Kids in Action activities on Saturday, Oct. 10. For children in the 1st-4th grades, activities include moving feet and working up a sweat, going on a scavenger hunt in the garden for a cool down, and games that teach about nutrition, burning calories and foods to eat before exercise. Each session is limited to 20 children. Â Join Chance from 10:30 a.m.-noon or 1-2:30 p.m. for Kids in Action, free with admission to the museum.
“Imagination Station campers learn and grow through play in a fun and safe environment,†said Lorraine Bowen, museum educator. “Through our wide range of themes and activities, as well as our hands-on exhibits, we hope to foster campers’ imaginations and passion for lifelong learning.â€
To register for a camp, stop by or call the museum at (865) 482-1074 or see www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/classes/. Fees for week-long camps are $125 for members and $135 for non-members. Campers staying all day should bring lunches. To pay in person or by mail, download a PDF of the registration form at the web site. A number of scholarships are available. An application is on the web site. Deadline to apply is Oct. 2.
Camps offered Oct. 5-9 are:
 Another camp will be held Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Oct. 5, 7 and 9.
Camps offered Oct. 12-16 are:
The Children’s Museum is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults, $7for seniors ages 62 and older, and $6 for children ages 3-18. Admission is free for children under 3 and museum members. For more information, call (865) 482-1074 or see the web site at www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org.
Pictured above at the Oak Ridge City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, when changes to the annual Secret City Festival were made, are Council members Chuck Hope, left, Mayor Warren Gooch, and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Smith. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 10:36 a.m.
They’ve heard concerns about moving it to the fall, and the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday did not change the date of the annual Secret City Festival. Instead, Council left any potential date change up to a new nonprofit board that could be appointed in October.
It was one of a series of steps meant to make the Secret City Festival less costly for the city and less labor-intensive for the municipal staff, to rethink how it’s organized, and to make it self-sustaining. The festival could be incorporated into a new, expanded Secret City Celebration that could include other events.
A Special Events Advisory Task Force appointed by City Council in February had recommended moving the festival to the fall as part of a celebration that would last at least a week, start in October, and continue through Veterans Day, November 11.
But Council members and a few residents laid out some objections to the proposed date change, including “dicey weather” in the fall; the potentially cold temperatures, especially for nighttime concerts; conflicts with football and other fall events; and concerns over the possibility that the festival could again become saturated with political candidates in election years, now that municipal elections have been moved to November. There were also concerns about whether some organizations that now participate in the June festival, including artists and World War II re-enactors, could take part in the fall. [Read more…]
A Flak 88 firing during a Battle of Normandy re-enactment at the 2015 Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Rob Welton)
The Oak Ridge City Council could consider changes to the Secret City Festival tonight, including an expansion and a possible move to the fall.
The annual festival could be expanded into a celebration that could start in October and run through Veterans Day (November 11), last at least a week, and include the Secret City Festival. The expanded festival—which now includes music, children’s activities, a World War II re-enactment, and vendors and exhibitors—could be called the Secret City Celebration.
The changes have been recommended by the Special Events Advisory Task Force, which was set up by City Council in February and chaired by Council member Trina Baughn. The task force was expected to meet for six months and then provide a report to Council.
“The idea is not to limit the celebration to a single event, but to incorporate other activities over an expanded period of time that allow for greater participation by both patrons and various organizations within the community,†Baughn said in an August 5 memo to City Council. [Read more…]
Artists Marta Goebel-Pietrasz and Pat Clapsaddle will exhibit their art works in a show titled “Five Corners†Sept. 5 through Oct. 1 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The opening reception will be from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, in Imagination Gallery at the museum, 461 W. Outer Dr., Oak Ridge.
The “Five Corners†refer to five groups of works the artists will be exhibiting. In four corners of the gallery, Goebel-Pietrasz will exhibit mixed media works on paper as one group and three groups of photographs of cats, flora and mountains.
Clapsaddle’s painted clay creations will include platters, bowls, vases, cups, mugs and servers, all telling a story in visual form with themes related to people, places, animals and fish. They will represent the fifth corner, in five showcases in the gallery’s center. Many of her designs are from her own photographs, and she uses reference materials to paint animals and birds on her clay pieces. [Read more…]
The Locally Grown Gallery, home to 39 regional artists, will be hosting events from 5:30-9 p.m. in their gallery and studio as part of a new Third Friday.
The Locally Grown Gallery is located ​behind the Soup Kitchen in Greenwich Village Mall in historic Jackson Square.
The ​inaugural Locally Grown Gallery Third Friday event will be August 21. Weaver Andy Lyle and author B.J. Gillum will be the featured artists.
Lyle is an Oak Ridge native and member of the Foo​thills Craft Guild. She will be demonstrating on her large loom as well as teaching easy beginner projects. She will have small loom kits and fiber available for purchase. [Read more…]
Ray Smith Wall of Photos (Submitted photo)
Submitted
The art exhibit at Oak Ridge Public Library for the month of July is a collection of 40 photographs by D. Ray Smith. Titled “Some of My Favorites,” this exhibit is a wonderful selection of images from Ray Smith’s archive of nature photographs. His images depict wildflowers, trees, rivers, and streams from various East Tennessee locations including the University of Tennessee Arboretum and Frozen Head State Park.
Smith is well-known to most Oak Ridgers. He is the historian at the Y-12 National Security Complex and a journalist for The Oak Ridger newspaper, and he serves on a number of boards of directors for local nonprofit organizations. A resident of Oak Ridge for 44 years, he and his wife Fanny have two sons and five grandchildren. He is often found at community events taking photographs that he generously shares with the public. [Read more…]
