Oak Ridge Today

UT Arboretum society to showcase redbud at plant sale on Saturday

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The University of Arboretum Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary by featuring “The Rising Sun™” Redbud at its Annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18.

This plant was found and introduced into the trade by Ray and Cindy Jackson of Jackson Nursery in Belvidere, Tennessee. This brand-new Redbud displays heart-shaped foliage of deep apricot-orange in the spring, maturing to yellow and then speckled lime-green in summer, only to return to its rich golden tones for autumn. It has rosy-orchid sweet pea-like blooms in early spring which are attractive to bees and butterflies. It is a vigorous grower reaching eight to 12 feet tall and about eight feet wide, and is cold-hardy to Zone 5. This compact native is ideally suited as a specimen in small yards or gardens.  [Read more…]

Task force to consider changes to Secret City Festival

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Secret City Festival Kix Brooks June 2014

Country music artist Kix Brooks, who was part of the country duo Brooks and Dunn, performs during the 2014 Secret City Festival. (Photo by Rob Welton)

 

A new task force is scheduled to discuss potential changes to the Secret City Festival on Thursday, including shifting the annual festival to small events from mid-October to November 11 (Veterans Day), creating a nonprofit organization to run the festival (and possibly other special events), and voting on changing the date of the festival and whether it should be a one- or two-day event.

The new task force will also discuss unique opportunities for a festival theme and could develop a list of potential entertainment venues to be used throughout the city for the festival, consider other potential festival dates, and develop a list of potential partners.

The meeting of the Special Events Advisory Task Force starts at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the Oak Ridge Recreation Center’s Craft Room at 1402 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Neighborhood cleanup focuses on Highland View on May 2

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful T-shirt

Photo submitted by Mare Martell

Help put the unity back in commUNITY at this year’s neighborhood cleanup hosted by the Oak Ridge Police Department Community Resource Office, the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program, Keep Anderson County Beautiful, and Central Baptist Church.

All participants will rally in the big parking lot of Central Baptist Church at the Hillside Road side. Sign-in and equipment pickup starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 2. The event will run from 9 a.m.-12  p.m. This happens rain or shine.

If you have a particular area on which you prefer to focus your attention, please call one of the contact numbers to arrange for the pickup of the trash-filled bags. (The sign-in and equipment pickup applies even for the people who have special requested a particular area before May 2 by contacting Officer Brandan Sharp or Sharon Crane). [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society to have plant sale Saturday, April 18

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UT Arboretum Society Spring Plant Sale 2015

A wide variety of plants, blacksmith demonstration, and food will be featured

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will have its 48th annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18. The sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UT Arboretum at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The “Members Only” sale will be on Friday evening, April 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. Memberships may be purchased at that time for this “early bird” shopping opportunity. Checks and credit cards will be accepted.

This year, the Arboretum Society will gather the best of four local nurseries in one location. Beaver Creek and Riverdale Nurseries from Knoxville, Sunlight Gardens from Andersonville, and East Fork Nursery from Sevierville will be offering a large and varied selection of shrubs, trees, wildflowers, perennials, annuals, and edibles. [Read more…]

Neighborhood Watch hosts pancake breakfast Saturday

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Neighborhood Watch March Clean-up

Jerrold Eaton, Woodland block captain with the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program, joins volunteers from Neighborhood Watch and Central Baptist Church to clear brush away from the intersection of Pennsylvania and North Tulane Avenues and Providence Road recently. The ORNWP pancake breakfast supports activities of Neighborhood Watch. (Submitted photo)

 

Join your neighbors at a Community Pancake Breakfast from 8-10 a.m. Saturday, April 18, hosted by the Oak Ridge Police Department Community Resource Office and the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program.

The breakfast will be held at Applebee’s, 1213 Oak Ridge Turnpike, and tickets are $5. Tickets are available at the door.

The breakfast offers residents an opportunity to learn more about the city’s Neighborhood Watch crime prevention program. Neighborhood Watch block captains and district leaders will serve breakfast at the event. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Community Orchestra plays at Dogwood Arts Festival on Saturday

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Oak Ridge Community Orchestra

The Oak Ridge Community Orchestra Performing at the 2014 Dogwoods Arts Festival. (Photo courtesy of John Fairstein)

 

Daniel Webb

Daniel Webb

As part of the Dogwood Arts Festival, the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra will be performing famous and memorable music in Knoxville’s Market Square from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.

The free concert will feature the lively “Figaro Aria” sung by Daniel Webb, the emphatic fourth movement from the “New World Symphony” by Dvořák, the raucous “Polovtsian Dances” by Borodin, and the hand-clapping “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss (Sr.).  This is a great way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon while browsing the shops at the Dogwoods Arts Festival.

The “Barber of Seville” is a familiar opera by Gioachino Antonio Rossini, premiering in 1816. The most famous aria from that opera is probably “Largo al Factotum,” in which the central figure, Figaro, vigorously touts his prowess as a barber and local facilitator of “everything.” The articulation and style in this aria are so impressive that Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz, and Hanna Barbera studios couldn’t resist featuring it in cartoon parodies. [Read more…]

Friends of Oak Ridge Animal Shelter has yard sale for shelter animals

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Friends of Oak Ridge Animal Shelter is having a yard sale, Sales 4 Tails, to benefit shelter animals on Saturday, April 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will be held in the parking lot at Security Square on Oak Ridge Turnpike across from Methodist Medical Center.

Donated items for the sale are being solicited from the public. For a list of items needed and to schedule a time to drop off items, please send an email to friendsofoakridgeanimalshelter@gmail.com. [Read more…]

ORION astronomy club meeting features UT professor on Wednesday

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The Wednesday meeting of the ORION astronomy club will feature Professor Denise Phillips, director of graduate studies in the Department of History at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Her presentation, “Can Peasants Be Scientists? Debates about the Social Reach of Science in the 18th-Century Europe,” is from her current book project, which includes both lay and professional astronomers.

The meeting is at the Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge at 7 p.m. Wednesday April 15. (See http://orionastronomy.wordpress.com, for more information.)

ORION has supported educational and astronomy activities in Oak Ridge and the surrounding region since 1974. These include the free public star gazes at the Tamke-Allan Observatory in Rockwood scheduled on the first and third Saturday of the month. (See www.roanestate.edu/TAO or contact David E. Fields at fieldsde@roanestate.edu.)

Youth Showcase, Auction helps Child Advocacy Center on Saturday

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Youth Showcase and Auction

Submitted photo

 

The Youth Showcase and Auction on Saturday will benefit the Child Advocacy Center of Anderson County.

It’s the second annual event, and it starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Grove Theater in Oak Ridge.

“Enjoy live performances by local talented youth, including musicians, singers, dancers, and a magician,” an event flyer said. “Matt Shafer Powell will be our master of ceremonies, and a delicious taco bar and desserts will be provided.” [Read more…]

Divas for a Cure: Day of pampering supports Relay for Life, Cancer Society

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Divas for a Cure 2015

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Calling all divas! Get together your girlfriends, your daughters, your mothers, and grandmothers, and come out for a day of pampering!

We have all been touched by cancer in some way. Some have fought the battle personally, and others have watched loved ones and friends go through the fight.

The American Cancer Society is making great strides in finding a cure for this devastating disease. They have come a long way, but still have much to do. This is where you come in. We would like to invite you to our first event called Divas for a Cure. The event will support the Relay for Life of Oak Ridge, and it is presented by team Got Hope. [Read more…]

DA, public defender to discuss county justice system April 21

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Tom Marshall

Tom Marshall

League of Women Voters celebrates 69th birthday

Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark and Public Defender Tom Marshall will discuss the current status of the county’s justice system during Lunch with the League on Tuesday, April 21.

After their presentation, the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge will celebrate its 69th birthday. Everyone is invited to stay after the meeting or come at 1 p.m. to celebrate with cake and social time, a press release said.

The presentation by Clark and Marshall is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Summer Camp registration began April 1

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Registration for the 2015 Summer Camp sponsored by the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department began on Wednesday, April 1. A link to ActiveNet online registration will be available at orrecparks.oakridgetn.gov.

Space is limited and the camp fills up quickly, so early registration is recommended. Online registration will be available 24/7 beginning at 8 a.m. April 1. Payment plans are available to online registrants only. All payments must be completed by June 1. Convenience fees will apply to all credit card payments and payment plans. Walk-in registration, for cash or check payment, will be available during regular Civic Center hours, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., beginning at 8 a.m. April 1. Walk-in registrants should complete an online profile/account before coming in to register. The staff will complete the registration at the front desk. [Read more…]