The Kerry Trammell Memorial 5k Run and Walk will start at 8 a.m. May 4 at the Oak Ridge Marina.
Proceeds of this year’s race will go toward the purchase and installation of emergency mile markers on the Melton Lake Greenway. The mile markers will be placed every .10 miles and coordinated with 911, and Trammell’s name will be placed on each.
The course starts on the Oak Ridge Marina peninsula and runs on Melton Lake Drive and along the water on the Melton Lake Greenway. [Read more…]
The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge are combining forces to launch the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, to be held Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.
“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment and raise funds for nonprofit service organizations in the community,†said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.
The boat-racing event will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs.
A dragon boat is a long, low boat adorned with a snarling dragonhead at the boat’s front end, as in the Chinese tradition. Dragon boat races have become popular events in many U.S. cities, ranging in size from Philadelphia to Knoxville.
This all-day Dragon Boat Festival race will be an entertaining competition among teams of 20 persons each—18 paddlers, a caller, and a steerer. The teams will come from community employers and organizations, some of which are signing up to become corporate sponsors of the event. [Read more…]
The first team to pull out the flag at the end of a dragon boat race in Colorado wins the 150-meter competition. (Jeff Towery, provided by Colorado Dragon Boat Festival)
The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge, which are planning to launch the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival this spring, have announced a change of date for the community fundraiser. The festival will be held Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.
In addition, the clubs have announced a new website for the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival: http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/.
“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,†said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.
The boat-racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]
The interior of the New China Palace restaurant on Central Avenue is pictured above.
The New China Palace was established in September 1973 by Chuang Nan Chou and served authentic Chinese, Mandarin-Peking Hunan, and Szechuan style food.
Over the years, it became well-known in the Oak Ridge and Knoxville area and to many customers from other countries who came to Oak Ridge to visit the government facilities of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, the K-25 plant, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities. A large customer base developed, and the restaurant prospered.
In 2010, the City of Oak Ridge delivered a letter to the New China Palace saying their lease for the city building at the Oak Ridge Marina would not be renewed. Ideas for developing a facility for rowing and a “casual restaurant†were mentioned as the reason for this sudden change of heart by their landlord. This was announced in the newspapers and caused a huge negative reaction by their customers. [Read more…]
The longtime New China Palace restaurant has closed at the Oak Ridge Marina and moved to a new location on Central Avenue in the center of town.
A longtime Chinese restaurant that had been on the city’s waterfront for decades has moved out of a city-owned building at the Oak Ridge Marina and reopened on Central Avenue in the center of town.
The New China Palace restaurant reopened on Central Avenue on Nov. 22, owner Cheng Ren said Saturday.
The former waterfront location closed five weeks earlier on Oct. 18 after at least one lease extension.
The city has developed a master plan for the waterfront area that recommends the current New China Palace site off Melton Lake Drive be remodeled as a bathhouse facility. It would be used to support a growing number of rowing and public activities as part of an ambitious plan to revamp the waterfront from Elza Gate Park to Rivers Run Boulevard. [Read more…]
Chuck Coutant
Chuck Coutant, a retired Oak Ridge National Laboratory fish biologist and active community leader for more than 40 years, recently received the Vocational Service Award of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge at the club’s noon luncheon meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel.
A native of upstate New York and resident of Oak Ridge since 1970, Coutant was recognized for his leadership in the community in environmental and cultural activities, his excellence as an Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist, and his influence on national and international environmental policies.
Currently, Coutant is a consultant to power companies for environmental evaluation of cooling systems and is president of Friends of ORNL. [Read more…]
Greg Tysor of Atlanta finishes first in a seven-mile stand up paddleboarding race on the Clinch River at Oak Ridge Marina on Sunday. Tysor’s time was 1:13:54.
Racers from Knoxville, Atlanta, Chattanooga, and East Tennessee competed Sunday in the first stand up paddleboarding, or SUP, competition in Oak Ridge.
The new event was called the Secret City SUP Classic, and it featured two afternoon races at the Oak Ridge Marina on Melton Lake Park. One was a two-mile fun race, and the other was a seven-mile elite race.
It’s part of a new human-powered sports initiative in Oak Ridge, said Sam Jones, sales manager for the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. That initiative also includes the Neon Vibe 5K—an after-dark, fluorescent glow light fun run—scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21, at A.K. Bissell Park. [Read more…]
A stand up paddleboarding competition in Chattanooga. (Photo courtesy ORCVB)
People in the recreation industry call it a fast-growing sport with a Hawaiian heritage.
It’s stand up paddleboarding, or SUP, and it’s coming to Oak Ridge in September in a new event called the Secret City SUP Classic. It will feature two races starting at 2 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Oak Ridge Marina on Melton Lake Park.
“SUP is a new sport that’s taking the waterways by storm, and Oak Ridge provides the perfect venue for these races,†said Katy Brown, executive director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We hope paddleboarders of all ages will come out to the waterfront as we introduce the region to a different side of the Secret City.†[Read more…]
A city contractor is completing work on new flashing warning signs on Melton Lake Drive at three pedestrian crossings near the Oak Ridge Marina on Melton Lake Drive. The three crossings are at Amanda Drive, Rivers Run Boulevard, and just west of Emory Valley Road.
The flashing beacons could be become operational Thursday, a city press release said. The beacons are activated by a push button and will flash for a short period of time, allowing pedestrians to cross the street. [Read more…]
Kerry Trammell at the Grand Canyon (Photos courtesy of Lori Anderson)
The early registration deadline for the Kerry Trammell Memorial 5K Run and Walk is May 4.
The race will start at 7:30 a.m. May 19 at the Oak Ridge Marina. The route includes Melton Lake Drive and the Melton Lake Marina Greenway. Proceeds will benefit the Anderson County Rescue Squad.
The race is sponsored by Secret City Runners and NHC Healthcare in Oak Ridge.
Registration by May 4 is $25. Late and race day registration is $30. [Read more…]
An Oliver Springs company could replace an existing dock at the Oak Ridge Marina with a kayak dock under a five-year lease that could follow a pilot program. (Submitted photo)
An Oliver Springs company could rent kayaks and bicycles to the public at Melton Lake Park under a contract to be considered by Oak Ridge City Council on Monday.
Adventures Outdoors would use temporary space on Houseboat Row at Melton Lake Park as well as the bar area in the former New China Palace restaurant to rent and store the recreational equipment as part of a pilot program that could lead to a lease agreement.
It’s the next step in implementing a waterfront development plan approved by Oak Ridge City Council in December 2009, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Josh Collins said in a memo to City Manager Mark S. Watson. That plan included key features such as a new picnic pavilion, walking trails, new playground, permanent restrooms, enhanced lighting and landscaping, outdoor casual dining, and recreational equipment rental.
Construction workers erect a pavilion this week on the city’s waterfront at Melton Lake Park.
A few weeks after the old pavilion was removed, construction workers have started erecting a new pavilion at Melton Lake Park.
The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department has hired Rich Construction of Lenoir City to build the 2,300-square-foot pavilion at the Oak Ridge Marina.
The pavilion is in the same spot as the old 880-square-foot picnic shelter that was between the playground and the Melton Lake Greenway. The picnic shelter was torn down in late September.
The $159,000 pavilion could be used for rowing and community events. The Oak Ridge City Council awarded a construction contract for it in May.
It’s the second major step in a waterfront development plan approved by City Council in December 2009. The first was the paving of the parking lot at Elza Gate Park.
Rich Construction began site work for the new pavilion in early October. The pavilion itself has arrived and is now under construction on the city’s waterfront, offering “exceptional views of Melton Hill Lake and the Oak Ridge rowing course,” a city press release said.
Construction could be completed sometime in late November, depending upon the weather, the press release said.
The city asked the public to use caution in the park while the pavilion is under construction.
The hexagonal, prefabricated picnic pavilion will include a metal roof, ceiling lighting, and a low stone wall with electrical outlets. It’s designed to serve as a “signature facility†that sets the theme for future waterfront development.
Funding for the proposed pavilion comes from a $140,000 donation from UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and from savings that result from staff turnover in the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department, the city staff said.
The park is used by rowers, runners, walkers, bikers, and families.
For more information, contact the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department at (865) 425-3450 or visit the city’s website at www.oakridgetn.gov.
