The Secret City Festival will offer free admission to concerts this weekend after daytime activities were canceled because of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
The concerts are Jimmie Allen on Friday, September 24, and All-4-One on Saturday, September 25. Gates open at 6 p.m., and the concerts start at 7. The concerts are in Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.
The concerts will be first-come, first-served. Capacity is limited to 50 percent, a press release said.
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Note: This story was updated at 9:10 a.m. Sept. 12.
Daytime activities have been canceled at the Secret City Festival this month as the state and county experience a COVID-19 surge driven by the delta variant. However, the evening concerts, food trucks, and fireworks have not been canceled.
“Due to the ongoing resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival Board has been in discussions with the City of Oak Ridge, where concerns were raised about our ability to hold a viable, safe, and successful event,” Naomi Asher, marketing chair for the festival, said in response to questions Saturday. “Sadly, we must cancel all daytime festival activities, so that what we will be left with are the two evening concerts, food trucks, and fireworks.”
Asher said the Festival Board and City of Oak Ridge made the decision.
[Read more…]Allen was named New Male Artist of the Year at the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards
One of country music’s hottest rising stars will perform on the first night of the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge this fall, a press release said.
Jimmie Allen, who made history as the first black artist to launch a career with two consecutive No. 1 hits on country radio, including his debut single “Best Shot,†and his latest single “Make Me Want To,†was named ACA’s best new male artist of the year in 2021, a press release said.
“We are excited to bring a rising talent to perform in Oak Ridge,†said Naomi Asher, marketing chair of the festival. “Our lineup this year will appeal to a wide array of people and include all the fun activities and vendors that festival-goers have been used to seeing for years.â€
The festival is scheduled from September 24-26 at Alvin K. Bissell Park. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the opener taking the stage at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at https://www.secretcityfestival.com.
[Read more…]Canceled last year, the postponed Secret City Festival is scheduled for September this year.
Normally held in June, the Secret City Festival was canceled last year a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
This year’s festival is scheduled for September 24 and 25 in Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge. Organizers said it will feature two days of music, food, history, science, and more. Details of the festival haven’t been announced yet.
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There will not be a Secret City Festival this year, organizers said Thursday.
In April, organizers had announced that the festival, which is normally in June, was postponed. But no new date was announced at that time.
On Thursday, the Secret City Festival board of directors said they have explored every option to have the festival in 2020, but “we have determined that we cannot provide the level of excellence this year that we wish to.”
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The Secret City Festival has been postponed this year. A new date hasn’t been announced yet.
“Things will be a little different than usual, but we still look forward to bringing you a fantastic event!” organizers said in a Facebook post on Thursday. “More details to come soon!”
It’s one of four big Oak Ridge festivals that had been scheduled in June but have been affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
[Read more…]Note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m.
Power has been restored to most, if not all, customers after being out across nearly all of Oak Ridge on Sunday afternoon, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
If you are still without power, you can call (865) 425-1803.
The cause of the power outages weren’t immediately clear, but there were thunderstorms over Oak Ridge on Sunday afternoon. The storms brought heavy rain and lightning and thunder.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long the power was out for different customers and where.
It would be the second major outage in Oak Ridge since mid-June, the weekend of the Secret City Festival, when the city had several electrical power outages. The most widespread outage that weekend occurred Saturday afternoon, when approximately 11,455 homes and businesses were affected across the city. The outage area included nearly everything north of the Oak Ridge Turnpike and west of Rutgers Avenue. Other areas in the central-south part of the city were also affected. Power was out for about two hour and 20 minutes.
[Read more…]The two-day Secret City Festival on Friday and Saturday will feature music, food, history, science, and much more, a press release said.
The festival is hosted by the City of Oak Ridge and presented by Celebrate Oak Ridge. It will be in Alvin K. Bissell Park from 10 a.m. until about 11 p.m. on Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8.
The festival showcases Oak Ridge’s unique role in American history and scientific innovation with various events and activities for the entire family to enjoy.
Musical headliners at the concerts will include iconic rock bands Loverboy, performing on Friday, June 7, and 38 Special, performing on Saturday, June 8. Tickets for each concert are available online. The festival is free to attend, but concert-goers must purchase a ticket.
[Read more…]It’s festival season in Oak Ridge, and pre-festival events will be going on all week leading up to the Secret City Festival weekend on June 7-8, a press release said.
“One of those pre-festival events is Battle of the Bands ‘Rocking the Ridge’—a great night of local talent, food, and beer!” the press release said. “Check out some amazing local bands who will be ‘Rocking the Ridge’ and take the top spot in their category.”
The show will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, in the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce parking lot and will go until the winners are crowned, the press release said.
[Read more…]Loverboy and .38 Special are playing at the Secret City Festival in June.
Loverboy is playing Friday, June 7, and .38 Special is playing Saturday, June 8.
Both shows are at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at the website www.secretcityfestival.com or at the Oak Ridge branch of Citizen’s Bank.
A reminder: Oak Ridge will try to set a Guinness World Record on Saturday in a basketball game known as “knockout” today (Saturday, June 9).
The attempt to break the previous world record is part of the Secret City Festival this weekend. The game will start at noon in the parking lot of Dick’s Sporting Goods at Main Street Oak Ridge. The first 702 people will get a free T-shirt, organizers said. Then, every 30 minutes, prizes will be awarded from Electronic Express and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Once you have taken your shot (and missed…), you get to register for a Jeep awarded at no cost from Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Every 30 minutes, one of those registrations will be pulled as a finalist for the drawing for the Jeep on June 27, organizers said. (You must be present to win and 18 and over with a valid driver’s license).
The Dallas Mavericks set the record for the largest game of basketball knockout with 701 participants in Dallas, Texas, on October 4, 2015. The game lasted 27 rounds and more than three hours, according to Guinness World Records. Team owner Mark Cuban was there before the record-setting attempt to check out the court and the turnout, and he also motivated the basketball shooters.
Organizers of this year’s Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge want to do better than Cuban and the Mavericks. They need at least 702 shooters to set the new world record. [Read more…]
Danita “Dee Dee” Ashley
The Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library will participate in the Secret City Festival held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, by sponsoring local authors. The authors will be in the Club Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center, autographing and selling their books at the following times:
Friday, June 8
Saturday, June 9
The featured local authors will read from their work at 15-minute intervals, and they include: [Read more…]
