Scenic Roots

(The Bethlehem Center) In Southside Chattanooga, a community celebration for Juneteenth is this weekend. The Bethlehem Center, the faith-based nonprofit serving children and families in the Alton Park neighborhood, hosts the Southside Juneteenth Jubilee on Saturday from 1 PM to 4 PM at its location, 200 W. 38th St. Reginald Smith II is executive director of The Bethlehem Center.

A pennant for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, the minor league Negro League team that played at Chattanooga’s Engel Stadium from 1940 to 1946. (Chattanooga Lookouts) This Friday and Saturday is Negro League Appreciation Weekend here in Chattanooga. The annual celebration - hosted by the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, in partnership with Food City - honors the African-Americ...

Dave Ragland, at left - with members of Inversion Vocal Ensemble. (Inversion Vocal Ensemble) Here in Chattanooga, music takes center stage on the evening of Juneteenth. Inversion Vocal Ensemble, based in Nashville, will perform at the Juneteenth Commemoration Ceremony - on Wednesday starting at 6 PM at the Walker Theatre. The ceremony on the holiday is part of this month’s Juneteenth Festival, cel...

Inversion Vocal Ensemble for this Juneteenth in Chattanooga. Honoring Negro League baseball, in Chattanooga and beyond. The Southside Juneteenth Jubilee; The True Athlete Project. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(The A List With Alison Lebovitz / WTCI PBS) For four decades, Alice Randall has devoted her creative energy into writing songs for some of the biggest names in country music. She is the first Black woman to write a number one country song, a professor and writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University - and a bestselling author. In April, she released her newest book, “My Black Country” - which she...

Lavender at Flat Top Mountain Farm in Soddy-Daisy, TN. (Flat Top Mountain Farm) Stop by Oak Ridge this weekend - and you’ll find it at a summer festival. Or visit a few farms here in the Chattanooga area that grow it, year after year. Lavender is a plant that can be a challenge to cultivate here in the Southeast - but that might also explain why the herb is so popular. Haley Bartlett is city edito...

(ArtsBuild) ArtsBuild supports the arts economy here in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Each year, professionals from this area - in the arts and beyond - are invited to apply for the nonprofit’s Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute Class. This year’s deadline to apply is Friday. Jules Jackson is programs assistant at ArtsBuild.

(Chattanooga Film Festival) Once upon a time, these words flickered across the cathode ray landscapes at the dawn of television: “You're traveling through another dimension = a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop: The Twilight Zone.” This month’s Chattanooga Film Festival will pay tribute to Rod...

(Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga) For the past four years, the Eviction Prevention Initiative here in Chattanooga and Hamilton County has helped households facing eviction with attorneys and social workers during and after court proceedings. The goal is twofold: keep tenants in their homes - and compensate landlords fairly. The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga launched the p...

Curbing evictions in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. For the love of movies: The Chattanooga Film Festival. At ArtsBuild, the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute Class. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Jon Dickerson (Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce) In commercial real estate, developers have to pinpoint the best financing options to secure for their projects. Gumption is a Chattanooga startup that tries to streamline those options - an online marketplace that connects potential borrowers and lenders. So far, Gumption is focused on Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama - with plans to expand to mor...

A rendering of MarsCharger Lite, a mobile EV charger, attached to a vehicle. (MarsCharge) How do we power electric vehicles with charging stations that will expand the electric grid - instead of deplete it? Michael Marczi is the founder of MarsCharge, an electric vehicle charging startup - and another of the five startups chosen for the first Sustainable Mobility Accelerator program by The Company...

Abhi Sastri (Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce) Data centers make all things digital possible - processing data for search engines, streaming media, you name it. By the year 2040, data centers are expected to consume 20 percent of the world’s power. Abhi Sastri is the founder and CEO of FLUIX, a startup that aims to rely on A.I. to save energy use and other costs for data centers. It is one of...

Imagining data centers for tomorrow: Abhi Sastri of FLUIX. Charging up an EV future: Michael Marczi of MarsCharge. Gumption, a financial matchmaker in commercial real estate. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Chatt Town Skate Park (Outdoor Chattanooga) Chattanooga has one park where skateboarders and rollerbladers can practice their sport: Chatt Town skatepark behind Finley Stadium. For years, the city has been planning to replace the aging facility - and the project may soon be under way. More from William Newlin of Chattamatters. _____ Chattamatters is a civic storytelling project of The Enterprise C...

(Chattanooga Parks & Outdoors) For the second year in a row, June Fest comes to Chattanooga’s East Lake Park. This weekend’s celebration of Hispanic and Latino culture - with music, food and vendors - is Saturday from 1 PM to 5 PM in the park, at 3000 E. 34th St. Malisha Carter is with the City of Chattanooga. Pedro Abriles is a member of the first cohort of River City Company’s Emerging P...

From “Creation of Trabea” by Jessica Schulman. (ClearStory Arts) At ClearStory Arts here in Chattanooga, the destination for a new multimedia fine art exhibition is “Elsewhere.” Starting Friday, the gallery at 1673 S. Holtzclaw Ave. hosts “Elsewhere: Pulling Forth the Invisible,” featuring dozens of works by nearly 50 local artists - with an opening reception at 6 PM. Rik Herrmann is the curator f...

A traffic alert sign. (City of Chattanooga) The City of Chattanooga recently announced the installation of four train warning systems in the Hixson and Tyner communities to provide real-time crossing data for drivers. Kristen Templeton is senior city editor for NOOGAtoday.

Eric Atkins, at right, holding the Juneteenth flag. (Unity Group of Chattanooga) While Juneteenth is two weeks away, a calendar of events is already unfolding to celebrate this year’s holiday. Juneteeth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans after the Civil War - and in this city, the Unity Group of Chattanooga is among the organizers of local celebrations. Eric Atkins is with...

From a performance of the Juba Dance Ensemble. (Juba Dance Ensemble) In modern dance, Katherine Dunham is a pioneer. She contributed African and Caribbean influences to the genre - confronting racial barriers along the way. Here in Chattanooga, this month’s Katherine Dunham Juba Dance Festival is part of the Chattanooga Festivals of Black Arts and Ideas. Crystal Newson is artistic director of the...

Black joy at this year’s Katherine Dunham Juba Dance Festival. Reflections for Juneteenth at the Unity Group of Chattanooga. “Elsewhere” at ClearStory Arts. June Fest in East Lake Park. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Alison Lebovitz This week, “The A List” returns for its fifteenth season on our public media partner WTCI PBS. Alison Lebovitz hosts the one-on-one interview series, produced locally by WTCI - and this season’s premiere airs Thursday at 8:30 PM, featuring actor Alan Cumming. Alison Lebovitz - in conversation with Alan Cumming for the Season 15 premiere of “The A List with Alison Lebovitz.” (WTCI P...

Will Park as Peter, Thom Ray as Julius and Brenna Clark as Rita in Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s production of “Prelude to a Kiss.” (Chattanooga Theatre Centre / C) The next play in the centennial season at Chattanooga Theatre Centre is “Prelude to a Kiss.” Part romantic comedy and part fantasy mystery, the play by Craig Lucas represents the 1990’s for this season at CTC. It opens on Friday, June 7...

Blue whales in the film “Blue Whales: Return of the Giants 3D.” (Phillip Colla / Oceanlight.com) Blue whales are the largest animals known to have ever existed on Earth. They were plentiful in nearly all of our oceans until the end of the 19th Century, hunted almost into extinction until a worldwide ban on blue whale hunting nearly 60 years ago - and to this day, they remain scarce. Dr. Diane Gend...

One of the portraits of children of the African diaspora by CreativeSoul Photography. (CreativeSoul Photography) Kahran and Regis Bethencourt are visual storytellers in every photo they take. The husband-and-wife duo in Atlanta are the founders of CreativeSoul Photography, which specializes in lifestyle photos - and photos that capture the authentic beauty and diversity of the African diaspora. Th...