Scenic Roots

On the Line - to tell the story of Be the Change Youth Initiative. A multifaith Thanksgiving service this weekend in Chattanooga. New works by artists for 30 years of Barking Legs Theater. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(NREA) The shortage of teachers is among the top concerns for rural educators across the country. Seventeen rural school districts surround our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga - where Dr. Allen Pratt is director of the National Rural Education Association and interim co-director of the UTC School of Education. On Thursday and Friday, the National Forum to Advance Rural Education...

(EPB) This time last year, a holiday giving campaign here in Chattanooga raised thousands of dollars for the Flexible Housing Fund, helping people out of homelessness and into permanent housing. Now, the Connect for Good campaign is back for a second year, led by EPB and the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, which manages the Fund. Sophie Moore is with EPB. Mackenzie Kelly is the Housing Co...

A trail runner on the Lula Lake segment of the River to Clouds Route. (Lula Lake Land Trust) You can run it, hike it bike it - or all the above. Start from the Chattanooga Riverwalk in St. Elmo - and 34 miles later, finish at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, Georgia. The River to Clouds Route, a new multi-use trail system, was unveiled last week. It is the fruit of years of collaboratio...

The River to Clouds Route, a trail system years in the making. Connect for Good returns to support the Flexible Housing Fund. Priorities for rural education with NREA’s Dr. Allen Pratt of UTC. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Cast members of “The Snow Queen" at Creative Arts Guild in Dalton. (Bobbi Jo Brooks Fine Art + Photography via Creative Arts Guild) When Hans Christian Andersen wrote “The Snow Queen” in 1844, the Danish author could not have imagined how his fairytale would come to life in Dalton, Georgia in this century. This Thursday through Sunday, Creative Arts Guild and Ballet Dalton present this year’s prod...

From a MAINx24 parade. (Michael McCallie via MAINx24) On the first Saturday in December, Southside Chattanooga is a city within a city - a city that never sleeps - during MAINx24. The 24-hour festival showcases Main Street and the Southside - with a parade, music, food and an Adult Big Wheel Race just to name a few - all organized by community residents, merchants and friends. Monica Kinsey is eve...

(Barking Legs Theater) This month, Barking Legs Theater here in Chattanooga is celebrating 30 years on Dodds Avenue. Night after night, the concert hall is featuring performances that span its many sides on stage - jazz, bluegrass, dance, theatre, spoken word, comedy, film - open, as it has been from day one, to the experimental and marginalized communities here in the Southeast and beyond. This F...

For Barking Legs at 30, “Unmasking: Beyond the Rainbow.” Make way for MAINx24 next month in Southside Chattanooga. In Dalton, a fairytale through the seasons in “The Snow Queen.” These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Keniya Love & Shanna Forrestall (Chattanooga Fashion Expo) Chattanooga is known as a hub for many sectors, from logistics to startups. The Chattanooga Fashion Expo - back for a third year this Friday and Saturday - aims to add fashion to that list, gathering creatives from around the Southeast. Shanna Forrestall is the Expo’s creative producer. Keniya Wilson - owner of Queen Love Modeling...

Senior Maegan Whitlock and junior Calista Geralds star in the UTC Theatre Co. production of “Alabaster.” (UTC) Two women - one a folk artist, the other a photographer - are at the heart of the play “Alabaster” this week on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. UTC Theatre Co.’s production of Audry Cefaly’s darkly comic tale with a quirky streak set in rural Alabama premieres Tues...

A group from a recent Grateful Gobbler in Chattanooga. (Grateful Gobbler) Next week, on Thanksgiving Day in downtown Chattanooga, the Grateful Gobbler 5K Walk / Run returns for a cause. Participants will gather in Coolidge Park before the Gobbler begins at 8 AM. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Maclellan Shelter for Families, an emergency homeless shelter at the Community Kitchen on 11...

Gratefull on Chattanooga’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. (River City Company) Thanksgiving is Thursday of next week - and Thursday of this week brings Gratefull to downtown Chattanooga. The free community meal for the Thanksgiving season runs from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM in the middle of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in front of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. Dawn Hjelseth is with River Cit...

‘Tis the season for Gratefull and the Grateful Gobbler. Darkly comic and quirky “Alabaster” from UTC Theatre Co. The runway is back for the Chattanooga Fashion Expo. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(SoundCorps) Each month, SoundCorps - the music nonprofit here in Chattanooga - showcases five locally-produced songs in “SoundBites,” which supports our own musicians. Stratton Tingle - executive director of SoundCorps - shares the latest SoundBites with us.

(McDonald Farm) What would a County Fair on a historic farm be without a showcase for agriculture? This is the first year that the reimagined Hamilton County Fair - presented by Little Debbie - will be held at McDonald Farm in Sale Creek. This Veterans Day weekend at the Fair, you’ll find “Shorty” there. Renita Beaty - who goes by “Shorty” - is Soil Conservationist for Hamilton County Soil Conserv...

Brandon Davis (Brandon Davis / Facebook) Brandon Davis kicks off the live music on Saturday night at the Little Debbie Hamilton County Fair this Veterans Day weekend at McDonald Farm in Sale Creek. He takes the Dr. Pepper Stage at 5:30 PM - followed at 7 PM by the headliner Lauren Alaina. Brandon is a Hamilton County native - and a rising country music star. Lauren - from Rossville, Georgia - was...

Brandon Davis & Shorty Beaty on the Hamilton County Fair. Stratton Tingle with the latest SoundBites from SoundCorps. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Richard Sneed, the 28th Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Western North Carolina. (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is one of only three Cherokee tribes recognized by the Federal Government - and the only one east of the Mississippi generations after the Trail of Tears. Richard Sneed served as the Band’s Principal Chief between 2017 un...

Randy Boyd, UT System President. (University of Tennessee) Next week, a leading conference on rural education in this country comes to Chattanooga. The National Forum to Advance Rural Education will be held Thursday, November 16th and Friday, November 17th at the Chattanooga Convention Center - a gathering of national experts, practitioners in K-through-12 and higher education, top researchers, po...

UT System President Randy Boyd talks about rural education. The Eastern Band of Cherokee & the Moccasin Bend Lecture Series. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

SoLit is a literary arts hub in downtown Chattanooga, serving this area and the Southeast. Formerly known as Southern Lit Alliance, the nonprofit hosts literature festivals, writing workshops and contests, and book therapy groups. (SoLit) Chelsea Risley is SoLit’s executive director. (SoLit)

At a construction site in Chattanooga. (Chattamatters) Local companies across industries have plenty of good-paying job openings that are going unfilled. At the same time, a large share of Chattanoogans are stuck in dead end jobs or have stopped looking for work altogether. What’s the disconnect? William Newlin from Chattamatters brings us this story on how we can better match workers to good jobs...

Dr. Jordan Lynton Cox (Dr. Jordan Lynton Cox) How is China’s presence in the Caribbean shaping the region? Dr. Jordan Lynton Cox is an assistant professor of anthropology at Mississippi State University. On Thursday, starting at 5 PM, she will give a talk here on our campus - the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga - for the Latin American Dialogues Speaker Series, in the University Center’s Ch...

Part of a Tina Turner mural at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, TN. (West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center) Thirty years ago, Barking Legs Theater opened on Dodds Avenue here in Chattanooga. That same year - 1993 - the Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” was released. On Thursday, starting at 7:30 PM, Barking Legs will present “Nutbush City Limits: A Tribute...