Scenic Roots

(The Chattery) (aired Weds 9/28/22) Let’s take a walk through the lesser-known history of Chattanooga. Michael Gilliland knows it well. He’s with CALEB - a nonprofit coalition that includes faith groups, labor unions and community organizations. Tomorrow, starting at 5:30 PM, he will guide the People’s History of Chattanooga Walking Tour - starting from the Union Depot Historical Marker at 158 Mar...

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, addressing the Chattanooga City Council last month. (Matt Hamilton / Chattanooga Times Free Press) During our Fall Pledge Drive here on WUTC, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly stopped by our studios for our monthly conversation. (aired Weds 9/28/22)

Our monthly conversation with Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. A walking tour through the lesser-known history of Chattanooga. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Luis Contreras, Gisela Bellina and their daughters. (The Local Juicery and Kitchen) On Main Street in Southside Chattanooga, you’ll find The Local Juicery and Kitchen. It is one of three local businesses created, owned and operated by Luis Contreras and Gisela Bellina. He is from Venezuela, she is from Peru - and they with their family have lived in Chattanooga for years. They are among the voices...

Wreaths Across Chattanooga in the recent past. (Wreaths Across Chattanooga) Let’s look a few months down the road. This December, fallen veterans will be honored once again with wreaths at their grave markers in cemeteries around the country on National Wreaths Across America Day. In this area, the remembrance is known as Wreaths Across Chattanooga. This year, it takes place on Saturday, December...

(3 Sisters Festival) Here in Chattanooga, the Three Sisters Festival of Bluegrass Music is tuning up for its crystal anniversary - crystal with a c, that is. The festival, free for the public, returns for its 15th year on Friday and Saturday at Ross’ Landing on the Tennessee River. Friday’s lineup - starting at 6 PM: The New Dismembered Tennesseans, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage - and Bela Fleck wit...

(Culture Chatt) During this Hispanic Heritage Month, La Paz Chattanooga - the nonprofit that serves the Latino community in this city - is celebrating and moving forward. Lily Sanchez is with La Paz.

Kai Harris (Fran Dwight / kaiharriswrites.com) Kai Harris is a writer and educator whose debut novel is titled “What the Fireflies Knew.” As “The New York Times Book Review” describes it: “Harris rewrites the coming-of-age story with Black girlhood at the center.” Kai is from Detroit - and now lives in California, where she is a professor of creative writing in the English Department at Santa Clar...

Kai Harris, author - with Lynda LeVan of SoLit in Chattanooga. La Paz Chattanooga’s Lily Sanchez on Hispanic Heritage Month. George & Eleanor Bright on this year’s 3 Sisters Festival. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

A close-up of work on the “Positive Space” sculpture. (The AIM Center) Next weekend, a piece of public art will be unveiled at The AIM Center here in Chattanooga: a sculpture, titled “Positive Space.” The center offers employment, education, housing, socialization and wellness opportunities for adults living with serious mental illness. While the center is non-medical and non-clinical, it works wi...

Mark Kennedy (Chattanooga Times Free Press) The other day, we brought you a conversation with Mark Kennedy, a reporter and columnist for The Chattanooga Times Free Press - about the “Remember When?” feature that began in early 2020.Mark is also the author of the “Life Stories” column in the Times Free Press - and here, we talk about that.

(Jeff Fay / People Places) Hip-hop was born in the city - a cultural product of its socioeconomic time. Now, what first took shape as a music genre a half-century ago, and what it has inspired since, has something to say about cities today - and what cities can be. Bruzenskey Bois is a real estate investor and developer in Tampa, Florida. A few years ago, Bruzenskey - a first-generation Haitian Am...

Bruzenskey Bois on “Hip Hip Is New Urbanism” at CIVIQ. Mark Kennedy of The Chattanooga Times Free Press. A sculpture that honors an inspiring legacy at The AIM Center. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Hobbes (top step) and Calvin grab some shuteye as they ponder all the work that has to get done to prepare for Finster Fest 2022. (Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden / Facebook) When folk artist Howard Finster of Summerville, Georgia made a splash during the 1980’s, he covered the bases of American pop culture at that time: as a guest on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, in a music video with A...

“Eiffel Tower” by Robert Schoolfield. (schoolfieldart.com) An art exhibition here in Chattanooga celebrates the creator in each of us. “Familiar Strangers” - founded by Robert Schoolfield - features works by him, and from three friends and collaborators: Jet Smith, Matthew Cook and Landon Marshall. The exhibition takes place Friday - starting at 5:30 PM - at 7616 Lee Highway. (Chattanooga Creative...

Salvatore A. Giunta, Medal of Honor recipient and author. (MOHHC) Chattanooga is where this nation’s highest military award for valor was first presented - during the Civil War. Today, the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center honors that legacy. On Friday, September 30th, the center hosts its annual Celebration of Valor luncheon - starting at 11:30 AM at the Chattanooga Conv...

Addy Counts as Maria in CTC’s “The Sound of Music.” (Chattanooga Theatre Centre) The hills are alive - and they’re coming to Chattanooga Theatre Centre. CTC’s production of “The Sound of Music” premieres on Friday, September 30th. The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical tells the story of Maria, a postulant nun-in-training who becomes a governess to the Von Trapp family in Austria during the 1930’s...

Scott Dunlap & Addy Counts on CTC’s “The Sound of Music.” MOHHC’s Hannah Sher on this year’s Celebration of Valor. Robert Schoolfield on “Familiar Strangers”; Finster Fest 2022. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(Preserve Chattanooga) Almost time to raise a glass for Wine Over Water.. The celebration of wine - also, a fundraiser for Preserve Chattanooga - returns to the Walnut St. Bridge on Saturday, October 8th. Todd Morgan of Preserve Chattanooga tells us more about that.

From a recent “Remember When?” / In December 1953, the Home Plate restaurant at Seventh and Cherry streets in Chattanooga was nearly destroyed by a fire. It reopened the next year. (Chattanooga News-Free Press file photo via ChattanoogaHistory.com) Remember when the feature “Remember When?” first appeared in The Chattanooga Times Free Press? It may seem ages ago - but it was early 2020, just befor...

Downtown Chattanooga Historic District (Preserve Chattanooga) To look forward, sometimes you have to look back. We begin the first in our series of conversations on “Scenic Roots” about historic preservation in Chattanooga, in collaboration with the nonprofit Preserve Chattanooga - formerly known as Cornerstones. Todd Morgan is executive director of Preserve Chattanooga. Melissa Mortimer is histor...

Carissa Turner, tracking armadillos at Reflection Riding. (UTC) Let’s talk about armadillos. Average rising temperatures here in the South are spurring the scaly creatures to crawl north - from Texas and Florida to North Carolina and here in Tennessee. Carissa Turner has been keeping tabs on the armadillos. She’s a grad student in environmental science on our campus, the University of Tennessee at...

(Chattanooga Fashion Expo) For fashionistas, the runway is calling this fall. The Chattanooga Fashion Expo returns the week before Thanksgiving - from Thursday, November 17th through Sunday, November 20th - with events at various locations around the city. One event is aimed at students and emerging designers. Shanna Forrestall is with the Expo.

(4 Courses / Tennessee Whiskey Festival) Here in Chattanooga, 4 Courses and Supper Club has brought celebrated Black chefs to this city - for food, conversation and to benefit local students in the culinary arts. Next week, 4 Courses again teams up with the Tennessee Whiskey Festival to present the 4 Courses and Whiskey Supper - next Friday, September 23rd, starting at 6 PM, at Waterhouse Pavilion...

(Chattanooga Times Free Press) Each year, the Champions of Health Care awards honor the best of the best health care professionals here in the Chattanooga area. This year’s Champions were recently profiled in The Chattanooga Times Free Press - and recognized at a luncheon yesterday in downtown Chattanooga. Chris Vass is public editor at the Times Free Press.