Around and About Chattanooga

In June, the Chattanooga History Center will present two programs about Cherokee culture. One of the programs will be aimed towards a younger audience called Cherokee Life, which happens June 9th at 9 AM. The other program is for adults and is called The Cherokee Struggle for Sovereignty. The Cherokee Struggle for Sovereignty is presented on June 26th at 7 PM. Both programs will be held at the Chattanooga History Center. Garrett Crowe spoke with Dr.

Dr. Colleen Smith practices holistic medicine. That is,  she uses chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, and other alternative practices along with traditional medicine. And she treats unusual patients: dogs and cats. Sometimes even goats.  But how can you ask an animal if these treatments actually work?

Editor's note: Until recently, Dr. Smith worked at Animal Hospital of Signal Mountain. But since this story was produced, she left to open her own practice on Main Street, Chattanooga Holistic Animal Institute.

The Tennessee Cancer Coalition is hosting their 8th annual summit in Chattanooga on June 6th and 7th. Cancer Control and Prevention...

Glass Street in East Chattanooga has the bones of a commercial area, but there are very few businesses still open there. There's a community group trying to give economic breath back to the street. The Glass House Neighborhood Collective opened up shop a few months ago and is offering a business planning course that starts at the end of the month.

 Teal Thibaud, from Glass House, and Hal Bowling, who runs the business planning group Launch, talk about the upcoming class for entrepreneurs.

The Harris Arts Center in Calhoun Georgia is the temporary home of a Smithsonian traveling exhibit celebrating American Roots Music. 

On Sunday May 20th the Chattanooga Market will be celebrating the annual EPB Strawberry Festival.  In addition to the usual strawberry vendors you can anticipate seeing even more berries at the market this year.  Artisans and other food vendors have been encouraged to include the succulent sweet to their own products and displays to ensure everything is coming up strawberries at the Chattanooga Market this weekend, located in the First Tennessee Pavilion on Carter Street.

For a living, Eddie Bridges is a bartender at JJs Bohemia. But outside of his job, Eddie likes to focus on what he calls "projects." These projects are usually born from an incredible act of inspiration. In the past, Eddie's been involved in creative carpentry, pumpkin carving, and interior design. But his current project, the most absurd of them all, involves a couch, Tempur-Pedic memory foam, and Facebook.

This is part of our Charity Begins At Home series, where we explore the history behind some of Chattanooga's oldest and most prominent non-profit organizations.

One day during the Great Depression in Chattanooga, Rose Longgley, Emily Page Schlessinger and their friends went for a walk to the North Chattanooga post office, and they saw families in need camped out near the river.  That moment sparked nearly ninety years' worth of helping local residents at the Northside Neighborhood House.

Tour de Cure is Saturday, May 19th all across America.  It is a bicycle ride to raise funds and awareness for the American Diabetes Association.  A team of energetic young bicycle riders have been training for Tour de Cure to join thousands of people across the country in support of diabetes research.  The Red Riders are people with diabetes riding in Tour de Cure.  Several of the young teens riding in the Chattanooga Tour have been training for months.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chattanooga will host its biggest fundraiser of the year on May 19,  "Bowl for Kids' Sake." It will take place at Holiday Bowl Brainerd.

Go here to register for the event.

Ansley Kellermann, from Big Brothers Big Sisters, talks about the organization, and Oscar Parks, a long-time big brother, shares some insight from volunteering.

On the anniversary of the April 27, 2011 tornadoes, we aired a story about a community that was hit particularly hard -- Apison, Tenn. Two of the voices in that piece belonged to Virginia and Tim Miller.

In this piece, we hear more from our conversation with the Millers. They talk about how their own yard became a crime scene on the night of the tornado, and how after that night, their relationship with their neighbors was changed forever.

The Suntones have been singing four part harmony as a barbershop quartet for more than half a century.  They were the 1961 International Gold Medal Quartet winners in the Barbershop Harmony Society International competition and went on to become a regular feature on the Jackie Gleason Show filmed in Miami Florida. 

This week, at least 20 restaurants in the area have created special menus that revolve around local ingredients. It's "Harvested Here Restaurant Week," organized by the local food group, Gaining Ground.

In this segment, we hear from Lacie Stone, from Gaining Ground,  the chef at Hennen's, Matt Marcus, and the trout farmer who Marcus works with, Steve Pickett.

The River City Company is ready for the 5th team in the Urban Design Challenge to present their vision of a part of Chattanooga's future.  On Tuesday, May 15th the team will be presenting their design concept of the Vine Street Corridor, a street connecting the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with Georgia Avenue.  The presentation will take place at 5:30 at the Central Church of Christ at 400 Vine Street, at the corner of Vine and Lindsay Street.