Thanksgiving might not be a worldwide festivity, but on Thursday it was a holiday that united hundreds of people to celebrate the area's diversity.
A buffet of red beans and rice, hummus and pita chips, and German meatballs was a small sample of the different cultures and backgrounds represented at the city's first Diversity Thanksgiving, an event organized by the American Diversity Report.
The night began with a parade of nations at the Volkswagen Academy Conference Center where children and adults carried flags from around the world, from India to Germany to Mexico and Israel.
"The goal was to bring together the community of corporate and internationals and locals and to show the global village we are and to allow people to have a voice and participate who otherwise wouldn't be participating," said Deborah Levine, editor of the American Diversity Report.
The event, attended by about 400 people, included Indian dances, choir performances in English and Spanish and poetry readings. Throughout the evening attendees could enter the Jewish Federation's Sukkah - a temporary hut used during the festival of Sukkot celebrating the harvest.
Bright School was announced as the winner of the Diversity Thanksgiving Youth Video contest, in which participants were charged with making a video that showcased diversity.
For Volkswagen, the event is part of the company's commitment to diversity, said Hans-Herbert Jagla, executive vice president for human resources at the Chattanooga plant.
"My personal belief is that every company should recognize diversity because we have only one world," he said.
"In my experiences and my personal life, you can always have the best perspectives if you recognize and talk to all the people you can meet," he added.
Linda Pettigrew, a grief counselor, and Sylvia Wygoda, a retired executive director of the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust, admired Komal Patri's Indian dance from the back row.
"There are people from all walks of life, families, small children here," said Pettigrew of the event. She grew up in rural Indiana but moved to Florida in her late 20s and has lived in Chattanooga for 15 years.
"Peace starts one-on-one, people getting to know each other; it has to start one-on-one in our community, as well," she said.
Wygoda, who is Jewish and was born and raised in Chattanooga, said she's pleasantly surprised at how the city has changed.
"It has made us a better community," she said.