FESTIVALS THIS WEEKEND
Benton Arts and Heritage Days
Downtown Benton, Tenn., courthouse square, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 1-9 p.m. Sunday, free. 423-338-5733.
Chickstock
Greenway Farm, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, $10 adults, $5 ages 6-13, music, food and art vendors, information on conservation. www.chickstock.or...>
Community Fall Festival
NHC Healthcare, 1425 McFarland Ave., noon-4 p.m. Saturday, free, noon chili cookoff, music by Mike and Nena and White Oak Mountain Band. 706-861-0863.
Fall Color Bluegrass Festival
Hale's Bar Marina, Guild,Tenn., noon-4 p.m. Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, free. 942-9000.
Fall Fest
Ooltewah Elementary School, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, free, games, silent auction, hayrides, music by Tee Bumpass Band at 4 p.m.
Moderate temperatures and increasing splashes of color dotting the surrounding mountains make this a good weekend to get outside.
North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy is sponsoring an outdoor festival at Greenway Farm on Saturday afternoon, Chickstock, where guests can kick back in their lawn chair and listen to the music of local bands. Performing will be Slim Pickins, Bluetastic Fangrass, New Binkley Brothers, Barefoot Nellie, Blue John, Lone Mountain Band, David Russell and musicians from the Folk School of Chattanooga.
Gregory Vickrey, conservancy director, said the free event is presented as a service to the community.
"Outdoor Chattanooga will offer festivalgoers free canoeing, kayaking and biking. We're also planning a number of activities just for kids," he said.
All proceeds from Chickstock will support the conservation work done by the conservancy.
Music also sets the mood for Benton Arts and Heritage Days in Benton, Tenn. It will feature outdoor activities for all ages as well as indoor exhibits honoring the creativity of several Polk County residents.
An exhibit of quilted wall hangings by Lora Creasman will be held in the Polk County News office. The exhibit includes poems and essays written by Creasman.
Watercolor artist Marie Spaeder Haas will give a painting demonstration Saturday morning for festivalgoers.
A presentation on the life of the late George Scarbrough, whose book "Under the Lemon Tree" recently was published, will be presented. The author will be remembered by guest speakers in a gathering at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the small courtroom of the courthouse.
Outside, parents can enjoy musical acts while their kids bounce off energy in the inflatables. There will be a tractor show, VW car show, arts-and-crafts vendors and hayrides, said Melvin Bell.
Saturday's fun wraps up with a children's costume parade, followed by trick-or-treating at downtown Benton merchants. Sunday afternoon's entertainment will be filled with gospel music acts.
"The Original Tennessee Fall Color Cruise," held at Hale's Bar Marina, is evolving into a bluegrass festival. Cayla Massey said there will be music Saturday and Sunday afternoons along with 10 food and craft vendors.
Big Wood Bluegrass Band is the weekend's headliner. They'll perform Saturday at noon.
Susan Palmer Pierce is a reporter and columnist in the Life department. She began her journalism career as a summer employee 1972 for the News Free Press, typing bridal announcements and photo captions. She became a full-time employee in 1980, working her way up to feature writer, then special sections editor, then Lifestyle editor in 1995 until the merge of the NFP and Times in 1999. She was honored with the 2007 Chattanooga Woman of ...
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