Family fun day schedule
Saturday, April 99 a.m. Krystal Sunriser 5K (free to the first 200 runners; Sunriser breakfast follows)9 a.m. Social paddle on paddleboards from Frye Center to South Chickamauga Creek9 a.m. Outdoor Chattanooga provides free canoes and bikes10 a.m. Art120 bike parade10 a.m.-noon. Old Time Travelers play10 a.m.-4 p.m. Food trucks and vendors in open-air market; Creative Discovery Museum mobile activities; mammograms by CHI Memorial mobile11 a.m. Yoga on the Green with Yoga Landing; sapling giveaways for children; Jim Ogden Civil War history programs (repeats throughout the day)1-3 p.m. Hamilton County Ramblers play4 p.m. Events conclude
Area residents can take their first official steps on a new section of the Tennessee Riverwalk this week. The South Chickamauga Creek Greenway will open with three days of events designed to showcase the connector and its 190-foot bridge.
This one-mile piece of the puzzle figures prominently in a plan to eventually expand the Riverwalk to St. Elmo and complete the final miles of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway, which stretches to Camp Jordan in East Ridge.
According to Times Free Press archives, nearly 30,000 people live within a 10-minute walk of the South Chick greenway. The Trust for Public Land raised $2.5 million, which includes the price of the bridge, from private partners to complete this portion.
Festivities to mark the occasion kick off today, April 7, with educational programs. Public, private and home-schooled students from Hamilton County have been invited for self-guided tours of the area to learn about the environment, wildlife and history of the region. A ticketed outdoor cocktail reception is scheduled later this evening with elected officials. On Friday, April 8, Trust for Public Land staff will visit neighboring businesses with information about the new greenway.
Events culminate Saturday, April 9, with a family fun day. Activities begin with a Sunriser 5K, a standup paddleboard social paddle, bike parade put on by Art120, live bluegrass music, a Girl Scouts art project, outdoor yoga classes with Yoga Landing, free bike and canoe rentals compliments of Outdoor Chattanooga, various children's activities, Civil War history programs, plus four food trucks and seven vendors set up in an open-air market.
Saturday's events will take place off Amnicola Highway (turn left on Lost Mound Road and bear left into the Riverwalk).
For more information, visit www.tpl.org/southchick or www.facebook.com/ events/1043288929061741.