Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
LISA DENTON: Barry, have you realized we are cruising into Labor Day weekend? It's hard to believe we're at the unofficial end of summer when I'm still finding Easter eggs.
But you can't argue with the calendar. I do think I went through some kind of time warp last week, though. When I took Hocus Focus to the Ford dealer for a little transmission tune-up, my dash clock was three minutes fast, and when I got the car back the clock was three minutes slow. Weird, huh?
Of course, that's better than my mom's car. One year when the time changed, her clock was four minutes fast and one hour slow.
BARRY COURTER: Well, you've always said she likes to get to her destination early. That just sounds like she's doubled up her fail-safe tricks.
I know it's probably not a big event on your calendar, but college football gets going this week. I say week, but the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs have their season opener Thursday night at Finley Stadium. The team is ranked in the Top 10 in a couple of polls, which is pretty exciting, so expectations are high for another good year. In addition to the usual tailgating that precedes a home game, country singer Dylan Scott will perform at 5 p.m. before the 7 p.m. kickoff. With First Tennessee Pavilion right next door, Finley Stadium is a great place to watch a football game.
LISA: Sounds like a fun way to kick off the season.
You know what else it's time for? Fall festivals. Susan Pierce's annual list of fairs, festivals and other fabulous fall places will be in Sunday's Life section and also in the September issue of Chatter magazine, another Times Free Press publication.
I believe she said there are 105 on the list (with a bullet) from Labor Day weekend through November. I could ask her, I guess. I mean, she's close enough I could hit her with a paper wad, even with my aim. But she always gets a little crazy compiling that list, so maybe I'll just rely on my memory of how many announcements she's typed in for this guide.
BARRY: I'd advise keeping your distance. That is a really big number. Think about it. Most folks probably just think about the biggies like the Hamilton County Fair in September and the Prater's Mill and Ketner's Mill festivals in October, but there are more than 100 others coming up this fall. Everything from church bazaars to pumpkin festivals to arts and crafts fairs. Susan has them all.
LISA: That really is one of the big refrigerator pages of the year. You know, something so worth saving that you keep it at the ready to plan your weekend.
And then there's us - bottom of the bird cage.
BARRY: At least we're good for something.
LISA: The good news about the fall festivals is that, even if you lose the big list, you can still read about all of these events each week in ChattanoogaNow. And any event planners who have more to add can submit them to the online calendar at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow or online anytime at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281. Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.