Calendar of Events

Did you make a New Year’s resolutions to get more exercise or spend more time outdoors? The UT Arboretum Society can help with both! In 2018, the UT Arboretum Society is now offering a monthly hike on the third Saturday of each month.

The hikes will be led by Arboretum staff or a member of the UT Arboretum Society. The hike will begin at the parking lot of the UT Arboretum, 901 S. Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge at 9:00 a.m. This is approximately a one-hour fun, short trail hike. Participants are asked to wear clothes appropriate to the weather and boots or good shoes for outdoor walking. This is a free program offered by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society. To learn more about this hike or the UT Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org. For more information on the program, call 865-483-7277.

Dates: Sept 15, Oct 6, Oct 20, Nov 10
Times: 7:30pm

GHOST HUNTER TOUR designed for Junior, Cadette, Senior, Ambassador - Dig into the science behind ghost hunting with a walking tour by Haunted Knoxville Ghost Tours AND earn a patch! Girl Scouts will learn Knoxville history, work as a team, investigate using a variety of equipment, and come to their own conclusions based on the evidence they find! This is a non-scary patch program! Join in on a popular public tour (Friday and Saturday nights) or schedule your own private tour (for up to 30 people).

The price is $25 per girl/$30 per adult. Price includes a souvenir lanyard, use of investigation equipment, Ghost Hunting 101 crash course, and a nationally-recognized Ghost Hunter and local historian as your guides. Patches are available for $5 each; they’re free if your group is 10 people or more. To register, go to http://hauntedknoxville.net/. Let them know if you’d like to purchase/receive the patch.

This activity is suggested for girls age 9 and up. Adult chaperons are required. Partnership with Girl Scouts Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians

Please visit: www.hauntedknoxville.net for more updated tour information, to purchase tickets, and for Newly added Tours! Contact number: 865-377-9677

With Reagan DeBusk
What fun to actually learn to play this very old instrument. In actuality this instrument or some version of it was used in many ancient cultures. The penny whistle or tin whistle is now an integral part of several folk traditions. It is certainly used mostly by the Irish, who have made it a part of their traditional music. It is inexpensive and easy to carry around. Be a part of this upbeat and fun musical instrument.

Class fee $30, (Members $25). Class fee includes the whistle and music book.

Historic Ramsey House, 2614 Thorngrove Pike, Knoxville, TN 37914. Information: 865-546-0745, www.ramseyhouse.org

What if drinking a beer and singing karaoke could contribute to world peace? On Sept. 15, Knoxvillians are invited to Pints for Peace: The Inaugural Beer Ball, a benefit for Ulster Project of East Tennessee. The benefit, which will be held at Fanatic Brewery from 6-10 pm, will support the Ulster Project’s efforts to bring 16 Northern Irish teenagers to the United States for four weeks, where they have the opportunity to live and serve with American teenagers from a variety of different religions.

Ulster Project of East Tennessee invites everyone to join us for "PINTS FOR PEACE," the Inaugural Beer Ball at Fanatic Brewery, 2735 North Central Street, on September 15th from 6-10 pm. Tickets may be purchased at the door, via the link on our Facebook page, or through Eventbrite. The Beer Ball provides funds to support the efforts of Ulster Project of East Tennessee.

Admission is $10 for over 21, and $5 for younger guests and designated drivers. Every attendee 21+ who uses Lyft or Uber receives a free beer ticket.

The Beer Ball will begin at 6 pm. Beer and food items will be available for purchase. Music, games, and karaoke will also be part of the fun!

“My family has hosted teens for this project for 5 years, and I’ve seen firsthand how meaningful the experience is for everyone involved,” said Stephanie Richter, president of the Ulster Project. “This fundraiser will help us continue and expand this necessary work. Participation in the Ulster Project truly helps you feel like you are contributing to world peace.”

The idea behind the Ulster Project is simple: expose Catholic and Protestant Northern Irish teenagers to an American lifestyle that accepts cultural and religious differences, in hopes that the teens can help end the polarization that feeds political conflict and violence at home. Each teen is matched with an American host family, and the entire group of Northern Irish and American teens meet regularly to work on service projects and other peace-building activities. The project was founded in 1975 and has chapters all over the United States. As one teen participant put it, “Over here it doesn’t really take into consideration what religion or where you’re from or what you grew up believing, it’s all about making friends.”

For more information, please visit our Facebook Page Ulster Project of East Tennessee or our webpage https://ulsterprojecteasttennessee.weebly.com/. Event info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ulster-project-east-tennessees-first-annual-beerball-tickets-49159179429

The 12th Annual Arts In The Park, "Art In The Heart of Hamblen County," a visual and performing arts event, will be celebrated on Saturday, September 15, 2018, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Park, located at 350 West Ninth North Street, Morristown, Tennessee.

Dick Ensing, returning as guest artist to Arts In The Park, paints in the tradition of the French impressionist with Cades Cove and the surrounding countryside as his inspiration. Along with Dick's other accomplishments, he has a degree in engineering and plays jazz as a hobby. Dick, his wife, Pat, and son, Curt, have adopted Smoky Mountains as their home. He was Guest Artist for Arts In The Park during the earlier years of the event.

Mitch Smith, guest performing artist, a Morristown composer, musician, music teacher, and owner of Round Table School of Music, will perform with his band at Arts In The Park. The Mitch Smith Band will include Ed Redmon, John Reuschel, Steve Wilaniskis and Chris Morelock, along with Mitch's students from "Round Table School of Music." The musical style is mostly guitar driven instrumentals with some vocals. Mitch will also perform with "The Connection Project" from First United Methodist Church of Morristown.

Arts In The Park is a one-day celebration of two-dimensional fine art, artistic photography, and sculpture; theater, music, and dance and is an event for Morristown Art Association Member artists and local visual artists to showcase, display, sell, and demonstrate their art and talents. Arts In The Park also showcases local performing artists. The performances include folk, country, blues, classical piano and classical guitar with tunes ranging from bluegrass to jazz to gospel to classical, a little bit of comedy, storytelling, and dance. Fine art, exciting live performances, roving entertainers, great food and refreshments, art demonstrations, "Try Your Hand At Art," an art walk, sidewalk chalk art, and hands-on children's art activities will add to the festival's appeal.

The Art Walk door prize drawing is a Dick Ensing painting. Admission is FREE. This Twelfth Annual Arts In The Park is an event of the Morristown Art Association, Morristown Parks and Recreation, and Rose Center Council for the Arts. Parking is limited; so, park at Rose Center and take the Girls Inc. shuttle to and from the park.
For additional information, please visit www.morristownart.org; or call Rose Center at 423-581-4330.

The Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. Hours: M-F 9-5. Information: 423-581-4330, www.rosecenter.org

Knoxville Writers Guild hosts You’ve Got Help: Library Resources for Writers on September 15, 2018, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.

Whatever you’re writing—poetry, memoir, genealogy, non-fiction, novels, stories, songs—the Knoxville Public Library is here for you with vast resources on-site, online, and through connections with regional and national resources. With free services and options for dedicated research help, the KPL is your treasure for the taking. Steve Cotham, with boundless expertise and dry wit, will show you how.

This event will be held at the Knox County Public Library,
500 W. Church Ave, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37902. Registration at www.KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org.

Knoxville Writers’ Guild: Meetings take place at Central United Methodist Church's Fellowship Hall, 201 E. Third Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: www.KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org

Mabry-Hazen will hold a fall grounds cleaning day on Saturday, September 15, from 9am-3pm. Volunteers are welcome to come and go as they please. Activities will include leaf and brush removal, mulching, dead tree removal, garden bed weed removal, and general grounds cleaning. Some tools will be provided, but volunteers are encouraged to bring yard and garden tools.

https://www.volunteeretn.org/opportunity/a0C1J00000GLZCbUAP?layoutViewMode=tablet

Mabry-Hazen House, 1711 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN, 37915. Information: 865-522-8661, www.mabryhazen.com

11th Annual Pesto Festo hosted by The White Barn at Cruze Farm and Slow Food Tennessee Valley

Saturday, September 15, 5:00-10:00pm
White Barn at Cruze Farm
7309 Kodak Road, Knoxville, Tennessee 37914

Hosted by Slow Food Tennessee Valley
Tickets at https://awe2017.brownpapertickets.com/.

Protecting the Legacy: African American Women in Tennessee Before 1930.
Protecting the Legacy is a statewide project that seeks help from the public to uncover local suffrage stories about Tennessee African American women and political activity.

We are asking those interested in participating to look through family history for information about African American women that dates to 1930 and earlier. We are looking for family and community history about suffrage, voting, political activity, Club and Church women, community work, nurses, teachers, and racial uplift. Our focus is 1930 and earlier. The presentation includes how to begin looking through your family and community memorabilia for this type of history (photographs, letters, scrapbooks, etc.)

Saturday, September 15, at 10:00am.
Beck Cultural Exchange Center: 1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-6. Information: 865-524-8461, www.beckcenter.net

A Home for Our Past: The Museum of East Tennessee History at 25 a new feature exhibition at the Museum of East Tennessee History

The public opening of the exhibition begins at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, September 14, with light refreshments and ribbon cutting and remarks at 5:15.

When the Museum of East Tennessee History opened in 1993, it fulfilled a shared vision to preserve and interpret the region’s rich history for the benefit of all, a vision first articulated a century and a half earlier. On May 5, 1834, Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey addressed a group of a historically-minded citizens gathered for the first annual meeting of the East Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society. Concerned that many of the participants in Tennessee’s early history were passing away and with them their memories, Ramsey issued a call to action: “Let us hasten to redeem the time that is lost.”

Today, 184 years later, Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey’s plea to save Tennessee’s past continues to reverberate in the galleries of the East Tennessee Historical Society’s museum, a permanent home for our region’s cherished stories, traditions, and artifacts. The East Tennessee Historical Society actively began collecting artifacts and producing award-winning interpretive exhibits in 1993, which has now grown to more than 16,000 artifacts housed within the East Tennessee History Center. In this special exhibition, ETHS is excited to highlight East Tennessee’s unique history through a variety of artifacts, with at least one exhibited item from each year of ETHS’s active 25 years of collections, most of which are rarely or never on display.

The exhibition includes more than twenty-five artifacts and numerous photographs and illustrations representative of East Tennessee’s unique history. Some of the items include an 1883 Springfield penny-farthing, the first apparatus to be called a “bicycle”; an 1822 artificial hand that belonged to a teacher from Union County; a silver coffee and tea service from the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad presented to Superintendent James Baker Hoxsie upon his retirement in 1866; a coverlet woven by one of the famed Walker sisters of Greenbrier; a shirt stating “Healing in the name of Jesus. Take up serpents, Acts 2:38” worn during religious services practicing snake handling in Cocke County; an 1817 bead necklace belonging to Eliza Sevier, the wife of Templin Ross and the granddaughter of both John Sevier and Cherokee Chief Oconostota; a 1907 baseball uniform from a coal town’s team in Marion County; and the distinctive backdrop and wall clock from WBIR-TV variety program "The Cas Walker Farm & Home Show." The exhibit also features a brilliant display of East Tennessee furniture, textiles, folk art, instruments, and vintage toys.

Also on display are more than two dozen featured artifacts from the Tennessee State Museum. A new Tennessee State Museum will open on the grounds of the Bicentennial Capital Mall in Nashville on October 4. ETHS is honored to display select East Tennessee artifacts from their collection, highlighting the programmatic ties between the two institution as well as the museums’ shared mission to preserve Tennessee’s rich history. Selected items include a 1792 map of the State of Franklin, an 1831 copy of the Cherokee Phoenix & Indians Advocate newspaper, and a 19th century flintlock muzzle loading rifle made by Baxter Bean of Washington County.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Farragut & Powell Branch Libraries

Join the Friends of the Knox County Public Library for branch book sales, September 14 - 16 at Farragut Branch Library and September 21 - 22 at Powell Branch Library. Find your favorite books and more, with all proceeds benefiting the Knox County Public Library.

http://www.knoxfriends.org/

James Agee Conference at Pellissippi State celebrates Appalachian arts, literature

An annual literature conference with an Appalachian focus has branched out this year to include music and photography. The third annual James Agee Conference for Literature and Arts will be held Sept. 14 and 15 at Pellissippi State Community College's Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road.

The free event, which is open to the public, will include master classes led by musician Kelle Jolly, photographer Roger May and novelist Jon Sealy as well as a keynote presentation by author Robert Gipe. Their presentations, all on Sept. 14, will be held in the Goins Auditorium.

"In the past, we've had poets and writers of fiction and nonfiction," explained conference founder Charles Dodd White, an associate professor of English at Pellissippi State. "This year we are going beyond the literary by adding music and photography, which will expand on our arts theme."

White, who will be inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame in October, created the conference largely to give Pellissippi State students an opportunity to attend a scholarly conference while also celebrating the literature, culture and arts of Appalachia.

"Agee is such a particular touchstone for this area," said White, who is teaching Pellissippi State's first Appalachian literature course this fall. "The Conference gives us an opportunity to honor his influence while also exploring the hometown portrayal of Appalachia through writing and art."

White is committed to keeping the conference free so that it remains accessible to students, and he encourages music and photography students to participate as well.

"This lets students get their feet wet and see what a professional literary festival/conference is like," White said. "These are also really good master classes, which is an excellent opportunity for other aspiring writers and artists."

Union Avenue Books will be on hand with a selection of Appalachian literature, and conference participants will have opportunities between the interactive workshops to mingle with the presenters and get their works signed.

For the full schedule and more information on this year's presenters, visit www.pstcc.edu/events/ageeconference.