It’s Monday, and I sure missed you bud!

Alright so, new theory: July is the real New Year.

January’s too cold to be productive. But July? July’s got popsicles, porcupines, and just enough chaos to make a fresh start feel fun. So I’m callin’ it: The Great Summer Reset.

This issue’s full of second chances, soda geysers, and reasons to try again—even if your New Year’s resolution fizzled back in February. It’s not about changin’ everything. Just maybe… flossin’ today.

Let’s get into it.

Today's Issue Includes:

• Chattanooga's Upcoming Events

• Our Hand-Picked Community Spotlight: YMCA Chattanooga’s Free Food Programs!

• Stuff I Saw on the Internet: Poolsuite FM

• A Yap with Full Circle Refillery: Chattanooga’s FIRST Zero Waste home goods store!

• Clementine’s Corner - Fourth of July Resolutions

• Wrap Up

Make sure ya crank the radio up for this week’s song while ya read (personally, we think it adds to the experience).

What’s Goin’ On in the Scenic City?

Community

• Red, White & Blue Day
  July 4, 2025 @ Creative Discovery Museum
  Crafts, patriotic shrinky-dinks, temporary tattoos, science shows, and an epic 21-soda-geyser salute finale.
  👀 Celebrate with the whole crew

• Independence Day Picnic
  July 4, 2025 @ The Jewish Cultural Center of Chattanooga
  Picnic-style eats, live country-rock music by River Moon Express, and sweet summer vibes indoors (AC included).
  🍉 Dance and Dine Through the 4th

• Freedom Festival
  July 3, 2025 @ Collegedale Commons
  Live jazz, pie-tasting, a bounce house obstacle course, patriotic tunes by the East TN Symphony Orchestra, and a 9:30 PM fireworks finale.
  🥧 Make it a Midweek Banger

• Soddy-Daisy Independence Day Celebration
  July 5, 2025 @ Soddy Lake Recreation Complex
  All-day event with food trucks, live music, a dunk tank, vendors, fireworks, and lots of community fun at Soddy Lake.
  🎆 If ya ain’t from Soddy, ya ain’t nobody

Music & Entertainment

• Throwback Thursday
  July 3, 2025 @ Hunter Museum of American Art
  Enjoy free admission, a documentary screening, and drop-in art activities inspired by historic shoes. Yes, shoes.
  👟 Step into art history

• Bluegrass Bubble Bash
  July 4, 2025 @ Miller Park
  Live music, artisan vendors, GIANT MoonPie cake, bubble finale, and the beloved Big Wheel Races. A whimsical downtown send-off for the Nightfall season.
  🫧Bubble up, Buster

• Pops on the River!
  July 3, 2025 @ Coolidge Park
  A free outdoor bash with music from Chattanooga Soul and the Symphony, fireworks at 9:45, food trucks, crafts, and a kids zone.
  🎺Claim your Picnic Spot

Outdoors ‘n’ Stuff

• Patriotic Pup Parade
  Tomorrow, July 1, 2025 @ Enterprise South Nature Park
  Doggos in bandanas. A parade through the park. Kiddie pools. Vendors. Free parking. Need we say more?
  🐶 Prance on, Pupper

• History of Environmental Justice in Chattanooga
  July 2, 2025 @ Hutton & Smith Brewing | 6-8 PM
  Free pizza + a powerful discussion about our city’s environmental legacy and who’s been left behind. Hosted by Sunrise Chattanooga.
  🌿 Learn, Reflect, Snack

• Patriotic Game Day
  July 2, 2025 @ Chester Frost Park Beach | 2–9 PM
  Cornhole, costume contests, frozen bandana games, and beachside family fun. No registration required!
  🏖️Compete for Glory

• Conservation Awareness Days: World Porcupine Day
  July 5, 2025 @ The Chattanooga Zoo
  Celebrate the quill-iest creatures in town with themed enrichment activities and prickly facts.
  🦔Party with the porcupines

Got somethin’ cookin’ that the Scenic City oughta know about? Wanna talk about how cool your weekend was? Tell us all about it! We’d love to yap it up and holler all about it from the porch! Just reply to this message, or send a separate one to [email protected]!

Our Hand-Picked Community Spotlight: YMCA Chattanooga’s Free Food Programs!

Okay y’all, listen up, this one’s important!

If you’ve got kids, cousins, siblings, neighbor buddies, or literally any young human in your life who could use a solid meal (or three) this summer, the YMCA of Chattanooga has your back in a BIG way.

They’ve got a whole Youth Food Program going on that’s serving up free meals to all children and teens ages 1–18 at over 80 sites across Chattanooga, Cleveland, and North Georgia. And we aren’t just talking snacks, these are real meals made with love and care, helping kiddos stay full, healthy, and ready to take on the world (or at least a good game of freeze tag).

Here’s some quick deets:

• Meals are totally free

• No ID or paperwork needed

• Programs are run out of local schools, churches, apartment complexes, and YMCA sites

• Volunteers help make it all possible (so shoutout to y’all heroes!)

Don’t be shy! Spread the word. Let’s make sure every kiddo gets a plate and a place to belong this summer. 🧡

Stuff I Saw on the Internet: Poolsuite FM

If yer Great Summer Reset needs a soundtrack, this is it. Poolside FM is a retro-inspired online radio station that feels like the lovechild of an ‘80s teen movie, a VHS tape, and a pool party you somehow remember even though you were never there.

The second you open the site, it’s good vibes only: funky disco, synthy daydreams, and lo-fi pop grooves, all wrapped in a dreamy pastel interface with fake vintage commercials, ridiculous fashion clips, and enough neon to make your heart do jazz hands. Oh, and they gotta app too for when yer on the go.

It’s weird. It’s wonderful. It’s wildly unserious. And it’s the perfect thing to put on while cleaning your room, painting your nails, or mentally planning your Lake Winnie trip for the third summer in a row.

A Yap with Tiffany from Full Circle Refillery: Chattanooga’s FIRST Zero Waste Home Goods store!

If you’ve ever looked at an empty shampoo bottle while yer in the shower, sighed a big sigh cause that was yer last one, and thought, "There’s gotta be a better way," well Tiffany thought the same thing. Only she didn’t just think it, she built a whole dang solution fer it so the whole community can benefit too.

Full Circle Refillery ain’t just Chattanooga’s first zero-waste store, it’s the product of a lifetime of handiwork, heart, and good ol’-fashioned curi-osa-tee (look, I tried to sound it out, okay?)

Roots & Handy Folks

Originally from McMinnville, Tennessee, Tiffany didn’t wake up one day and decide to open up a refillery, but lookin' back, it kinda makes sense. A self-proclaimed tree hugger, she comes from a family that could fix or mend just about anything. Her grandaddy was a carpenter, her mama a seamstress. Her upbringin’ of fixin’ and makin’ do ran in her blood, it seemed.

From Michigan to Chattanooga Markets

It took movin' up to Michigan for Tiffany to see her first refillery. But curiosity got her, and she realized refillin' wasn’t just about savin' bottles, it was about community, connection, and takin’ care of things through the little interactions. She started learnin’ more about how small shifts in habits could add up, how even just bringin’ yer own jar to a shop could change the way you think about consumption. That simple swap felt powerful, like castin' a vote for the kinda world you want to live in.

And the more she saw, the more she knew she wanted to bring it along with her to the Chattanooga area ended up bein’ her new home, and boy she did not waste any time gettin’ to work on this concept.

A Store Comes Full Circle

What started as a humble little market pop-up — with jars of deodorant and toothpaste tablets — now has a proper brick-and-mortar home that’s hopin’ to serve the Chattanooga community further. Her shop’s built around a closed-loop system where every product keeps circulatin'. Sure, it costs a smidge more than a jug of Tide from the store, but Tiffany swears by it:

Sustainability Ain’t a Fuss

For Tiffany, it’s about approachability and small, easy wins. Don't try doin' it all overnight. Start small. Swap out that plastic razor or toothpaste tube. And if ya get stuck? Just look in yer trash can: that’s a real good hint where to begin and see where you can throw away a little less. She’s dreamin' about workshops, seed swaps, and more community goodness to spread sustainability across Chattanooga. The goal ain’t to make folks feel guilty, we’re just figurin' this out together, one jug atta time.

If yer curious to see what all the fuss is about, yer in luck, cause Bub has the scoop for ya. Full Circle will be hosting a soft opening this Wednesday — a sneak peek at the goods, the space, and the refillery magic in action. Then on July 12th, the real celebration kicks off: their grand opening party with food from Mac's Kitchen, sips from Chattanooga Culture Kombucha, and plenty of chances to meet the makers behind the products.

Come on down, say hey, and maybe leave with a roll of reusable paperless towels!

Clementine’s Corner - Fourth of July Resolutions

You know what I don’t get? New Year’s resolutions.

Like, I get it, “New year, new me,” and all that, but let’s face it: January is not exactly the most inspiring month. It’s cold and damp and gray, everyone’s a little grumpy because they have to go back to work and school, and on top of that, we put pressure on ourselves to become better people?

I tried making New Year’s resolutions once, and I only made it about three and a half days before I gave up. And honestly? I think that’s just fine. Because if you ask me, there’s no better time to start becoming a better version of yourself than right now.

So this week, in the spirit of The Great Summer Reset, I decided to set some Fourth of July Resolutions instead! “But Clementine,” Bubby protested when I told him my brilliant reset idea, “it’s just a random day in the middle of summer! You can’t just make resolutions!!” To which I proclaimed, “OH YES I CAN!”

Did you know that this Wednesday marks exactly halfway through 2025? WHERE has the year gone??? I think this week is the perfect time to reflect, reset, and kick off the second half of the year right.

Now, when I tried this in January, I think I set my goals a little too high. I kinda wanted to make really big changes that would make every part of myself a little bit better, because I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do. But I’ve been thinking and I think that’s too much pressure on a person. So I flip-flopped my mindset and here are my Fourth of July resolutions (in no particular order).

1. Drink more water - I don’t care if it’s good for you, I don’t like it, so I’m gonna do stuff like put fruit and silly straws to make drinking the boring good for you stuff more fun.

2. See a something through to the end - I always get excited about a project and quit when it gets hard. I’m crocheting a blanket right now and I’m gonna finish it!!

3. Overcome my fear of the flying monsters you guys call bees - to be honest, I’m still on the fence about this one.

4. Live my life like I’m in a movie - I hear this is called romanticizing my life and I think it’s fun. It’s definitely happier than being Stressy-Bessy all the time!

5. Go to Lake Winnie - I know I know, I can hear all the native Chattanoogans gasping in shock that I’ve never been. I will rectify this… soon!

6. Finish a book before I start four new ones - IYKYK.

7. Figure out how Bubby makes his pot stay on his head - you know you’re curious too!

8. Yap a little less - don’t worry, I’ve got too many ideas in my head to be quiet for too long, but I think it would be nice to listen a little more for a change.

9. Go outside - and no, I’m not just talking about my backyard or walking around downtown. Do you know how many cool parks are around Chattanooga?? State parks! National parks! Dog parks! Theme parks! parking lots!… yeah, maybe that one’s a stretch, but you get it.

10. Give Mayor Tim Kelly a high five - I dunno, he just seems like a cool dude and he does a good job at his job and I think he deserves a high five.

I almost forgot the best part! You can change or add these suckers whenever you want! Since I created Fourth of July resolutions I get to make the rules and that’s what I say. And honestly, isn’t that what the Fourth of July is (sorta kinda) all about? Those founding fathers all signed the Declaration of Independence, which is literally the most Fourth of July resolution historical document of all time.

And America just keeps on growing and changing, just like me and just like you. If you’re in the mood to do a lil reset with us, or if you want to set a couple mid year goals, lemme know! 

For now, I’m off to spy on Bubby to figure out the pot on his head thing.

Thanks fer catchin’ up, bud!

Alright, friends: that’s all from this week’s front porch. We hope yer Great Summer Reset brings more water drinking, less self-pressure, and maybe one successful attempt at crocheting a blanket before abandoning it for snacks (Clementine's workin’ on it).

If something in this issue made you smile, reflect, or yell “OH I WANNA GO TO THAT!”, send it to a friend. That’s how this little porch party grows.

'Til next time: drink some water, give someone a high five (Mayor Tim Kelly if you can swing it), and remember that it's never too late to start over - even if your fresh start includes a silly straw.

See y’all next week! 💛

— Bubby & Clementine