Do ya remembaaa, the 21st night of SEPTEMBAAA? 🎶Been waitin’ all month to do that. Thank you for your patience with my annual performance.

Anywhomst, how ya been pal? I hope the weekend gave ya something to smile about, and if it didn’t, I’m glad you’re here for a little company. Clementine’s back and we’ve got plenty on our minds, but wanted to wait until ya got here to do so without repeating ourselves. So get comfy!

This week’s tune comes straight from our collaborative Hope on the Porch Spotify playlist. Click the link below before ya start reading if you wanna listen, and thanks for listening along with us throughout the month!

CBDistillery’s back for another visit! This bit’s for our grown-up porch pals only, so I’m handin’ the clipboard to Meemaw. Thanks for supportin’ the partners who help keep Chattynooga goin’.

Take it away, y’all!

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Chattanooga Taco Festival

Friday, September 25 – Sunday, September 27 @ Camp Jordan 

Tacos for three whole days? Say less. Chattanooga Taco Festival is taking over Camp Jordan with more than 35 food vendors and food trucks, mariachi bands, dancers, artisan vendors, and so much more! Come hungry for a full weekend celebrating good food and the people who make it. 

🌮 Let’s taco bout it

Zerbini Family Circus
Friday, September 25 – Sunday, September 27 @ Tennessee Riverpark

The circus is coming to town! Zerbini Family Circus is setting up the big top at Tennessee Riverpark for five shows packed with aerialists, acrobats, jugglers, clown comedy, and classic circus fun. This traveling circus only rolls through town for the weekend, so catch them while you can!
🎪 All eyes on me in the center of the ring

Books, Brews & Boos

Saturday, September 26 @ White Duck Taco | 3:00 - 8:00 PM
The Scholastic Book Fair meets spooky season at this fall book bash! Check out books from local authors and vendors, go bookish trick-or-treating, play author BINGO, and grab some tacos while you’re at it. The event is free and family-friendly, with a portion of White Duck Taco’s sales that day benefiting Rise for ALS Chattanooga. 

👻 My kind of boo(k) club

West Side Story & The American Groove
Thursday, September 24 @ Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium | 7:30 PM

The Chattanooga Symphony is tuning up for a brand-new season with West Side Story & The American Groove! The season opener brings together American music, Brahms’s Violin Concerto featuring violinist Randall Goosby, and an original piece by Chattanooga composer Ben Van Winkle. And just like that, another season of music from the CSO is underway!
🎻 Let’s take it from the top

Queens for a Cause (18+)
Thursday, September 24 @ Barking Legs Theater | 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Chattanooga’s drag community is coming together for a neighbor in need! Queens for a Cause is an 18+ drag and burlesque benefit show raising money to help cover Evelyn’s gender-affirming surgery. Tickets are $10 at the door, with every dollar going directly toward the cause, so come out and show up for one of Chattanooga’s own.
👑 Queens supporting queens 

Racket on the Rails
Saturday, September 26 @ Chattanooga Choo Choo | 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Old records and vintage treasures are taking over the Choo Choo! Racket on the Rails is back for its second year with dozens of vendors selling vinyl, vintage clothing, handmade goods, art, and more. Live DJs and local bands will keep the party going all day long.
🎶 Girl, put your records on

Spirits & Sustainability
Tuesday, September 22 @ Four Bridges Outfitters | 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Getting outside doesn’t always have to mean buying brand-new gear! Four Bridges Outfitters hosts September’s Spirits & Sustainability for a conversation about used equipment, consignment, and keeping good gear out of the landfill. Grab a drink and meet some neighbors while learning how Chattanooga’s outdoor community is finding ways to tread a little lighter.
♻️ Reduce, reuse, recycle

Map-a-Thon
Friday, September 26 @ Philip Grymes Outdoor Chattanooga Center | 11:30 AM - 7:30 PM
Chattanooga knows the outdoors, and now it’s time to put all that knowledge on the map! The Outdoor Chattanooga Map-a-Thon invites anyone who knows and loves the area to help create a free map of local trails, parks, waterways, access points, and more. Drop in anytime to learn how to map, share the places you know, and help make exploring Chattanooga a little easier for the next person.
🗺️ Google Maps could never

National Park City Play Street
Saturday, September 26 @ Creative Discovery Museum | 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Chattanooga is taking playtime to the streets! The first-ever Chattanooga National Park City Play Street turns the space in front of Creative Discovery Museum into a free block party with family-friendly activities, community partners, and a vendor market. Turns out downtown can make for a pretty good playground!
🛝 Mom said to be home when the streetlights come on

Got somethin’ you wanna tell the community about?

Tell us all about it with our new and improved events form, or just reply to this email with your event details and we’ll go from there!

Remember our friend Bonnie Blue Edwards, the author, illustrator, and filmmaker we caught up with over dirty chais at Mean Mug? She’s been busy with the Unsent Letter Mailbox, a project that started in the Big Apple where folks write a letter they’ve never sent and read an anonymous one from somebody else.

Now that these two are becoming pen pals, the Unsent Letter Mailbox crew wants to hear your pen-pal stories, too! Maybe you’re still exchanging letters with a friend from summer camp, or you’ve kept a note from somebody you haven’t seen in years.

Heck, Meemaw even had a lady from Canada that she used to play Words with Friends on her phone with and randomly popped up in Chattanooga for lunch together. Who did you write to, and what do you remember about hearing back

Send your story, or an excerpt from a letter you’d like to share, to @unsentlettermailbox on Instagram. They may feature it in an upcoming post! Take a peek at Bonnie and Claudia’s sweet exchange here, then go see what’s tucked away in that keepsake drawer, pal.

I can tell ya all about a bug I saw on the sidewalk, where he was headed, what his business might’ve been, and even whether he looked like a feller who pays his taxes.

But if you ask me how I’m feelin’, though, and suddenly I’ve never used a word in my life and instead default to a bobble-headed nod with a thumbs up in response.

There’s usually plenty I wanna say, trust me. But while somebody’s sitting across from me in that moment, the command center that is my brain is at all-hands firin’ off pistons and neurons trying to figure out what I’m feelin’, how to explain it, and whether I’ve been quiet long enough in between your question that it would be weird to even respond and just run away instead.

Eventually, I settle on somethin’ like, “Oh y’know, pretty good!” and immediately whip out an Uno Reverse Card so they can answer the same question.

Then — usually ‘round bedtime — an even better reply finally solidifies to be spoken. Very helpful, brain! We could’ve used that six hours ago.

That’s a big part of why I love writin’. I get to go back through what happened and notice what stayed with me. Sometimes I’ll start describing something that frustrated me and realize, “Oh, I was actually just embarrassed I did that.”

Or I’ll remember a little kindness I barely registered at the time and sit there grinnin’ at my keyboard while relivin’ the moment. Writing gives me time to finish the thought before worrying about how to say it out loud.

Apparently, folks have been studying something called expressive writing for decades: putting your thoughts and feelings about an experience into words. Some studies have found improvements in mood and well-being over time, though the benefits vary, and writing about something painful can stir things up at first. There’s a whole field of research behind it.

I do recognize a lil’ of myself in that. Some days, writin’ helps me settle down because I can finally see what’s been bothering me. I can read it back, change “everything went wrong” to what actually happened, and give myself a little more patience than I had earlier.

The silly stories I do share with y’all each week help me feel a little better known by you. When a pal replies, “I do that too, Bubby! Small world!” I’m always glad I found a way to say it so I know I ain’t alone.

With that, if your words tend to arrive late like yours truly, maybe start giving ‘em somewhere to land! A notebook, your phone’s notes app, or whatever’s handy that you can plop a sentence in there consistently.

Start with “What I wanted to say was…” and see what follows. You can decide later whether anybody else gets to read it.

This week, hope is finding the words. I’m learning I can take my time with that. And I sure am glad I get to be my wholehearted self whenever I’m around folks like you.

Content warning: today’s edition of Clementine’s Corner is an emotional roller coaster. You may not be prepared for what you learn. You have been warned.

Okay y’all, so you know how I love words, right? Language and linguistics and phonemes and morphology… I love it all.

But I am a bit of a purist when it comes to pedantic nomenclature… I do have a pet peeve when it comes to made up fake words, you know? Like maxxing, why are we maxxing everything?? Or cheugy.. what does that even mean?! And the word I can’t stand that everyone just loves… GLIZZY.

This word is top of mind because Chattanooga loves a good food themed week, and this week isn’t just hot dog week, it’s dang glizzy week.

And the part that’s got me all in a tizzy… GLIZZY IS RECOGNIZED BY MY LEXICAL HEROES OF THE PRINTED WORD, THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY.

Yep, sorry for the jump scare, but apparently glizzy is a real word. The official definition is as follows:

It goes on to include a note on the ridiculous exergies of the term, “Glizzy is slang for a frankfurter with a typically mild flavor that is heated and usually served in a long split roll, aka a hot dog.”

LIKE COME ON, MAN! How am I supposed to roll my eyes at this Gen Z sociolect when the definitive authority on modern vernacular says it’s chill?

So Chattanooga fam, if you want the most rizzin glizzies this side of the Mississippi, you’re in luck, no cap… or something like that.

Get all the details, including ongoing specials and participating restaurants, at Nooga Glizzy Week from Nooga Nightlife. These goated glizzies are gonna be lit.

Now goodbye, Chat.

Thanks for spendin’ a little of your Monday with us, bud. We sure do look forward to these visits, and I hope you leave feelin’ a little more at home here each time.

We’ve got one more Hope on the Porch issue comin’ next Monday, and we’d love to have ya back. Until then, take good care of yourself.

Time to watch Over the Garden Wall!

— Bubby and Clementine