Happy Monday, Lil’ Lights of Mine!

This week’s newsletter is a little softer and a little slower, like a sunrise after a long night. As we roll into the month of September today, we’re beginnin’ a new series simply titled, “Hope on the Porch”, in support of Suicide Prevention Month.

Throughout the whole month, we’ll be talkin’ about hope, healing, and how to show up for yer people, even when you don’t have all the answers. We’re rallyin’ our community to participate in our first funraisin’ event with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a special spotlight on Hope on the Horizon Chattanooga, along with an update from Clementine on our Little Free Library project we contributed towards in July (thanks for everyone who donated a book!)

We know life can feel heavy sometimes. But around here, we believe in lanterns, good neighbors, and the power of one small thing. This issue is one of ‘em.

So grab a seat and a coffee (or your second one, we don’t judge). Let’s sit with the hard stuff, and find a little light in the middle of it.

Heads up: This issue’s a biggun, but we wanted to make sure we covered all of the good stuff without skimpin’ on quality. If the issue ain’t loadin’ right, head to the ‘Read Online’ button at the top and read it on our website! Thanks bud!

Today's Issue Includes:

• This week's Front Porch Partner (WITH A TWIST): Maven AGI

• Chattanooga's Upcoming Events

• Community Spotlight: Nosh-A-Nooga!

• A Yap with Victoria Honeycutt of Hope on the Horizon Chattanooga

• Clementine’s Corner: Granny’s Garden Library Grand Opening!

• Wrap Up

If ya can, crank this bad boy up to 11 while ya read the issue, it makes it all the better:

Front Porch Partnerships (WITH A TWIST): Maven AGI

Together with

Y’all click, we give. That simple.

This week, every penny of ad revenue we earn is goin’ straight to our fundraiser for the Out of the Darkness Walk Chattanooga with the AFSP. We’d love to have you join us on October 25, 2025!

Just click this ad from our pals at Maven AGI, and CHA CHING, $3.00 heads to a cause that helps folks feel less alone in the dark. We’ll post receipts as soon as we gettem.

No signups, no strings, just a click that makes a difference. Thanks for helpin’ us turn porch light into lifelines. 🫶🏻

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What’s Goin’ On in the Scenic City?

Community

• September Fest
  September 6 @ Station Street | 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM
  Spend the day exploring 100+ vendors, food trucks, live music, and even a petting zoo at this free community festival. Station Street comes alive with shopping, eats, and entertainment for the whole family.
  🎉 Fall starts on Station Street

• Odd Market X
  September 6 @ Stove Works | 12:00 - 7:00 PM
  Over 100 vendors, drag shows, and punk bands collide at this festival of the strange and spectacular. Celebrate creativity, community, and all things wonderfully weird.
  🛸 Embrace the odd

• Adventure Days at the Zoo
  Sunday, September 7 @ Chattanooga Zoo | 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
  Flash that library card and walk right in—kids and teens 18 and under score FREE admission! Hang with the zoo animals, then check out hands-on fun from the library.
  🐒 Swipe that card, see some critters

Music & Entertainment

• Noontunes Concert Series Kickoff
  September 4 @ Miller Plaza | 12:00 - 1:00 PM
  Noontunes returns with its lunchtime concert series featuring Chattanooga’s best local musicians. Enjoy live music, food trucks, and sunshine in the heart of downtown as the season kicks off.
  🎶 Take a break, tune in

• Art Friends Market
  September 6 @ Chattanooga Choo Choo Gardens | 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  Shop original art, prints, jewelry, ceramics, and more from 30+ local artists in a community-centered outdoor market. Enjoy free yoga, sunshine, and a welcoming space built by artists for artists.
  🎨 Where artists lead the way

• Twenty One Pilots Listening Party
  September 6 @ Yellow Racket Records | 2:00 - 3:30 PM
  Be the first to hear Twenty One Pilots’ new album Breach a full week before release. Free entry, exclusive vinyl pre-orders, and a fan-packed room ready to welcome the new era.
  🎧 Hear it before it hits

Outdoors ‘n’ Stuff

• Lookouts 25-Cent Hot Dog Night
  September 2 @ AT&T Field | Game Time
  Snag hot dogs for just 25 cents (limit 4 per transaction) while cheering on the Lookouts in one of their final homestands at AT&T Field. Don’t miss this chance to load up on ballpark classics before the team moves to Erlanger Park next season.
  🌭 Hot Dogs, Home Runs, History

• MushRoom & Art Mini Mart
  September 6 @ The MushRoom | 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  Browse one-of-a-kind art from local makers, enjoy select food trucks, and sample mushroom coffee, infused root beer floats, and cupcakes. Spin the prize wheel for extra fun at this quirky community market.
  🍄 Art, eats, and fungi treats

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]!

Hand-Picked Community Spotlight: Nosh-a-Nooga!

Now listen up buttercups, I don’t throw the word “nosh” around lightly, but when the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga throws a party, ya best believe we’re showin’ up with stretchy pants an’ empty Tupperware.

This here’s Nosh-A-Nooga, a celebration of Jewish culture told through food that hugs you from the inside out. We’re talkin’ brisket, kugel, latkes, babka, and most importantly, bagels. An’ I don’t mean any bagels. Grabel’s Bagels — the real-deal, New-York-style boiled beauties made by our good buddy, Adam Grabel.

Adam grew up within the Jewish community in New York where bagels weren’t a breakfast pickup from Dunkin’, but were tradition. Every Sunday morning felt like a holiday, the smell of fresh-baked dough fillin’ the kitchen while folks gathered 'round to laugh, argue lovingly, an’ pass the lox. Now he’s bringin’ that memory-soaked magic right here to the Scenic City, one perfectly chewy circle of joy at a time.

So mark yer calendars, y’all. On September 7th (this Sunday), come hungry, come curious, and come ready to taste the stories passed down through generations. You’ll leave full: in yer belly and your heart.

Nosh on this:

• Nosh-a-Nooga Tickets

• Check out a Grabel’s Pickup Near You

A Yap with Victoria Honeycutt of Hope on the Horizon Chattanooga

Last week, I finally got to jawin’ with Victoria Honeycutt, and lemme tell ya, this gal’s gotta heart like a Sunday casserole. She’s a therapist over at Hope on the Horizon Chattanooga, a counselin’ spot smack dab downtown that don’t feel like your usual sit-and-stare-at-a-clock kinda place. Nah, this one’s got soul and soft chairs.

From Johnson City to Scenic City: With a Heart Full o’ Healing

Victoria grew up over in Johnson City, and when she found her way to Chattanooga, she brought a deep love for people and a passion for helpin’ them walk through the hard stuff. After workin’ with ETSU Counseling and some nonprofit work, she joined the team at Hope on the Horizon, where she was drawn to the way they care for the whole person, rather than the symptoms.

When the Seasons Get Heavy

I asked Victoria how she helps folks who feel stuck, the kinda stuck where the days feel too long, the nights feel too quiet, and it’s hard to even see a next step, much less takin’ one.

She nodded, real gentle-like, and said, “Fall and winter give us permission to hibernate.” That hit me square in the chest. Nature knows when to rest. Trees drop their leaves. Animals slow down.Maybe we’re not broken, but just in a season, goin’ through it like all the others. And maybe that season ain’t somethin’ to rush through, but somethin’ to honor.

At Hope on the Horizon, the team helps folks root and reset, reconnectin’ with themselves, feel their feet again, and start to believe there is a way forward, even if it’s slow and foggy.

What Therapy (and Community) Can Really Do

Victoria shared how therapy — and the relationships it builds — helps folks stop feelin’ like they gotta do it all alone. She talked ‘bout things like:

• Secure attachment (feelin’ safe in relationships)

• Buildin’ authenticity (bein’ able to show up as your full self)

• And finding your voice again, especially after somethin’ bad happened to ya

That’s the spirit behind the work Hope on the Horizon does here in Chattanooga. And it’s what makes this kind of care so needed in our neck of the woods.

Three Things Victoria Hopes You Know

Whether you’re in therapy, considerin’ it, or just tryin’ your best to hold on through a hard season, Victoria wanted folks to walk away rememberin’ three things:

• Personal experience matters. The stuff you’ve been through is real, and it shaped you. And you get to talk about it.

• You matter. Even when you feel like a mess. Even when you’re quiet. Even when you’re not sure what to say.

• Have Courage. Sometimes it’s just showin’ up. Sometimes it’s just stayin.

Take This With Ya, Pal!

To help more folks feel equipped to show up for their people, the Hope on the Horizon crew put together a gentle, heartfelt guide called “How to Support Your People.”

You can also give them a follow on their Instagram, @hopeonthehorizonchattanooga!

And hey, if things ever feel heavier than you know how to carry, call or text 988. Someone’s always on the line, and you don’t have to do it alone.

Clementine’s Corner: Granny’s Garden Library Grand Opening!

Yesterday, I got to do something I’ve never done before… I went to an official GRAND OPENING. Our friend (and one of Chattynooga’s biggest supporters) Bri has been working hard to prepare Granny’s Garden Library (Little Free Library #210838). Yesterday, she and her family gathered the community to officially launch the library and let me tell you, this Little Free Library is actually the biggest deal.

Granny’s Garden Library started as a way for Bri and her four kids to honor the memory of Bri’s mom, the kids’ Granny, when she passed earlier this summer. Granny loved reading (and the color purple) so installing a purple Little Free Library just made sense. The library is chock-full of books, books, books! Books for grownups, kids, and everyone in between. As with all Little Free Library’s, these books are always free and never for sale. Bring a book, take a book, even stay awhile and read on the bench beside the library!

Another really cool part of Granny’s Garden Library is the phone attached to the library box itself. It’s called a Wind Phone, and it’s not connected to any network. Wind Phones are a concept that originated in Japan in 2011, but now you can find them all over the world, including right here in town! You pick up the phone and speak to anyone you’d like to: family members who have passed, friends who live far away, or folks you can’t speak to anymore for whatever reason. The wind carries your words while you have a moment to sit with whatever big feelings you have, like grief, nostalgia, and lots of love.

When you stop by Granny’s Garden Library, you’re in for so much more than just any old book. You might go home with a book donated by a Chattynooga reader (thanks for the donations, y’all!) or one that once belonged to Granny herself. You can trade painted rocks or take a packet of seeds to plant your own lil reading garden right in your own backyard. Sometimes, you might even find surprise goodies, crafts, or gifts. Make sure you sign the guest book so Bri and her family know you stopped by to visit! There’s even a super-official Little Free Library app you can download to check in virtually and check out other local Little Free Libraries to visit! I’m telling’ you what, this library’s got it all, y’all.

I know Bubby and I have many trips to this special little library in our future. It’s the kind of place that draws you back again and again and honestly, I think Granny would like that. Don’t forget to follow our pals on Facebook, Instagram, and the LFL app to see what they’re up to, how to visit, and ways you can stay involved with the important work they are doing in our community!

Let’s Go Get ‘Em, Pardner.

Thanks for spending a bit of your heart with us today. Whether you clicked the ad, shared a hug, donated to the cause, or just read along quietly, it matters.

This week, if you’ve ever needed a reason to believe the world’s still good, just know: folks like you are why we keep yappin’.

Take care of yourself. Check in on your people. And don’t forget: Hope is here. And you matter.

Give a friend a big hug from us,

— Bubby & Clementine