Highlights from the day include that awesome streetscape simulator, watching all the Glass Street superheroes in their new capes, Gospel On Glass, delicious food made by our neighbors, and local art from around the community.

The Glass Farm Block Leaders booth was a busy place as Miss Janette and her volunteers gathered surveys and input from the neighborhood to select the design for new house banners for the Glass Farm historic district. The winning design will be revealed at this year’s Christmas party on Friday night! Janette said the survey participation during Glass Street Live was terrific and she really appreciates everyone who took the time to stop by the GFBL booth. Remember if you participated in the survey and signed up to receive a free house banner, free banners will be given to the first 50 who come to the Christmas Party Friday night, December 14th, at 6pm at 2523 Glass Street.

It was great to see so many people interact with the streetscape installation, lead by architect, David Barlew. Glass Farm resident, Johnny Patmon, volunteered to help kick things off in the morning and said he appreciates how the block party became a place for productive conversations directly with the community who are impacted and advocating for change on Glass Street. “Thats who you should ask in the first place, is the community who wants to see change and improvement in their community. So we asked people if they lived in the neighborhood and for how long because that’s important,” he said.

Feedback on the streetscaping proposal and signatures of support were gathered in different ways throughout the day at Glass Street LIVE! Barlew said that Gail McKeel, who has lived near Glass Street for years, prepared several signs expressing different opinions of the mock-up and streetscaping plans. “Visitors to the installation were asked to pose for pictures with signs of their choosing that expressed their opinion of the proposed scheme. In all, Gail collected more than fifty photos of individuals, friends, couples, neighbors, and families sharing their thoughts about the mock-up,” David said. The pictures will be delivered to CDOT to show support for the proposed streetscaping.

As usual, Glass Street Live’s food vendor’s did not disappoint. In fact, Miss Dunyetta of D’s Eggroll’s says the block party continues to be a great venue for her small business and 2018 was her best year yet. “GSL is great for exposure. It opens our menu up to a lot of new customers. It’s so exciting to see the people and the support that they gave us. We really enjoyed ourselves,” she said.

GHC Community Relations Manager, Nicole Lewis, spent the day helping some of the neighborhood’s youngest superheroes earn their capes. Judging from the number of capes buzzing around Glass Street Saturday afternoon, the Capes and Superheroes activity was a hit. “The kids really enjoyed completing the tasks,” Lewis said. Be on the lookout for a fun campaign coming in the new year to celebrate these young neighbors who are superheroes for their neighborhood.  Also, a special shout out to Leo Ascarate. Leo screen printed Glass Street on the back of the capes. Thank you, Leo!!!

Hardly last and never least, starting the day with a full program from Gospel on Glass was the best. GOG curator and musical director, Deborah Bledsoe, did an amazing job selecting the performers and pulling the stage together. Miss Deborah said the whole day “felt like a big holiday celebration with friends and family!” Indeed.

Let’s do it again next year !

REVISIT THE DAY! Browse the photos here

After weeks of hard work, it was exciting to Grow Hope Urban Farms’ mobile farm stand used according to its design: to increase fresh food options along with use by local vendors like Tina from Ashanti’s hair designs who used one of the tables to sell her famous lemonade. Non-profit partners lined their booths along Crutchfield Ave. between Ms. Tee’s BBQ and the Sunnytown lot, so neighbors could easily access popular interactive stations like the giant chess game from the Chattanooga Public Library, low-voltage bulb-tester displays from green|spaces Empower, and handprints or personalized messages on the beams for Habitat for Humanity homes in the neighborhood.

Over 60 local residents spent time sharing their input about changes they want to prioritize for intersection improvements at the Glass House Collective booth with special large format representations of the intersection area where participants could place stickers that represent where they would prioritize benches, lighting, or tree wells to help make the intersection cleaner, safer, and more inviting to foot traffic and neighborly mingling. Parents were often occupied discussing the streets and sidewalks, or engaging in artistic impressions with the 800 Project artists or with Andrew Mollenkof from Build Me A World. So the kids either stayed entertained with a larger than life JENGA set built by Matt Dutton from large cardboard boxes or got their wiggles out in the inflatable bounce house.

Local artists transformed the Alabama Furniture building into a pop-up gallery space, featuring original work by a group of young (mainly UTC student) artists calling themselves Art Trap Collective. Many partygoers fell under the calming spell of the music combined with dreamscape paintings or photography. Near the large picture windows facing Dodson Ave., Leo Ascarate or Our Luck printers set up a shirt screen-printing station which was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. Meanwhile, the main stage hosted some of the areas finest musical performers like YKC Nation, a dance-off with Image and Skream, Differentdiva, DJ D-Whit, Kay B Brown, and emceed by C-Grimey.

Skaters were invited to try test their skills on the rails and jumps set up in the street, and until it got too cold for their engines, DJ LV had his crew out to show their classic cars, trucks, and bikes. Near the music stage, Boyce Station Neighborhood Association greeted guests and party-goers and proudly displayed their brand new sign. Nearby, friends of all ages, sizes, and colors, warmed up by gathering with Manny Strickland on his converted lounge bus called The Midnight Puff. The Friend Up parties organized by Eddie Yancey and Mary Helen Montgomery are all about getting friends together with a range of cultural backgrounds, and their goals were well aligned with the variety of diverse friends gathered Sunday in the spirit of friendship and common good. That bond was celebrated in the colorful community parade, which may have lacked volume without the drum beats we had hoped for, but still included cheers for our neighbors and partners, and bright hand-welded art bikes from Art 120 made last summer at the East Chatt YFD.

For the grand finale of the party, dancers took center stage after they wrapped up the end of the parade, with a contest that included some of the Zy’Mori Studios dancers along with local kids– with music from DJ D-Whit. Overall, the intersection looked great packed with people and energy, and lined temporary trees installed in specially built planter boxes made by Shawnquell, Christian, and Amari, with Rondell Crier’s guidance, at Studio Everything.

We’re so grateful to Shannon Burke of City Celebration for collaborating on this event, and a big thank you to our 2017 Glass Street LIVE sponsors: CHI Memorial, Tennessee Arts Commission, Pinnacle Bank, Office Furniture Warehouse, EPB of Chattanooga, The Mark Hite Team | Keller Williams Realty Downtown Chattanooga, Coca-Cola United, and Whitney Drayer. And to the whole collective of dedicated, creative, and ingenious partners who make events like Glass Street LIVE possible, even in the blustery cold! We’re proud to join you!
Enjoy this beautiful footage by Make Beautiful capturing the joy of the day!