Following the preliminaries, some volunteers picked up landscaping tools or trash collecting gear to restore local green spaces along Glass Street, while others headed to private organizations needing help with sprucing up storage and applying fresh paint.  Some of the areas that received special attention included our pocket park at the junction of N. Chamberlain and Glass, which received fresh mulch and leveling to prepare for new plantings in the coming spring. Brenna Kelly, Program Director for our partners, the Southeast Conservation Corps, and her team led a hardworking crew of volunteers in that space.

Nearby, a crew of volunteers from Chambliss Center for Children helped complete and transport wooden planters from Studio Everything to the triangle between Awtry and N. Chamberlain, replacing deteriorating boxes to hold fresh plantings in the warmer months ahead. Local Block Leaders, Janette Richie and Jeffrey Evans pitched in on the planter project, and Studio Everything regulars, Chrystion and Amari were excited to receive energetic help for the kind of work they undertake regularly with Rondell Crier. “It feels great to show people around an area that’s really new to them, which is home to us. It’s fun to see them help us accomplish just in one day what would usually take weeks to finish,” Chrystion said.

At Christian Community Fellowship, four local sorority sisters from Sigma Beta Xi gave much needed organizing and cleaning assistance, which is wonderful help for a group that has consistently partnered with us in the past to offer support space for our GHC events. And a little ways farther, up Glass Street, volunteers from Causeway’s staff pitched in to restore book-cases and drywall for First Steps Christian Daycare. Always ready to roll up their sleeves whenever there’s an opportunity to improve our city, the Causeway group included three new team members getting a firsthand taste of their team’s consistent service ethic as they gave great help to an important haven for kids on Glass Street.

At the top end of Glass Street, NPS ranger Will Wilson led a clean-up crew to collect trash along the Pennsylvania Reservation connector trail, with help from enthusiastic volunteers like Sarah Hooper of local catering favorite, Dish T’Pass, and her two sons and leaders of Chattanooga Rotary, Harriett and Burton Whitaker who enjoyed the chance to explore a new corner of Chattanooga, having never been aware of Sherman Reservation before now. Geoffery Meldahl, the artist who designed the trail’s way-finding signage for our How-To Guide Projects, came to help clear trash too and was delighted to see his sign in great shape!

Just up at the peak of Lightfoot Mill Road, two Baylor school shuttle vans pulled in to unload a crew of twenty sophomores there to pitch in with NPS ranger Chris Barr to give the Sherman Reservation access trail a little TLC. The Baylor students have a history of using MLK Day as a time to serve within our local National Parks, and with today’s citywide focus on East Chattanooga, it only stands to reason that the focus would be on our local national park, Sherman Reservation.

Local News Channel 3 provided excellent coverage of the drive to improve local business property and community parks, and featured an interview with our neighbor, Mr. Lee McWhirter, owner of Lee’s Barbershop. Volunteers were all smiles working alongside Lee, who is full of stories and insight about Glass Street, and who was in great spirits all day, as Senator Bob Corker came by for a conversation directly following the feast of grilled hot dogs hosted by our local partner, Michele Peterson, director of ArchWay on Glass. Peterson issued an invitation to Senator Corker. Since then, he has shared his positive experience across social media including his official twitter.

Overall, it was a wonderful day of service activities on Glass Street, and we felt gratified and proud to welcome such supportive community members to the neighborhood, and we can’t thank everyone enough for the difference made on behalf of each entity mentioned, along with twenty other project sites across the wider East Chattanooga area! What an incredible way to honor Dr. King’s legacy together.

We certainly did enjoy a hyperactive month with a surprise visit from Usher and filming at Studio Everything, a collaboration with Wayne-O-Rama and GHC visit from the artist Wayne White, our own executive director, Teal Thibaud was selected for the Chief Executive Program up at Harvard’s campus, we hosted an incredible neighborhood celebration: Glass Street LIVE, widely reviewed in local press and attended by nearby neighbors and many friends who experienced our beautiful streets for the very first time! We were proud to spotlight our National Parks Service that same weekend, with its Centennial Celebration press conference up at Sherman Reservation.

Then with barely a breather, Thibaud and GHC co-founder Katherine Currin traveled up to NYC for the opening of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s exhibit: “By the People: Designing a Better America,” an exhibition of 60 collaborative designs from throughout the United States that featured Glass House Collective’s How-To Guide, as an example of scaleable design process. What a bonus to find GHC discussed in the accompanying NY Times article!

While our director was away, Nikki Lewis, GHC Community Engagement Coordinator, finalized the arrangements for the National Night Out Event held October 4 at East Chattanooga Rec. Center, bringing together 7 area neighborhood associations and praised as a fun-filled positive event for everyone involved!

We’ve been hard at work putting our grant funding from Education Foundation of America (EFA) to great use, so a big thank you to EFA for the opportunity to pour our energy and hearts into engagement with our wonderful community here.

Don’t miss out on the overflow of innovative ideas and community building! We are always welcoming new partners, artists, neighbors and friends to join us in our work on Glass Street. Click on the “Get Involved” tab here on our website and enter your e-mail at the top of this page to sign up for our newsletter!

Overall we had hundreds of delighted kids and adults alike from all around Chattanooga cheering for the parade, exploring Sherman Reservation with the National Parks rangers, dancing to the music, and both watching the mural artists paint and even getting involved themselves, covering a CPD squad car with layers of bright water paints! We even had a few surprise hits like the Comfort pop-up skate park!

Thank you to every participating group represented last Saturday!

CNE
A Step Ahead Foundation Chattanooga
Hardy Elementary PTA
Father to the Fatherless
Habitat for Humanity
28th Legislative District
Boyce Station Neighborhood Association
Dodson Ave CHC
CARTA
Outdoor Chattanooga
Moms Clean Air Force
Grow Hope Urban Farm
EPB
I.M.P.A.C.T.
Cherokee Sierra Club Group
Southeast Conservation Corps
UT & TSU Hamilton County Extension
Tennessee River Gorge Trust
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Youth & Family Development
Touch My Life Ministry
Hamilton County Coalition
Track 29 and Revelry Room
UnifiEd
Zia Chapter #1081
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
AIM Center
Hope for the Inner City
Rock the Vote
GreenSpaces
Moms Demand Action for Gun Censorship in America
Chattanooga Hamilton County Health Dept, Community Outreach
April Gunter’s Pink Zebra
Alecia Vera Artwork
Twin Heart Creations
Cousins Mobile Boutique
Dorothy Taylor’s Peanut Brittle
Spread the Grub
BlueCare TN Insurance
The Tenesha Irvin Show

Whether it was cheering and dancing with the parade, perusing market wares on offer from our local farmers and resident vendors of homemade goods, getting an up close look at puppets made by collaborations between the artists and local kids, or contributing ideas or poetry in pop-up installations in the local shops, or just enjoying great BBQ seated at the tables among friends old and new, this was a day all about the community here on Glass Street.

GHC Community Coordinator, Nikki Lewis described on her Instagram, the impact of the Glass Street LIVE event on the local kids who participated in the Puppet Parade: “They were the stars!!! Their smiles, their laughter– they deserve it! I couldn’t hold back the tears, and even now as I write this I cry tears of joy.”

At the end of the day, as the GHC team brought in the last of the tables and equipment, we heard from one of our neighborhood kids, Markees Stubbs, who burst through the door to announce: “Best day of my life!” Glass Street LIVE was a fun, larger than life extravaganza where everyone could mix and meet one another, it was a day for residents to celebrate and show off the life filling the streets of this special neighborhood.

DETAILS:

We’re excited that Glass Street LIVE coincides with both Wayne-O-Rama, the year long Chattanooga artist residency of Emmy award winning Wayne White, as well as the National Parks Service’s Centennial, allowing us the special opportunity to showcase Sherman Reservation, a 50 acre national park atop Glass Street, along the ridge. Along with free shuttle service throughout the day, provided by CARTA, visitors will be able to explore the new access trail that safely connects Glass Street to the park, where rangers will be offering Civil War historical tours at one-hour intervals: 1PM, 2PM, and 3PM.

We’ll be meeting at the Sunny Town Supermarket at 2300 Dodson Avenue at 10:30am, and the parade will line up and start at 11:15am. Parking is available in the parking lot of the supermarket. Below you’ll find answers to some FAQ’s about the details!

What are the guidelines for the parade?

The only guideline of the parade is to wear your organization or businesses’ shirts, carry banners or otherwise represent!

Is there a registration sheet /formal requirements to be a part of the parade?

To sign up, email info@thechattery.org and let us know the name of your organization, how many people will be walking, and anything else you find relevant.

​Are most people walking? Will there be people driving cars/trucks/floats?

Walking or bike riding only in this parade. No cars will be allowed.

Do we need to craft/create anything for the parade?

Costumes and puppets are encouraged! The Chattery will be supplying a limited supply of hand puppets. You can also come build fun puppets using recycled materials at Mark Making in the Glass Street Neighborhood on Monday and Thursday evenings! Check out their FB event page for more fun photos.

Is there a minimum/maximum number of people from our organization that can be present?

The more the merrier! We’d love to have as many people as possible for the parade.

Where is the parade pathway starting and ending?

The parade will begin at Sunny Town Supermarket (at 2300 Dodson Ave) , head down Glass Street, and will end around North Chamberlain and Glass Street.

Are there candy or treats being thrown out during the parade?

Feel free to bring candy or treats to throw out! The community is encouraged to walk the parade with everyone, but we imagine lots of kiddos will be running after candy. Who doesn’t love catching treats?

See you there!

Jennifer Holder, of the Chattery will be leading the parade organizing. She addressed the group about sign-ups for helping with the parade which will involve local musician and artist, Nick Lusko. In preparation, the team will host a culminating puppet creation event at Hardy Elementary school on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 3-5 PM.

So many community partners continually contribute to Glass House Collective’s efforts here, and Teal repeatedly emphasized that the festive atmosphere of this year’s block party is meant to celebrate those partners, and make it a fun-filled party for everyone. To that end, we are set to showcase the business spaces to the greater Chattanooga community partners, while also featuring the contributions local businesses are making, by loaning hand-crafted sandwich board signs for attracting foot traffic throughout the day.

If you or an artist or business you’re affiliated with would like to participate, it’s important to make contact ASAP, so you can stay up to date with all of the most accurate info. (There are no vendor fees for this event!)

Each day we had six adult leaders there to ask questions of the young visitors, and to provide prompts and answer questions from the kids about the monuments, canons, signs, and wildlife they encountered. Overall, the visitors seemed to enjoy the outing both days, although both groups had questions about why the access road seems blocked because of the gate preventing vehicles from driving up.

It naturally turned out that Wednesday’s group focused more on plant life, while Friday’s groups were more interested in the history. Both days, visitors remarked that they could sense the battleground feeling of the place, and described what they would enjoy about returning during various seasons throughout the year. They were particularly eager to come when they’d be able to see the view, during the bareness of winter.

Nikki Lewis, as leader of both activities, compiled the written and drawn impressions from the visitors to gather the voices of the kids. She hopes to convey to the community youth that progress is a slow process, but one they can affect.  Keeping an open flow communication with the kids will allow the community to understand that their input and vision matters regarding future park design.

Ten GHC volunteers helped shuttle residents up the hill, and two neighbors, Sharon Amos and Martin Wilson opened their home on Lightfoot Mill Road just two doors down from the access road entrance (despite the closed road sign, foot traffic is welcome). Their residence operated as a makeshift welcome center, collecting trash and providing restrooms. Using electrical power from their home made it much easier to serve up the hot dogs, chips, and water enjoyed by attendees.

Covering eras from the past, present, and future visions, the line-up included three speakers, three poets, and two musical performances, with the National Park Service putting on a reenactment dressed as Union Soldiers. Dr. Clark White, a long-term resident from Orchard Knob, reenacted a slave auction involving several young people, bringing the history of slavery to life for them through participation.

On June 19, 1865, the last of the enslaved population in the United States received word that the institution of slavery had been legally abolished. Because of their distance on the western frontier, Texas slaves didn’t hear about the January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation until two in a half years later. Now many communities hold Juneteenth celebrations to commemorate the end of slavery.

We hope to make Juneteenth an annual event on Glass Street, as the kids especially enjoyed it. The program attracted culturally diverse representation, and provided historical education while building identity confidence. A couple of days before June 19, Gail McKeel bought dashikis for the kids. One of our GHC regulars, Shemari McKibbin, wears his often now, connecting with his heritage as he boldly faces the future. Overall, the Juneteenth event managed to shed light on history while retaining a fun, celebratory atmosphere.

Written by: Whitni McDonald