Editorial

East Ridge turns 95

East Ridge will throw a free 95th birthday party on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Camp Jordan. The party will start at 5 p.m. with the cutting of the birthday cake. The party will be held in air-conditioned comfort inside Camp Jordan Arena. Confederate Railroad will headline the event. The band will take the stage at 9 p.m. for a 90-minute set that will lead up to a 10:30 fireworks show. Smith and Wesley will begin a 90-minute set at 7:00 p.m. Diminutive Dynamite will get the Arena crowd moving at 6 p.m. For more information, call (423) 490-0078.

Women’s Leadership Institute celebrates

20 years

The Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute (CWLI) is celebrating two decades of building a more female-inclusive culture in the Chattanooga business community by hosting a 20th anniversary celebration on Aug. 23. Formed in 1996 with only seven members, CWLI is a local nonprofit organization that provides mentoring, training, and leadership development to more than 500 businesswomen throughout the Chattanooga community. The Aug. 23 event will feature a memorial for one of the organization’s founders, Mai Bell Hurley, a dedicated advocate for the arts in Chattanooga and respected public servant who passed away last year. A CWLI history exhibit will also be on display as well, along with music by Booker T. Scruggs, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and wine. The celebration is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 23 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at The Venue, located at 4119 Cummings Highway in Chattanooga. Tickets are available to purchase for $25 per person at www.cwli.org. Five dollars from each ticket purchased will go to the CWLI Scholarship Fund, which provides financial aid to professional women in need in the Chattanooga community.

Haslam to speak at Chamber meeting

Gov. Bill Haslam will keynote the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting Wednesday, Aug. 24 at the Chattanooga Convention Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Gov. Haslam will speak about Tennessee’s progress in economic development, creating jobs, and higher education. The meeting will also highlight Chamber accomplishments, and the first annual Mayors’ Award for the Arts will be presented. The Annual Meeting registration deadline is Aug. 17. Find out more and purchase tickets at www.chattanoogachamber.com.

Job fair

The Bethlehem Center is partnering with the Partnership Building Stable Lives program to host a job fair on Thursday, Aug. 25. The fair will take place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Bethlehem Center, located at 200 W. 38th St. Participating companies will include Aerotex, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Convergys, Food City, Integrity Staffing, Orange Grove, The Command Center , The National Guard, and the United Way. The job fair is free and open to the public. Job seekers are encouraged to wear business attire and be prepared for on-the-spot interviews. The Tennessee Mobile Coach will be on hand with volunteers to assist attendees of all skill levels to complete online job applications. For more information about the job fair or to inquire about participating as an employer, email Gloria Dubose at gdubose@thebeth.org or call (423) 266-1384, ext. 3.

Happy hour at the zoo

The Chattanooga Zoo will host Ales & Tails one Thursday a month through September. Dates and times are Aug. 25 and Sept. 22 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Each event will be held in a different part of the zoo. Attendees will be able to enjoy a cash beer and wine bar, animal encounters, keeper interaction, and learn more about the Chattanooga Zoo’s conservation efforts and plans for the future. Carter Distributing and Athens Distributing will provide the cash bar; Moe’s Southwest Grill will prepare the hors d’oeuvres. Ales & Tails is a 21-and-older event. All proceeds will go to the Chattanooga Zoo and its animals. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.chattzoo.org/events/ales-tails.

Readers and wRiters Fair

The City of Chattanooga’s Office of Multicultural Affairs will hold the first ever Readers and wRiters Fair to celebrate reading, writing, local authors, and storytellers. The free event will take place on the streets surrounding Chattanooga City Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Writers will be selling copies of their works at booths, and local bookstores will be offering a sampling of what’s found at their Chattanooga storefronts. Each hour of the fair will offer an opportunity for participants to hear from local writers and storytellers in the form of poetry, excerpts, and five-minute stories. Between performances, fair-goers will be able to obtain autographs from authors and enjoy local fare from Chattanooga food trucks.

Pickin’ on Poetry

Southern Lit Alliance, UTC Fine Arts Center, and SoundCorps will host acclaimed poets Rebecca Gayle Howell and Ansel Elkins for Pickin’ on Poetry, a discussion of poetry in American songwriting. The conversation will unfold at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at the Camp House (149 E. MLK Blvd). The event is the first of UTC’s inSIGHT Series, conversational community events that align thematically with the program for UTC’s Patten Performance Series. Howell is a senior editor of Oxford American and the author of “Render / An Apocalypse.” She has won a Pushcart Prize, as well as other awards and fellowships, and is notable for her translations of poetry volumes. Elkins is the author of the poetry collection “Blue Yodel,” which was selected as a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and has been featured in Guernica and Oxford American, among other publications. The conversation will be moderated by UTC English professor Joseph Jordan. Lookout Mountain writer Jamie Quatro, will introduce the lineup. This event is free and open to the public. Food and drink will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.SouthernLitAlliance.org.