Tag: community

art, Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Family, History, outdoors

What Goes Around: The Coolidge Park Carousel

Written by Caroline Colvin

The Coolidge Park Carousel makes rounds with its 52 hand-carved animals daily. Monday, April 17, 2023. (Photo by Caroline Colvin)

Settled in the heart of Chattanooga’s Northshore neighborhood is Coolidge Park’s antique carousel. For $1, those of all ages can ride the carousel, taking in its unique design. 

The carousel’s journey to Coolidge park began in Pennsylvania where it was constructed in 1894. Shortly after, it was transported to New York state. Many years later, following an unclear path of transportation, the carousel pieces were brought to Chattanooga by Bud Ellis to be restored. 

The Coolidge carousel is a Dentzel model, thus it follows much of the vintage designs of the famous German carousel builder, Gustav Dentzel. 

Bud Ellis was the owner of Chattanooga’s Horsin’ Around woodcarving school, which is now owned and operated by Larry Ridge. Ridge carves many animals himself, and also has a team and students that he teaches at the school. 

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Diversity, Family, Food, History, Immigration

Hecho con amor (Made With Love)

Written by Cassandra Castillo

Valdemar Ibarra and Carmen Torres prepare the grill and prep area for a customers order. The couple has cooked to order upon request since their restaurant’s inception in 2012. Wednesday April 19, 2023. (Photo by Cassandra Castillo)

Natives of Michoacan, Mexico, Carmen Torres and Valdemar Ibarra have been living their American Dream cooped up inside their small orange-painted restaurant nestled within the busy Amnicola Highway.

“All the people from Chattanooga, from Hixson, Redbank, Dunlap, Dayton who are all customers, many of them friends because we were eager to have family, eager to have friends, so we have many friendships now,” Ibarra said. 

He was a businessman from his days in Mexico, but left that behind when he arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant in 1992. Ibarra began working in California but found no steady income, so he moved to the Chattanooga area, where his cousin resided, not long after. 

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Chattanooga, community, Family, Healing, Hugs, Philanthropy, Sports

Addie’s Angels

By Kylee Boone

Chris Ray pushes his daughter Addie during a training session for Addie Ray Racing while volunteers follow. Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Photo by Kylee Boone).

From the sweat dripping down a runner’s back to the endorphins rushing through their veins, racing is an activity many would describe as euphoric, including married couple Chris and Michelle Ray. Knowing how empowering a runner’s high feels, the Ray’s made it their mission to share the unique experience of racing with the disabled community by founding a nonprofit organization, Addie Ray Racing.

The inspiration behind this was Chris and Michelle’s 16-year-old daughter Addie who was born with Angelman Syndrome. After taking her along for her very first race and seeing the joy that it brought her, they knew this was something that needed to be shared with the people of Chattanooga.

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Chattanooga, community, Entertainment, Family, Sports

Beyond the Ring

Written by Caroline Colvin

Filmed by Cassandra Castillo, Madison Van Horn, and Cassandra Castillo. Edited by Cassandra Castillo.

When Jaden Newman was seven years old, he discovered a DVD at a flea market that would eventually ignite his passion for professional wrestling. The 1997 match between Rey Misterio and Eddie Guerrero revealed to Newman that his love for wrestling was more than a fandom; it was something he wanted to do forever. 

His grandfather, who was with him when he discovered the flea market DVD, was determined that Newman would follow his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. “I wasn’t into sports, but I loved pro wrestling,” Newman said.

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Family, teachers, women

Rolling Pages

By Cassandra Castillo

A Little Bookish is a portable library truck that’s promoting the benefits of reading to people around the Chattanooga area. Once an elementary school teacher from Michigan, owner Miranda Atkins, is now making a difference in her own unique way—one page at a time.

Often sitting in the driver seat of her white step van, Miranda Atkins flips through the pages of her latest novel, waiting for a customer to walk onto her teal steps in search of a new read. 

Atkins, the owner of A Little Bookish, thrives on selling books simply out of her love for reading.

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, donate

Reciprocal Blessings

Written By Eli Rushing

Video By Jules Jackson.

Walking into the Soddy Daisy Community Library feels like stepping into an unexpectedly warm hug. String lights hang from the ceiling, local art rests atop the shelves, and two pudgy cats amble around the 2,880 square feet of space that Curtis Cecil and Kelly Flemings are proud to call their library. 

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Anxiety, community, Daily Life, Healing, Health, Sports, UTC

Overcoming: Lauren’s Eating Disorder Recovery

Written by Niah Davis

Lauren Baker indulges in eggs, a bagel and coffee she made for breakfast. Thursday, March 10, 2022. (Photo by Niah Davis)

Practice, weights, conditioning, traveling and on top of it all attending classes and maintaining a good grade point average. Unfortunately, college athletes also have to contend with a higher likelihood of developing an eating disorder.

Lauren Baker is a determined, music-loving dance-like-no-one’s-watching freshman on the women’s volleyball team at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. However, it was much earlier on during her freshman year of high school in South Bend, Indiana when she began to struggle with her eating disorder.   

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Anxiety, Chattanooga, community, Daily Life

Reentry

Editor’s Note: Tim Busch is a convicted felon who served 28 years in state prison for his crimes. Busch maintains his innocence to this day.

By Seth Carpenter

Tim Busch looks over photos from his life before prison. He had recently gotten them out of storage. Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Photo by Seth Carpenter)

In March of 1989, 26-year-old Tim Busch was sentenced to prison for what would ultimately become the next 28 years, seven months and 15 days of his life. Most of that time for him was spent without the certainty of how long it would actually be.

“It was kind of in increments when I was first convicted,” Busch explains. “I had a sentence of 15 years to life, and the day I was sentenced, my lawyer told me, ‘Well, you’ll be out in seven and a half years. You do half of your sentence.’”

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Anxiety, art, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Family, Healing, Health, Hugs, Love, Music

Sparrow Song

Written By Rachel Jordan

Sydney and Brayden Guerrette practice in their home. For these siblings, the music was more than just a hobby; it was about mental health. Thursday, February 17, 2022. (Photo by Seth Carpenter)

Like many others, Brayden Guerrette and his older sister Sydney have had their fair share of their mental health struggles since they were young. Back in their hometown of Portland, Maine, during a very intimate exchange on their kitchen floor, Brayden Guerrette finally opened up to his parents and older sister about his dealings with depression. 

“We were just sitting there and he was just in tears, and as someone who is watching a family member and someone that they love go through something like that, it’s always very difficult because you don’t know what to do most of the time,” Sydney says. “All you can really do is be there for them continually.”

After this exchange, the Guerrette family took a leap of faith for the sake of their family’s mental health and sold their house, bought an RV and started their journey across the country in hopes of a healthy, fresh start. 

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Diversity, donate, Family, History

The Unseen Battle for Lincoln Park

By Virginia Campbell

Tiffany Rankin walks past the old bathhouse on the edge of Lincoln Park’s baseball field. The bathhouse used to be the only facilities that African American baseball players could use, even when they were allowed to play at Engel Stadium. (Taken on February 19, 2022. Photo by Maggie Weaver.)

Lincoln Park used to be a safe space for the African American community to enjoy themselves. In fact, before integration in the 60s, it was the only park in Chattanooga they were allowed in. The property is currently owned by Erlanger, who have built parking lots over most of the park, reducing it down to just five acres. Compared to the original twenty acre plot, it’s now a mere skeleton.

Tiffany Rankin grew up in the area and remains a resident in the neighborhood adjacent to the park. She has always been a community leader, but she started to get heavily involved and raise awareness for the park when she heard the City of Chattanooga was planning to extend Central Avenue. The road would cut into a boundary of the park, sizing it down further. The plan was to “urbanize” the area, which, to Tiffany and many others in the community, meant displacement and gentrification.

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