John Bailey of Karns, with his Aussie doodle Rosie, and Christy Abner of Karns, with her Aussie doodle Lucy — Rosie’s twin — turned out Saturday for the Paws for a Cause Pet Expo at the Carden Farm Dog Park in Clinton. - G. Chambers Williams III
More than 1,000 people — many of them accompanied by their canine friends — turned out on a sunny, warm spring day Saturday for the annual Paws for a Cause Pet Expo at the Carden Farm Dog Park in Clinton.
The event included vendors, activities including a pet costume contest, an agility course for dogs, K-9 demonstrations, kids’ games and crafts, food trucks and more.
Laurel Newman, who operates Lolly Pups Grooming Service in Norris, had a booth set up at the expo, and was there with her daughter Daisy, 5, and the family’s 6-year-old chow chow, the very well-groomed Chowder.
“We’ve had a lot of people out here today,” Newman said as the event neared its end at 3 p.m.
There were animal shelters and rescue groups on hand with adoptable pets and low-cost vaccinations and microchips available.
Led by the city of Clinton, the key sponsor was the Anderson County Animal Rescue Foundation.
Proceeds from the events will be used to help “animals in need from our community,” the sponsors said. That includes veterinary care, pet food and other forms of aid.
The dog park in South Clinton opened in November 2021 off Carden Farm Road, on land along the Clinch River that the city obtained from the Tennessee Valley Authority more than two decades ago.
Visitors watch a sheep-shearing demonstration last Friday at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris during the first of three days of the annual event. Two more days are left — this Friday and next Friday, May 3 and 10. - G. Chambers Williams III
Despite some on-and-off sprinkles of rain, the weather mostly cooperated for the first day of the annual sheep-shearing event Friday at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris.
The museum grounds were overrun with schoolkids all day long, with many crowded along the fence at the sheep pen to watch the wooly animals get their haircuts.
There were spinners and weavers on hand. And the children seemed fascinated with their demonstrations, watching the craftspeople taking wool and turning it into finished products.
For anyone who missed last Friday’s kickoff of the popular museum function, there are two more Fridays left: this week (May 3) and next week (May 10).
Each day, the event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with at least two-dozen of the wooly beasts getting haircuts for the visiting crowds each day.
“We’ve done this for nearly 15 years,” said Will Meyer, the museum’s marketing director. “We say it’s to help welcome the warmth of spring.
The Clinch Valley Trail Alliance is hosting its second-annual endurance mountain bike race, the Hawduro, on Saturday, May 5, at 299 Haw Ridge Park at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. depending on the category.
Awards will take place as soon as the last racer finishes, but the cutoff for finishing a stage will be 1:30 p.m. There will be separate intermediate and difficult categories.
The race will be a fundraiser for trail building at Haw Ridge and other areas in Anderson and Roane counties. The registration deadline is Friday, and costs $85 for all categories.
For more information, go to clinchvalleytrailalliance.org/hawduro.
To sign up, go to bikesignup.com/Race/TN/OakRidge/Hawduro.
Oak Ridge High School student Andrew Rodabaugh worked with flight instructor Brian Claflin to learn to fly a plane.
He may not drive yet, but this April he flew.
Oak Ridge High School student Andrew Rodabaugh flew his first solo flight on April 8 at just 16 years old. He worked with a flight instructor from McGhee Tyson Airport.
“We have several students working towards this goal, but Andrew is the first to turn 16,” said Holly Cross, ORHS supervisor of career readiness and communications.
“He flew over the high school before he could drive to the high school, so that’s pretty cool,” Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers told a crowd at a recent League of Women Voters meeting.
Agt. Abe Levitte and John Malone at John Hendrix’s grave in 1944.
You can learn more Thursday, May 9, about the man legends say predicted World War II and the founding of Oak Ridge without getting to live through either.
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association welcomes the public to a program by Dennis Aslinger as he reveals facts about his great-grandfather, John Hendrix. The program will be at 7 p.m. at the Oak Ridge History Museum, also known as the Wildcat Den, at 102 Robertsville Rd.
Followin this talk, Aslinger will sign copies of his book, “The Prophet of Oak Ridge Revealed.”
“If you never believed the story of John Hendrix, the Oak Ridge prophet, you can put your doubts to rest. Who was the man John Hendrix? Was he a family man, a murderer, did he lose his mind and was locked away in a cage? All these questions, truth or fiction, can finally be answered,” a news release for the event stated.
Research, court records, statements from neighbors, and deed records led Aslinger to write his book.
Aslinger has spent 30 years researching his genealogy.
He’s proud to be a great-grandson of Hendrix and has lived his entire life within 20 miles of Hendrix’s resting place, in Oak Ridge’s Hendrix Creek subdivision.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and a master of science degree in engineering management from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
