Sheep, pups & more - Busy spring events kick off this week
A sheep gets a haircut as visitors watch during last year’s sheep-shearing event at the Museum of Appalachia on Andersonville Highway in Norris. This year’s event will take place over the next three Fridays, starting this week (April 26). - G. Chambers Williams III
It’s sheep-shearing time again at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. For anyone who’s never watched sheep being sheared, now’s the chance. The museum’s annual sheep-shearing exhibition will be held on each of the next three Fridays, beginning this week (April 26), followed by two successive Fridays, May 3 and 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. “And as for the sheep, just like us they need a haircut, too,” he said. “This also gives kids an up-close, first-hand look at where their clothes and blankets might come from. “It’s an excuse for us to welcome tons of school kids, and bring artisans and craftspeople to the museum to demonstrate their work,” Meyer said. “We’re expecting about 1,000 students each day,” he said. “We’ve even had some to come here from parts of Kentucky and Virginia.”
Read MoreNorris Farmers Market opens May 1
The Norris Farmers Market, shown here on opening day in 2023, will open next Wednesday for the 2024 season in front of Norris Middle SSchool. - G. Chambers Williams III
Both the Norris and Clinton farmers’ markets will be back again this year, with the Norris one opening first, next Wednesday, May 1, on East Norris Road in front of Norris Middle School. The Clinton FARM Market, meanwhile, will begin just over three weeks later, on Thursday, May 23, in Lakefront Park, according to its organizers. As for the Norris market, coordinator Mindy Wells said the hours will be 3-6 p.m. every Wednesday during the growing season, until it begins to wind down in September. Because the Norris operation is an open market and does not require registration, Wells said she doesn’t know how many vendors will be on hand to start, but she does believe most of last year’s participants will return, and that some vendors who have not participated in a while have said they will be returning for 2024. “I’m excited; I’ve had several people reach out,” she said. “I expect it to be slim at the beginning, but to grow as this year’s produce rolls in. We always have crafts and baked goods early, and there may be some local greenhouse vegetables. “The rule is that all vendors must create, make, or grow what they sell,” she said. “No reselling is allowed. This is a traditional farmers’ market. Crafts are always welcome as long as they are made by the vendors. “But no multilevel marketing products are allowed, and this is not a flea market,” said Wells, who operates a farm in Norris that has blueberries and eggs. “It’s a very loose market, and it always starts out slowly.
Read MorePaws for a Cause is this Saturday
Fun for families and their dogs will be on tap this Saturday, April 27, as the annual Paws for a Cause Pet Expo takes place at the Carden Farm Dog Park in Clinton. The event, at 410 Riverview Drive in South Clinton, will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will include vendors and activities, including a pet costume contest, an agility course for dogs, K-9 demonstrations, kids’ games and crafts, food trucks and more. Organizers say they are expecting thousands of people to attend the event. There is no admission charge. There will also be animal shelters and rescue groups on hand with adoptable pets and low-cost vaccinations and microchips available for all. Led by the city of Clinton, the key sponsor is the Anderson County Animal Rescue Foundation. Proceeds from the event will be used to help “animals in need from our community,” the sponsor said. That includes veterinary care, pet food and other forms of aid. More than 60 vendors have signed up for the pet expo.
Read MoreSchool bus contracts sent to commission Commission
A controversial school bus contract is headed to the County Commission for its May 20 meeting. The commission’s Purchasing Committee recently approved the contract for a new vendor, Knoxville-based SCU, for seven routes, and voted to uphold that contract despite a legal challenge by the present contractor, Andersonville Bus Lines, over those routes. Commissioner Aaron Wells made a motion and Commissioner Steven Verran seconded it to uphold an evaluation committee’s earlier recommendations. The same two commissioners moved and seconded the motion to approve the contract for the six routes, too. Both of these motions passed unanimously. Wells cited the opinion of County Law Director Jay Yeager in his decision. These votes came at a special meeting April 22.
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Sheep, pups & more - Busy spring events kick off this week Read More
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