The Rocky Top Christmas parade makes its way along North Main Street in this file photo from the 2023 event. - G. Chambers Williams III
As the 2024 holiday season moves into high gear, Christmas parades are scheduled next week in Clinton, Norris and Rocky Top, with the Oak Ridge parade the following weekend.
Rocky Top will have its Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. next Thursday, Dec. 5, at City Hall, followed at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, by the Christmas parade.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 7, both Norris and Clinton will hold their Christmas parades.
Clinton’s traditional parade of bands, floats, dancers, local artists and more will proceed up Market Street then down Main Street beginning at 6 p.m. This year’s theme is “Christmas at the Movies.”
In Norris, the Christmas parade also begins at 6 p.m., following the Norris Winter Festival, which will be held from 1-6 p.m. in the downtown area.
Also on Friday, Dec. 6, the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will hold its community Christmas tree lighting, beginning at 6 p.m. in A.K. Bissell Park.
Then on Saturday, Dec. 14, Oak Ridge’s Christmas parade will begin at 6 p.m. Its theme this year is “Home for the Holidays.”
It will form at Corporate Center (151 Lafayette Drive) and turn West onto the Oak Ridge Turnpike, then proceed to the Oak Ridge High School area.
Oliver Springs will round out the Christmas parade season this year beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21.
Also scheduled in downtown Clinton on Dec. 14 is the annual Holiday Market, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Clinton and the Historic Downtown Clinton organization have received a $100,000 Broadband Ready Community Grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
The grant will pay for broadcasting equipment to allow the city to communicate to the downtown area during emergencies for quick dissemination of crucial alerts, such as for severe weather and other crises.
It will allow the city to adapt and expand the notification system as its organizational and small-business needs evolve.
Installing speakers on the lampposts in Historic Downtown Clinton will allow the city to promote and preserve its cultural heritage by showcasing local arts, music, literature, and traditions as well as historic and relevant information about our town, according to a city news release.
Music can be played, inviting visitors to enjoy Clinton’s small-town feel, the release said.
With schools within walking distance to downtown, the city hopes to attract after-school safe places with programs that cater to needs, including children’s programming, adult education, and learning opportunities.
Employees of the city of Rocky Top load their plates during last Friday’s Thanksgiving luncheon for city workers held in the council chamber at City Hall. Looking on at left are Mayor Kerry Templin and his wife, Carolyn. Her fresh strawberry dessert was one of the biggest hits of the event. - G. Chambers Williams III
After passing them on first reading in October, the Rocky Top City Council last week delayed final approval of two proposed ordinance regulating “tiny homes” in the city.
As the ordinances were written, tiny homes would get an official definition in Rocky Top zoning code, and would be allowed in R-1 and R-2 residential zones.
But when the ordinances came up on the council’s November meeting agenda last Thursday evening, Councilman Jeff Gilliam, reporting on action from a recent Rocky Top Planning Commission meeting, said: “These ordinances need to be sent back to the Planning Commission.
“We have been given better information,” he said, and recommended that the Planning Commission be given the opportunity to rework the ordinances.
He did not give any details about why the measures needed to be revised.
On Oct. 17, by a unanimous vote, proposed Ordinance 595 was passed to define a tiny home as “A preassembled, permanent residential dwelling, which is less than 400 square feet in area, excluding lofts.”
Additionally, the proposed ordinance stated that “A tiny home shall be built off site on a chassis and/or installed on a permanent foundation,” and “shall be inspected through the {State Fire Marshal’s Office] Modular Building Program regardless of where constructed or delivered in Tennessee.”
Anderson County is looking to host a regional fire academy, training firefighting volunteers at no cost to them.
The County Commission unanimously voted to support this project at its Nov. 18 meeting. It would be a collaboration with the state of Tennessee.
A draft letter in the Nov. 18 commission agenda said the state may provide funding from the Volunteer Educational Incentive Program and Equipment grants to cover construction and staffing, while the county provides the land and utilities.
County Commissioner Tracy Wandell stated in an email that Mayor Terry Frank was working on drafting the letter, which will next go to Operations Committee for approval.
“It would be a long shot to get another fire academy located in the Rocky Top area but it sure is worth a discussion,” he said.
Currently people from volunteer fire departments in Anderson County go to a campus in Middle Tennessee for training.
