Dream Collective and Urth Celebrations of Chattanooga will be holding GrowNooga 2017!, an all-day event that will include free food, music, spoken poetry, a comedy hour, face painting, and a bouncy house for children.
"The first festival in Chattanooga to spotlight and highlight social justice and progressive ideas will be held this weekend," said Chris Davis, co-organizer of the event. "Organizations who have signed up will be manning booths asking for volunteers to help with different causes. That’s the main focus of Grownooga - to get people plugged into Chattanooga.”
The event will be Saturday at Mercy Junction Justice and Peace Center, 1918 Union Ave. The event will start at 9:15 a.m. with a gardening event. Acts will start coming on stage at noon. The event is scheduled to last until at least 10 p.m.
"There will be a total of 15 booths set up at the event with the possibility of more. Almost 200 people have said they would attend the event on Facebook with several hundreds more interested," officials said. "Mr. Davis and several friends came up with the idea two months ago and began work on a collaborative effort to get the event going."
The event also has a total of 11 musical acts that have signed up.
Organizations signed on to have booths at the festival include the Chattanooga YMCA, Chattanooga Organized for Action, Democratic Socialists of America, and Young Gifted and Black.
Bands include Dream Collective, Claro, and Swayyvo.
"The hope is the legacy from this year’s event will carry on. We plan on making it annual,” Mr. Davis said.
For more information, contact Chris Davis at 423-284-1456 or Cliff Hightower, with Rocklion Communications, at 423-255-8614.