Ebel’s Tavern will host their first ever Oktoberfest this Saturday, October 14th. Break out your lederhosen and dirndl, and come on out for a penny pint when you make a social media post in your Oktoberfest best and tag the Tavern! Games, competitions, and prizes will start around 6pm. Live music as well.  Prost!

Ebel’s Tavern is located on the Historic Square in downtown Carthage.104 3rd Ave. E .Carthage, TN. Contact 615-588-1888 with any questions.

The Keep Smith County Beautiful committee is hosting a Fall Break clean-up day on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, The day will begin at the Smith County Ag Center at 9 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Gloves and safety vests will be provided to all volunteers. Community service hours will be verified if needed.

This Saturday, the Carthage Junction Depot is pleased to present “It Runs In the Family”, a display of artwork by Mother-daughter duo Leslie and Kittie Antle.

In this exhibit, Leslie features her beautifully sculpted ceramic dolls and busts. Some of these figures are based on whimsical pop culture references, but most are purely from her imagination. The thread of creativity and excellent care and craftsmanship is evident in Leslie’s daughter Kittie’s drawings and paintings. Kittie’s refined line drawings have a great sense of humor…and sometimes a dark twist. When asked what she would like the community to know about the show, Leslie responded, “I just hope our work will give someone a laugh or a smile.”

Make plans to come see the work of these extremely talented, all too humble Elmwood natives during the one day exhibit, October 14 from 10-4 at the Carthage Junction Depot!

The Justified Riding Club and Caney Fork CMT Abate will be holding their annual 10th Annual Izzy Cruz-In Benefit and 9th Annual Scott Allmon Memorial Poker Run on Saturday, October 7th and Sunday, October 8th, 2023.

The Izzy Cruz-In Benefit on Saturday, October 7, 2032, will be a family friendly day at the Smith County Agricultural Center with live music, corn hole, auctions, venders, bounce houses, and more! Live Music begins at 10 a.m. and will be on both indoor and outdoor stages throughout the day.

Gates open at 10:00 a.m. There is a $10 entry fee. Kids 10 and under are free. Registration for the Cornhole Tournament is $15 per person or $30 per team. A cash prize of $100 will be awarded to the 1st place team and 2nd place will also receive a prize. The Izzy Cruz-In car and bike show registration is $10 per car or bike. 25 trophies and plaques will be awarded for various categories thanks to O’Reilly’s Auto parts.

The Scott Allmon Memorial Poker Run will take place on Sunday. Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Shell Station in Gordonsville, 482 Gordonsville Highway. The ride will leave at 11 a.m. and will end at the Smith County Justified Clubhouse.

By Selah Bell

SMITHVILLE, TN – Tennessee Tech University’s Appalachian Center for Craft is set to host a resident artist talk on Wednesday, Oct. 4, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Tech students, community members and others are invited to attend this free event and learn more about the Craft Center’s artists in residence and their various projects. Refreshments are provided.

The Craft Center’s competitive Artist in Residence Program is made up of emerging professional artists who work and live in the center’s immersive studio environment. The one-to-two-year program allows artists and creatives to further their work while sharing their experience and perspectives with the Craft Center’s students.

Panelists at the Oct. 4 event include Sarah Davey, who works with contemporary figure sculptures; Sally Garner, an art educator and textile artist; Fae Palentyn, a sculptor and glass artist who utilizes bubble entrapment techniques; Eleanor Rose, a sculptor, toolmaker, and metalsmith; Stacy Motte, who utilizes traditional techniques to create unexpected furniture and jewelry; and Emma Loy, an oil painter and graphite artist.

The Appalachian Center for Craft is located at 1560 Craft Center Dr. in Smithville. Normal hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, while the main office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

Find more information at https://www.tntech.edu/fine-arts/craftcenter/index.php.

Come out the the Pleasant Shade Community Center, located at 743 Pleasant Shade Hwy, on October 14th from 4-7 pm for a fish fry.

Enjoy some fish or Chicken, hushpuppies and two sides, plus drink and a dessert for $12. Children 8 and under can get a child’s plate which consists of two pieces of fish, hushpuppies, french fries, and and a drink.

The Brush Creek Haunted Barn will be at 34 Luther Allen Lane. It will take place October 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st ,27th, 28th and Halloween NIght 31st from 7-10 pm.

Donations will be accepted at the entrance. All donations received will benefit Smith County Humane.

Tennessee Outlaw Country, an electrifying Southern Rock/Outlaw Country band, will be in concert on Saturday, September 30th, 2023 at 6 p.m. Their performance will close out the William Walton Harvest Festival in downtown Carthage, TN Not only can music lovers enjoy the free concert, but $500 in cash will be given during the concert.

Tennessee Outlaw County is currently working with Mapp Records. Their current single Purebred Country is now available to stream. Check out the Tennessee Outlaw Country website or facebook page to hear their current single and other original music including Ghost Train, Trail of Tears and Working Man.

The William Walton Harvest Festival will begin at 10 a.m. in downtown Carthage. Live entertainment will be offered all day on the stage at the Historic Smith County Courthouse. Plenty of family fun including food trucks, craft vendors, community organizations, children’s activities, and pioneer demonstrations will be available. Rackley Roofing will host the zipline and Zero Gravity will also be back this year. The Harvest Queen Pageant will begin at 4 p.m. Young ladies 1-18 years old will be participating.

Local businesses and restaurants in Downtown Carthage will also be open and some will offer extended Saturday hours. Through out the day there will be other opportunities to win cash prizes sponsored by DTC Communications. Several “Minute Man Calls” will be made. Those who register to win at the Smith County Chamber of Commerce tent may get a call. The caller will have 1 minute to make it to the stage at the Historic Courthouse to claim their cash prize. It will be a great day full of plenty of fun.

The Carthage Rotary Club will offer their fall “all-you-can-eat” pancake breakfast on Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 at the former Gordonsville Shop Rite. Breakfast will be served from 6:00 AM until 9:30 AM on Friday and from 7:00 AM until 9:30 AM on Saturday. Tickets may be purchased for $7.00 from any Rotarian or at the door. Children 4 years and under may eat free. Rotarians will deliver carry-out orders to Carthage for free. Proceeds will benefit the scholarships awarded to seniors at Gordonsville High School and at Smith County High School. The former Gordonsville Shop Rite is located on Main Street across from Town Hall and Bass Funeral Home in Gordonsville.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District invites the public to attend Cordell Hull Dam’s 50th Anniversary Celebration 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at the dam. The commemorative event will be held on the navigation lock
side of the dam at 24 Cordell Park Lane in Elmwood,Tennessee. As a security precaution, the public is asked not to bring backpacks or coolers. Lawn chairs are allowed, water bottles are permitted, and carpooling is recommended.

Kenny Claywell, Cordell Hull Lake Resource manager, said the celebration event site holds special significance because it is the original site where the dam’s story began. “The 50th Anniversary celebration is an opportunity for everyone that loves the dam and lake to recognize the history of the construction of the dam and impoundment of the lake, which continues to provide hydropower, navigation, and recreation benefits to the region,” Claywell said. “Today the public enjoys boating, fishing, hunting, camping, and hiking on public lands, recreation areas and campgrounds that were established here for
public use 50 years ago.”

Congressman John Rose, Tennessee 6th District; Jackson County Mayor Randy Heady; Smith County Mayor Jeff Mason; Natasha Deane, chairperson of Friends of Cordell Hull Lake; Terrell Stoves, Nashville District’s Mid Cumberland Area manager; Wesley Butler, Cordell Hull Dam Powerplant superintendent; Retired Park Ranger Gerald Lee; and Claywell are speaking during the celebration. Billy Woodward is master of ceremony.

Cordell Hull Lake and Dam is named after one of America’s outstanding statesmen, Cordell Hull. Hull served in the Tennessee and U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate. He served as Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1944 and negotiated the “Good Neighbor” policy toward Latin America. He was largely responsible for the creation of the United Nations. For his efforts towards promoting world peace and harmony, he received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.

President John F. Kennedy, 36th president of the United States, visited Nashville, Tennessee, May 18, 1963. At a Founder’s Day ceremony at Vanderbilt University, President Kennedy pressed a gold telegraph key that remotely exploded the first charge of dynamite at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District’s construction site of Cordell Hull Dam. Congressman Joe L. Evins and District Engineer Col. James B. Newman broke ground for Cordell Hull Lock July 6, 1964. Tricia Nixon Cox, daughter of President Richard M. Nixon, spoke at the dedication of the Cordell Hull Dam Oct. 13, 1973. The event also featured Country Music Sensation Dolly Parton, who performed “A Coat of Many Colors.” It is estimated about 2,000 people attended the dedication, according to an Associated Press report.

Cordell Hull Dam is on the Cumberland River at mile 313.5 and rises 87 feet above the streambed. The combination earth fill and concrete-gravity dam is 1,306-feet long with a hydroelectric plant that generates 350,000,000 kilowatts of hydroelectricity annually. The navigation lock is 84-feet wide and 400-feet long with a lift at normal pool of 59 feet. The lock holds 20 million gallons of water. The dam forms Cordell Hull Lake, which is 72-miles long with 381 miles of shoreline at summer pool. The lake has a total of 28,383 acres of land and water. Cordell Hull Lake features three recreation areas, two campgrounds, 22 boat ramps, two hiking trails, horseback riding trail, and mountain bike trail.

The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. The public can also follow Cordell Hull Lake on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cordellhulllake.