Three big special events will all take place on the same day in downtown Chattanooga this year: Big 9ine Roots Festival, Three Sisters’s Festival and Wine Over Water.
Businesses up and down M. L. King Boulevard came to the Thursday meeting of the Chattanooga Beer Board to get special event permits to sell beer at the street party on Oct. 5 for the Big 9ine Roots Festival. Paula Wilkes, president of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, said this is the first year for the festival that will take place in the same area that the Bessie Smith Strut used to use.
This is a free event with food vendors and music set up on stages. There will be four gates in the fenced off area that runs from Georgia Avenue to Magnolia. Everybody selling beer is located along M.L. King and is already in the beer business except for the Bessie Smith Hall.
Special event beer permits for Big 9ine Roots Festival were approved for Champy’s Fried Chicken, 200 E.M.L. King Blvd., Odd Story Brewing Co., 336 E.M.L. King Blvd. and Hutton & Smith, 431 E.M.L. King Blvd., in addition to the Bessie Smith Hall which will also be selling beer. These businesses will sell from their parking lots or tap rooms as normal business until 4 p.m. when the event officially begins. At that time, they will sell beer in cans that can be taken out on the streets. The hours for the event are from 4-11 p.m.
On Oct. 4 from 5:30-11:30 p.m. and Oct. 5 from 11:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. the 3 Sister’s Festival will take place at Ross’s Landing, 100 Riverfront Pkwy. This is the 13th year for the free bluegrass music festival at the waterfront. There will be food trucks and local craft beer and spirits for sale.
On Sept. 28 Women’s Oncology Warriors will be at Miller Park. This event is to raise funds for survivors and supporters to assist and support local women fighting cancer. It will help with costs outside of treatment such as utilities, transportation, housing and lost time at work. The ticket includes two passes to enter, a picnic blanket with a bottle of wine and a picnic box. There will be a silent and live auction. Entertainment will be a two-and-a-half-hour battle of the bands: Beatles vs Stones-Abbey Road and Satisfaction tribute bands. About 300 people are expected.
This will be the 10th year for Chickstock 2019, a fundraiser for the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy. This year the location has been changed from Greenway Farms to Coolidge Park, 150 River St. On Sept. 28 the family-friendly event from 3-9 p.m. will have food trucks and beer. The new venue will accommodate a larger crowd and the organizers are hoping to have around 1,000 people come.
On Oct. 11 the Tennessee Whiskey Supper will be held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in the dome lobby at 1400 Market St. from 6-9 p.m. This is the sixth year for the weekend event that will benefit the Hart Gallery. Around 100 people are expected to attend the supper that will have a featured chef and pairings of food with whiskey. The next night, Oct. 12, from 5-10 p.m. the festival will take place with about 1,000 people expected. There will be food, whiskey and music.
The grocery store chain, Aldi is opening a new store at 2020 Gunbarrel Road. A soft opening is planned for Oct. 2 with the grand opening on Oct. 3. All employees who will handle selling beer are professionally trained in alcohol sales. The business will also have a TABC license to sell wine.
Five previous locations of Circle K have new owners, Kaish, LLC. The stores will change names to Hop In & Out. The convenience stores located at 4806 Highway 58, 6960 Lee Hwy, and 5012 were approved for new beer licenses. The stores at 4858 Highway 58 and 2300 Jenkins Road will have to provide surveys to ensure that there is at least 200 feet from their main door to nearby churches, day care facilities or schools. If beer sales stopped longer than six months prior to the applications for new licenses, the location will no longer be able to sell beer. If it has been less than six months, the location will be grandfathered in and will be given a new beer license. Beer distributors will inform the beer board of the status of their last deliveries when they were Circle K. The applications for these two stores was passed until the next beer board meeting in order to get answers.
The beer board held a hearing Thursday morning for the restaurant Bela Lisboa Restaurant, 417 Frazier Ave. for the violation of selling beer to a minor. On July 17 the TABC conducted a compliance check and for the second time, caught a server at the restaurant selling beer to an underage, undercover customer. The TABC and Chattanooga Beer Board share information of violations and so notified the beer board of the most recent one. The business had received a penalty of $5,000 from the state, but negotiated it down to a four-day suspension of their beer license. The beer board must mirror the sanctions given by TABC and so gave the restaurant the same four-day penalty. The business will not be able to sell beer from Sept. 23-26.