At the onset of the COVID-19 quarantine, Picnooga announced that most activities would cease because of the difficulty in attracting larger local sponsorships. Since then it has been encouraged to try to resuscitate Picnooga with a resolute crowdfunding effort that will carry it through to 2021.
"As a dominant advocate and appreciable source of local history, Picnooga is essential to the fabric of Chattanooga and its cultural footprint," said David Moon. "Over the past six years, we’ve reached millions of desktops all over the world by utilizing social media and the internet as a virtual window into Chattanooga’s past.
"We’re not only a resource, and an aggregate of local history, but an active collecting effort that has accumulated over 4,500 historic photos and artifacts. Thanks to tireless detective work and research, we’ve uncovered rare, sometimes one-of-a-kind, treasures that might otherwise have been lost, misplaced or, on occasion, discarded."
Picnooga is seeking to raise at least $15,000 to enable it to continue carrying out its mission through March 2021. This effort is on an entirely voluntary basis so there are no salaries to be paid out. The 15,000 is about double Picnooga’s average annual budget, but, because of the growth in the collection, there’s an immediate need to advance its preservation best practices.
Visit https://picnooga.org/ to see the rest of the story, plans, and to contribute to Picnooga.