Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Buckeye Home Medical Equipment. Serving Scott County and several other communities in the Upper Cumberland region, Buckeye is a full-line DME providing home health equipment to its patients.
Fall on the Mall is Saturday
HUNTSVILLE | The Scott County Chamber of Commerce’s 10th annual Fall on the Mall is slated for Saturday on the courthouse mall in downtown Huntsville. A full afternoon of events are on tap for the free event.
The weather forecast looks perfect for Saturday’s event, with sunny skies and a high of about 71 degrees expected.
Activities will ramp up around 2 p.m., when local musicians Creyton West and RaeLynne Blevins will take the gazebo stage. Both are members of the Highlander Bluegrass Band, and students at Oneida High School. There will also be a karaoke contest at 3 p.m. and a costume contest at 4 p.m. Both are free to enter, with prizes for the winners.
At 5 p.m., the event will conclude with a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot of the TN Dept. of Human Services, located on the east side of the mall. Participating businesses and organizations in the trunk-or-treat include Clean Spark, United Cumberland Bank, Lumber King, S.T.A.N.D., Scott County Fairest of the Fair, Unicorn Fund, Tennier Industries, Children’s Center of the Cumberlands, the Scott County Democratic Party, Omega Solutions, and JDS Technologies.
There will also be activities for kids, including bounce houses, SXS rides by Scott County Sheriff Brian Keeton, and heavy equipment demonstrations by TCAT Oneida/Huntsville’s diesel program, along with random games throughout the mall.
Vendors will be set up on the mall throughout the day. Food vendors will include Reunion Ridge Ranch and Botts Hot Box food trucks, along with Ruth’s, B&B Homemade Ice Cream, T-A’s Tasty Treats (shaved ice), dirty sodas by Macz, and pulled pork nachos by the Robbins School basketball team. There will also be a number of vendors offering various baked goods.
The Scott County Farmers & Crafters Market will once again be present among the vendors, as well. For a full list of vendors ahead of Saturday’s event, watch the Fall on the Mall Facebook page.
Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehabilitation Center offers short-term or long-term care … on your terms. Learn more. (Sponsored content.)
No rain in sight
As drought conditions continue to worsen across much of Tennessee, no rain is in sight.
The latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday morning, finds 61 percent of the state in at least a “moderate drought,” mostly the western two-thirds of the state. Scott County is listed as being “abnormally dry,” which is the first step before an official drought is declared.
After an exceptionally wet month of June, the National Weather Service has recorded three consecutive months of below-average rainfall in Scott County. However, two separate events have helped the October rainfall totals. First was a storm system on Oct. 2 that dumped more than an inch of rain across Scott County. That was followed by the remnants of Hurricane Isaias on Oct. 11, which dropped nearly another inch of rain.
Only trace amounts of rainfall have been seen since Isaias cleared the region earlier this month. However, that’s not too unusual for October. It is typically the driest month of the year in Tennessee.
The current forecast from the NWS is for dry, sunny days for at least the next week.
The dry season in the Cumberland Plateau region usually extends through November, which is the second-driest month of the year on average. Then the wet season begins in early December. The month of December is typically the wettest month of the year in Scott County. This year’s record-strength El Niño pattern is expected to increase the number of southern storm systems through the winter months, which could potentially lead to a wetter-than-average winter even as far north as Tennessee.
Mountain People’s Health Councils offers general practice dentistry for all ages, using the latest technology for dental imagery and digital scanning. Sliding scale fees apply! Learn more. (Sponsored.)
ICYMI
Threads of Life: This week’s Threads of Life newsletter is in remembrance of Marie Blevins, George Bertram Jr., Judy Matthews and Pauline Terry. » Read It
Echoes in Time: This week’s Echoes in Time newsletter takes a look at how the Jake Hole in the Big South Fork got its name, as told by Dave Smith. » Read It
The Weekend
☀️ Weather: An absolutely beautiful weekend is on tap. Each day will feature sunny skies with high temperatures around 71 degrees. Nighttime lows will drop into the mid 40s. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page— published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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⛪︎ Featured Church
First United Methodist Church of Oneida
Denomination: United Methodist
Pastor: David Gass
Address: 234 N. Main Street
Services
Sunday School: 10 a.m.
Sunday Morning: 11 a.m.
» See the complete Church Directory, and thank you to our sponsors of the Church Directory.
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📅 Community Calendar
• Museum Hours: The U.S.S. Tennessee Battleship Memorial Museum will be open on Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The focus area is the Saraguao Strait and the Final Voyage. Admission is free. The museum is located on the campus of Scott High School.
• Fall on the Mall: The Scott County Chamber of Commerce’s 10th annual Fall on the Mall will be held Saturday on the Courthouse Mall in Huntsville, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Activities will include a karaoke contest at 3 p.m., a costume contest at 4 p.m. and trunk-or-treat at 5 p.m., along with live entertainment, food trucks, arts-and-crafts vendors, and free kids’ activities throughout the afternoon.
• Saturday: Fourth Saturday night worship services will be held at Straight Fork Baptist Church (7 p.m.), and Antioch Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.). For more information, see our Church Directory at indherald.com.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
The Community Calendar is presented weekly by Citizens Gas Utility District. You can help prevent pipeline damage and leaks by calling 811 before doing any excavating or demolition and submitting a utility locate request. Visit citizensgastn.com.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
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Our Newsletters:
• Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
• Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (stories of our history)
• Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
• Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
• Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
• Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)