Good morning, Cookeville.

The Heat Advisory holds through Friday evening, and the highs are 96 today and tomorrow. Saturday eases to 94 with a slight afternoon storm chance. Sunday is the first evening that looks sit-able.

In today's Cookeville Scoop:

Let's get into it!

Get to Muddy Roots while will call is still the easy version. The festival is Friday through Sunday at Junebug Boogie Ranch, 115 Waterloo Road. Online weekend tickets are $240, the gate is $250, and kids 6 and under are free. The Thursday pre-party is a weekend ticket plus $40, with gates at 2 PM today. Buy tickets.

Choose Friday's 7:30 plan before you stack two downtown nights. The Magic of Motown is Friday at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center, 10 E Broad Street. The show is billed as more than two hours of Motown hits, with choreography and costumes. A face-value price is not posted on the official listing, so use the ticket page or call 931-528-1313. Find tickets.

If you want to race Sunday, register before 5 PM. Outrun the Overture is $48.70 including fees, ages 7 and up, at Dogwood Park. The first 50 registered get a commemorative T-shirt and a finisher medal. Sign up.

Cookeville Pizza & Pub makes the hot hours easier to sit through. Happy hour is 2 to 5 PM daily, with a late window Friday and Saturday from 8 to 10 PM. Snacks are $5, including cinnamon-sugar Prince Stix and Cheesy Cheese Bread, and a beer comes with a token for another beer or more Stix. They are at 707 Mahler Avenue, open until 8:30 Thursday and 9:30 Friday and Saturday, and closed Sunday. See the current happy hour.

The Slice Pizza and Games still has scratch-made dough and sauce working in its favor. Until 3 PM, a one-topping personal pizza and a soft drink is $6.50. The dinner special is $22 for a one-topping large and up to five drinks. Open 11 AM to 9 PM at 408 W Jackson Street, Suite C. See the current specials.

Trackside is the food-truck park one block west of the Depot at 172 W Broad Street. Dave's Old Fashion Burgers, The Rolling Spud, El Paraíso Catracho, and Strong Kitchen are on the current list. Timeless Highway is on the Saturday calendar from 5 to 8 PM, weather permitting. See the Saturday listing.

Some Labor Day Sundays here are a leftover burger and a lake bag. This one can be a lawn chair at Dogwood Park while an orchestra plays, and a 5K that actually starts when the conductor's arm comes down.

The Bryan Symphony Orchestra's annual outdoor concert is Sunday at 7 PM at the Dogwood Performance Pavilion. It is free. The city lists regional professionals, including Tennessee Tech faculty and select students. Family activities, vendors, and food trucks start at 5:30 PM, with children's stations until 6:30.

Then the race tries to steal the last movement.

Outrun the Overture is the orchestra's first 5K, built around the concert instead of sitting next to it. Online registration ends at 5 PM Sunday. The race starts at 7:40 PM. Maestro Dan Allcott gives the downbeat to Leroy Anderson's Home Stretch, runners leave the line, and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is what you hear once you are moving. Ages 7 and up. Registration is $48.70 including fees.

The first 50 people who sign up get a commemorative T-shirt and a finisher medal. There is a second medal, "I Outran the Overture," for anyone who beats the symphony. I like a race that admits the orchestra might win.

Bring a chair if you want the lawn, and water either way. Sunday's high is near 91, still warm, but it is the first evening this weekend that looks sit-able. If you have been waiting for a Labor Day plan that does not require a weekend pass, this is the one! Register for the 5K, or just come for the concert.

As the Pentagon Burned is Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 PM at Putnam County Library, 50 E Broad Street. Retired U.S. Ambassador Matthew S. Klimow discusses his account from inside the Pentagon on September 11, 25 years later. Free. See the Cookeville library listing.

America 250 speaker series is the same evening at the Putnam County Convention Center, 2121 Event Center Drive. Arrive at 5:45 PM. Dr. Kent Dollar lectures at 6 PM on the Civil War in Putnam County. Free, and everyone is welcome. See the series details.

September First Friday is Friday from 5 to 8 PM on Cookeville's Historic West Side. Larry Newgent plays at Easy Tiger Coffee Roasters, and artists are in rotating shops. All ages, $5 suggested donation. It will still be hot. See First Friday.

Cookeville's LARGEST yard sale is Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM at Putnam County Fairgrounds, 155 Fairground Lane. Clothing, furniture, toys, and baby items in one place. Free to walk in. See the sale listing.

Twice Told Book Sale is Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM at the library on Broad Street. Most items are $3 or less, which is the indoor Saturday if the fairgrounds feel like too much sun. See the book sale.

Roasted Karaoke is Saturday from 7 to 11 PM at 1068 E 10th Street, Suite F. Sound Boy hosts, entry is free, and it is 21+ only. See Saturday karaoke.

Tennessee Tech opened the new Tucker Stadium by beating Monmouth 38-14. Saturday the Golden Eagles are at Chattanooga, a non-conference game at Finley Stadium. I am not publishing a kickoff time from a ticket aggregator. The next home game is still Samford on September 12. Read the Times Free Press preview.

If this issue gave you a Labor Day weekend, forward it to the friend who still thinks the only plan is a lake day. Have a local opening or schedule change we should verify next week? Reply and send the source.

Thanks for reading on a hot Thursday. I hope you get a cooler evening by Sunday, and a seat on the grass that is actually in the shade! 🧡

-- Travis