Good morning, Cookeville.

This is the time of year when I leave the house in a sweater and come home carrying it like a purse. Chilly mornings and sunny afternoons make for an easy Monday and Tuesday, and Tuesday has a moment you'll want to step outside for.

In today's Cookeville Scoop:

Let's get into it.

Rosenwald Schools Exhibit - The Cookeville History Museum (40 E Broad St) is showing a free exhibit on the Rosenwald Schools, presented with the Tennessee State Museum and Fisk University. It's open Tuesday from 10 AM to 4 PM, and it runs Tuesday through Saturday until November 20. If you're downtown for the parade, it's a short walk away. Exhibit details.

Ruck Fit - Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at Cane Creek Recreation Center (180 CC Camp Rd), Leisure Services runs a full-body workout built on sandbags and bodyweight moves. It's low-impact, scales to any fitness level, and costs just $3 at the door. Questions? Call Emily Thomas at 931-520-4386. Class details.

Pooky Jane's Kitchen and Pub runs Two for One Tuesdays on all bar drinks, all day from 11 AM to 10 PM (max three rounds per customer). Grab a booth, split some apps, and let Tuesday feel like a mini Friday! Specials.

The Slice Pizza and Games has a Monday Funday Deal: $30 gets you a large one-topping pizza, up to five soft drinks, cheesy breadsticks, and a $20 arcade card. That's regularly $47 (Mondays only, plus tax). On Tuesday, most arcade games are half price all day (crane and prize-merch games excluded). Hot, cheesy pizza and a pocketful of game credits after school? Easy family win. Specials.

Around noon on Tuesday, the best seat in Cookeville will be a spot on the Spring Street curb.

The Wall That Heals, the traveling three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, arrives Tuesday, October 20, with a welcome parade through town at around noon. Under motorcycle escort, the procession starts at Avery Trace Middle School, runs west on East Spring Street past the courthouse to Tennessee Avenue, and then heads to the new fairgrounds. County Mayor Randy Porter expects it to arrive there between noon and 12:30. "The public is invited to line the streets as the wall comes to town and show your support for our Vietnam veterans," he said.

This is a homecoming of sorts. When the Wall came to Cookeville in 2018, more than 30,000 people visited, a Tennessee attendance record for the traveling memorial, and Porter says the goal this year is to beat it. Let's show up, Cookeville! The panels honor the more than 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. Nine of them were from Putnam County: Wayman Clay Elrod, James Farley, Augusto Garcia, Carl Gilbert, Jerry Hickey, James C.R. Lewis, Calvin Norris, Bobby Polk, and Johnny Wright Jr.

For Porter, it's personal. His dad was a Vietnam veteran who died when Porter was only three or four, and he's said plainly that those veterans never got the warm welcome home they deserved. On Tuesday, the rest of us get a small chance to help make that right.

So bring the kids, bring a flag if you have one, and clap like you mean it. It only takes a few minutes, and it'll stay with your family a lot longer.

The Wall opens to the public Thursday, October 22, after a 10 AM Welcome Home Ceremony. Viewing starts at 11 AM, and it stays open 24 hours a day at 2121 Event Center Drive until the closing ceremony at 1:45 PM on Sunday, October 25. Admission is FREE.

Schedule and details

Putnam County commissioners take another look Monday at expanding the Class III landfill on Cookeville Boatdock Road, a month after holding off so they could study it. County Mayor Randy Porter says the site takes construction waste and wood debris, not household garbage, and tornado debris in 2020 filled its open cells faster than anyone planned. The commission meets after its 5:30 PM committee meetings on the courthouse's top floor.

Turns out the county isn't done digging into this one.

Herald-Citizen report

Monday
Early Voting – Early voting for the Nov 3 election continues at 705 County Services Dr… 8 AM to 5 PM (Tuesday too)
Art Quest – Hands-on art with teacher Annette Romero, ages 12 to adult… 10:15 to 11:30 AM
Lunch and Learn: Organizing with ADHD – Beth Ruck on organizing your home when you have ADHD… noon to 1 PM
Goodwill: Career Solutions – Job-search help from Goodwill at the Baxter library branch… 1 to 2 PM
Lego Club – Free Lego building for ages 5 to 12 (capped at 25) in Cookeville and Monterey… 3:30 to 4:30 PM
Games Against Roasted – Free party games and Jackbox with prizes at Roasted (21+)… 7 to 9 PM

Tuesday
Pages & Paws – Therapy-dog storytime with Buddy, Skye, and Tibbi for ages 3 to 7… 10 to 11 AM
Rosenwald Schools Exhibit – Free exhibit at the Cookeville History Museum… 10 AM to 4 PM
The Wall That Heals Welcome Parade – Line East Spring Street as the memorial is escorted to the new fairgrounds… around noon
Ruck Fit – Sandbag and bodyweight workout at Cane Creek Rec Center ($3)… 5:30 to 6:30 PM
Trivia Tuesday – Free, delightfully cynical trivia with prizes at Roasted (21+)… 7 to 9 PM

Looking ahead
The Wall That Heals – Free and open 24 hours at 2121 Event Center Dr, from Thursday's 10 AM Welcome Home Ceremony through the Oct 25 closing ceremony

Pages & Paws brings therapy dogs Buddy, Skye, and Tibbi back to the Putnam County Library in Cookeville on Tuesday from 10 to 11 AM. Kids ages 3 to 7 get a story and "a fun surprise" from the library's favorite four-legged regulars. Expect wagging tails and some very happy readers!

Monday 71 / 40 | 3% rain
Tuesday 75 / 40 | 3% rain

Share this Scoop with a friend who'd want to be on Spring Street Tuesday.
Have an event or tip for next time? Reply to this email. We read every note.

Browse the local directory at local.cookevillescoop.com · Submit an event at local.cookevillescoop.com/submit

Thanks for reading, and for being the kind of town that shows up to line a street and say thank you. Wave big on Tuesday. See you next time. 🧡

-- Travis

Resources