Chattanoogans Celebrate Easter With Events
The Stuart Heights Baptist Church holding their annual Easter at Coolidge Service at Coolidge Park.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- People across the Tennessee Valley celebrated Easter Sunday in numerous ways.
Hundreds gathered on the Chattanooga Northshore for a traditional outdoor Easter Service.
This was held at Coolidge Park by Stuart Heights Baptist Church.
Normally their congregation is spread out over three campuses in Chattanooga, Hixson, and Soddy-Daisy, but today they were one.
Gary Jared, the senior pastor at Stuart Heights Baptist Church, said, “We started in 2009, that was our very first service. Obviously during the pandemic we didn’t have it so this is our 13th year to do this.”
Attendees were spread out all over the park, even some who were watching from high above on the Walnut Street Bridge.
Before the worship service and sermon, there was an Easter Egg Hunt for families.
Afterwards, they offered baptism to anyone interested.
Jared said, “We serve together, we stuff eggs together, we did this all together, and we want to make a difference here in the Chattanooga community.”
Meanwhile on the riverfront, Rock the Riverfront held a modified Easter Egg Hunt of sorts during their Open Play Day Sunday.
Dawn Hjelseth, the Vice President for the Marketing and Communications at the River City Company said, “Unfortunately yesterday was not a good day for an Easter Egg Hunt. We had lots of rain.”
Due to the Chattanooga Green being a bit muddy, there was an alternate way kids could get their eggs.
Hjelseth said, “Today they can come up and get some Easter Eggs. It’s more of a trick or treat style due to the mud. But it’s still a wonderful day. The sun’s out, we have food trucks, we have music, we have games, there’s really something for everyone down here today.”
Over on MLK Boulevard, the Union Gospel Mission was holding their annual community Easter dinner for Chattanooga’s homeless population.
The Executive Director for the Union Gospel Mission, Rev. Jon Rector, said, “We’ll serve probably around 400 meals today. Thank goodness we have great weather today, and great turnout. We have about 30 or 40 volunteers here to help us. So we’re here just to give back to the community.”
This has been a tradition for about a decade, and Rector says it takes a lot of effort to accomplish.
Rector said, “We start planning about a month out. We start cooking usually on a Wednesday, the Wednesday before, getting everything ready and prepared. Then we’ll get everything reheated the night before that needs to be reheated. We start recruiting volunteers about two months out.”
