A banner for Mississippi in May at Creative Arts Guild in Dalton.(Dalton Civitan Club)

In Dalton this weekend, Mississippi in May.

On Saturday, the Dalton Civitan Club - the oldest civic club in the city - hosts its fourth annual music festival in Burr Performing Arts Park.

Gates open at 3 PM. Kelsi Westfall is the first act at 4 PM. The final act at 8 PM: the North Mississippi All Stars.

Heath Patterson is the festival’s chair. Chris Brown is president of the Dalton Civitan Club.

A sign for PORCH Communities in front of bags and groceries.(PORCH Chattanooga)

Here in Chattanooga, neighbors are helping neighbors to fight food insecurity through a new grassroots organization: PORCH Chattanooga.

Haley Bartlett is city editor at NOOGAtoday.

A cabin at Roamstead’s campground in Cosby, TN - near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.(Roamstead)

Sometimes, two words are better than one when you fold them into one.

For example, combine the words “glamorous” and “camping” - and you get the word “glamping”: a type of camping with amenities and services beyond traditional camping.

Or, take the words “roaming” and “homestead” - and you get the word “Roamstead”: a company headquartered here in Chattanooga that brings indoor comforts to accommodations in the great outdoors.

Inside an RV at Roamstead’s campground in Cosby, TN - near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.(Roamstead)

Last year, Roamstead opened its first campground near the Great Smoky Mountains - with plans for more campgrounds in the works.

I spoke with Shannon Connolly, who co-founded Roamstead with her husband Thomas.

A yurt at Roamstead’s campground in Cosby, TN - near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.(Roamstead)

(Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga)

In this series - in partnership with United Way of Greater Chattanooga - we explore the impact that workplace policies have on our local families and children.

For this episode, we talk about social connectedness with Jessica Pilcher, Director of United for Working Families at United Way of Greater Chattanooga - and Liane Cooper, Chief Operating Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga.

The Great Buddha statue at Bodh Gaya - considered the holiest site in Buddhism - in Eastern India.(Paramita Center Southeast)

Dr. Les Kertay is a consulting and clinical psychologist here in Chattanooga.

For many years, he has studied Buddhism - especially its philosophical aspects.

In the past few years, Les has studied with a Tibetan Buddhist monk, Lama Samten - originally from Tibet, but living in Québec for the last 25 years, along with other teachers trained by the Lama.

Les Kertay. teacher and Paramita Center director for Chattanooga.(Paramita Center Southeast)

Together, the Lama and the teachers have developed the Paramita Centers - teaching meditation and Buddhist philosophy in Canada and in France.

This week, Lama Samten and one of his senior teachers are coming to Tennessee - including Chattanooga, a first step toward opening a Paramita Center in this city.

I spoke with Les last week.

Lama Lobsang Samten, spiritual director of the Paramita Centers.(Paramita Center Southeast)

Eric Kronberg(Kronberg Urbanists + Architects)

Eric Kronberg is known as a “zoning whisperer.”

He is a principal at Kronberg Urbanists + Architects in Atlanta - where he strives to demystify and harmonize urban design, architecture and development into better places for all.

On Thursday, May 23rd, Eric will be the speaker at the next CIVIQ, presented by Chattanooga Design Studio - starting at 5:30 PM at the downtown Chattanooga Public Library.

Here’s the rest of our conversation with him - and Eric Myers, the Studio’s executive director.

(Chattanooga Design Studio)

For more about Eric Kronberg at this month’s CIVIQ by Chattanooga Design Studio, visit chattanoogastudio.com/civiq.

Vase with spiral design by Pierre D’Avesn, circa 1926 - 1931, from the collection of David Huchthausen.(Lloyd Shugart / via The Hunter Museum)

Art glass reflects the time and place that shapes it.

A century ago, artists and their studios in this country and Europe fashioned art glass in what was then a new style: Art Deco.

Next week, pieces from an art glass collection go on display at the Hunter Museum of American Art here in Chattanooga - with an opening reception on Thursday, May 23rd - starting at 6 PM.

Lauren Nye is associate curator at the Hunter.

Outside La Paz Chattanooga.(La Paz Chattanooga)

“Avanzando” in Spanish means “going forward.”

This past academic year, first-generation Latino students from our campus - the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga - and Chattanooga State Community College attended monthly meetings of “Avanzando Through College,” a program by La Paz Chattanooga to help empower them to succeed in college.

I spoke with two of the students before commencement: acqueline Alvarado, a sophomore here at UTC - and Cesar Gomez, a sophomore at Chattanooga State.

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Next month, La Paz Chattanooga hosts Sangria on the Southside - for the first time in five years - on Friday, June 14th from 7 PM to 11 PM at First Horizon Pavilion.

Details at lapazchattanooga.org.