Do some good locally

Do you have a good coat that no longer fits you, clashes with your wardrobe or for some other reason you no longer use? Put it to good use here locally.

The DNJ newspaper is reporting on a local effort to help people get prepared for colder weather by making sure they have good cold weather clothing...and you can help them.

Christmas Celebration at the Depot

For those with kids, this looks like some real fun.

Saturday, December 12th, 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Front Street in Smyrna 

Carriage Rides, Pictures with Santa
S'mores and Hot Chocolate
Santa photos - $5 per sitting (no limit of people)
Smores - no charge
Carriage Rides - $3/person
Hot drinks/treats - fundraising event for SHS Culinary Arts - prices varied  

Parks & Recreation
Town of Smyrna
315 South Lowry Street
Smyrna, TN 37167
(615) 459-9773

Time to be counted

From the town of Smyrna. They are making a big push this week to get the last remaining people counted. 

The next phase of our Special Census begins this week - some of our fire fighters will go door-to-door to gather Census information (first/last names and address only). One census entry will win a 55" LED HDTV! We're Counting on You!

Shop local

I try to keep This is Smyrna from looking like a spam website or an ad driven site. There are enough of them, so let them sell ads. I do feel it is within those rules that I can share the Smyrna Independent Merchants Association website and the fact that they have an newsletter that says "Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter with upcoming events and local happenings.". Sounds good, and a great way to shop locally.

They also have a page of coupons for the thrifty shoppers amongst the readers here.

Smyrna Christmas Parade

The Christmas parade is this weekend. So bundle up and go have fun!

The Smyrna Christmas Parade is this Sunday! During this season of giving, we're asking those in the parade and those watching along the parade route to consider bringing some type of non-perishable food/personal item(s) to donate to the Smyrna/Lavergne Food Bank! We'll have a truck parked at the entry where the floats, etc check in. We'll also have volunteers pushing shopping carts along the parade route to collect items from the parade watchers!

Make plans

Upcoming Book Sales

Smyrna Library announced that they were going to be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in the near future. I did a little digging and found that there will be 4 in Smyrna in the near future. 

Smyrna Public Library Annual Scholastic Half Price Sale! Monday, November 30 through Tuesday, December 8, 2015 Monday through Thursday 9 AM to 6 PM Friday and Saturday 9 AM to 4:30 PM True l/2 Price Book Sale- l/2 off everything- Books, erasers, bookmarks, posters, etc.

The full list is here, and one is already going on at the Lancaster Christian ELC (Early Learning Center)

LANCASTER CHRISTIAN ELC201 MAYFIELD DRIVESMYRNA, TN 37167Come to the Book Fair11/16 - 11/30  

ROCK SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL3301 ROCK SPRINGS ROADSMYRNA, TN 37167Come to the Book Fair11/30 - 12/4 

SMYRNA PRIMARY SCHOOL200 WALNUT STREETSMYRNA, TN 37167Come to the Book Fair12/7 - 12/11 

SMYRNA PUBLIC LIBRARY400 ENON SPRINGS WESTSMYRNA, TN 37167Come to the Book Fair11/24 - 12/9 

Job Fair tomorrow

Not having a job this holiday season makes it hard to enjoy the christmas events. Luckily Goodwill is having job fairs that might help you.

The Goodwill Career Solutions center at 2955 S. Church St., Murfreesboro, will sponsor a job fair for Metro Industrial from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday. It will also hold one for Calsonic, Hamilton-Ryker, Sebastian Restaurant & Catering, Toys“R”Us and Wise Staffing from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday.
More information is available at www.events.goodwillcareersolutions.org.

Good luck!

Girls Day Out Holiday Shopping Event

The fruit of the vines

To my shock and awe I found out that chanting "CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" is the quickest way to be kicked out of a wine tasting event.

2015 Fall Break Activities!

 This is the agenda for the Parks and Recreation department for the Fall Break.

Fall Break Activities! (October 5th - 9th)
Date: 09/24/2015 12:15 PM
Fall Break Week Activities
October 5th - 9th
Great Fun for the Kids! 

Monday, October 5th; 9:00am - 11:00amTails & Trails
Sharp Springs Natural Area (Jefferson Pike entrance)
meet at Espey Outdoor Classroom
Bring your dog and join us for a nice walk in the woods.  Afterwards, learn some training and obedience tips from a certified Dog Trainer.  Both you and your pooch will have a great time!
ALL dogs MUST be vaccinated and on a leash.  Please bring a “clean up” bag or we will have them available for purchase. 

Tuesday, October 6th     10:00am - 2:00pmFall Naturefest - Corn Maze, Campfire & Hayride
Sharp Springs Natural Area (Use Espey Drive entrance)
meet at Green Building
Start your Fall Festivities early by strolling through our Corn Maze. Then join us for a fun, old fashioned campfire, where we will roast marshmallows and hot dogs and partake of that old favorite – S’Mores. Yum!  Of course, no campfire is complete without singing and storytelling, so bring your favorites to share.
Cost is $3 per person. Please call for reservation: (615) 459-9773 

Wednesday, October 7th; 9:00am - 2:00pmGo Outside and Play!
Lee Victory Recreation Park - Meet at Shelter 1 near the football fields
Join us for a retro-themed Field Day!  Toss water balloons at your friends, race in a sack, bounce on a ball, win a scavenger hunt!  We’ll do all that plus many more fun activities and contests.  It’ll be a blast!  Bring your friends – the more, the merrier!
And bring a SACK LUNCH! 

Thursday, October 8th;  9:00am - 11:30amBird Beak Buffet
Sharp Springs Natural Area ( Jefferson Pike entrance)
meet at Espey Outdoor Classroom
Have you ever wondered why bird beaks are so different?  We’ll take a close look at what and how birds eat, followed by a short hike to see some of our featured birds (and their beaks).  Then we’ll make bird feeders for you to hang in your own yard.  It’ll be sticky, icky fun and we want to see you there!
Bring binoculars if you have them.   

Friday, October 9th; 10:00am - 12:00pmCreek Peek
Meet at Old Jefferson Pike Trailhead (on Fitzhugh Blvd. near airport)
Plan to get wet as we play in the creek! We will use a net to see what lives along the bottom, under the rocks and in the very shallow waters of the creek. Using special viewers, we’ll be able to take a closer look at our “catch” before releasing everything back into the water. Super fun!
Wear clothing and SHOES you can get wet, and bring a towel.

To local businesses

Shooting yourself in the foot is not a good way to do business, and it shows an utter lack of social media norms.

I run the This is Smyrna website on blogspot and two of them on Facebook.  I have no real rules when it comes to the material I post outside of two. I try not to post divisive material such as religious and politics. I also try not to be a free source of advertising for businesses. I love grand openings, going out of business sales less so, and charity driven events.  I view those as the only exceptions.

There are many businesses in town that do want to get their product and service out and try to use social media. You tube is a good example. Sadly they have made it so I will never go to a company that floods a social media site with ad-spam.

I went today to youtube and typed in ‘smyrna tennessee’ and changed a parameter so the newest stuff will come first. I wanted to see if there was anything out there worth sharing.

The first reply was for a local skydiving event, followed by a ad for real estate and then a car from a local lot. Not bad. Just one each…and if I ever get insane enough or drugged up enough to jump from a perfectly fine plane, I now know where to go.

Then I hit spam. Not a little either, but 200. Most of page one of the results and all of 2 and all of page 3 and most of page 4 were the same dang video with just little tweaks of the title. I can see a half dozen or more, but that much. I then went to their page and found over 200 copies of the same dang video

What NOT to do

I support small businesses when possible, but please understand that how you treat social media sites directly effects how I view you. Spamming a video site does not make me want to visit you services, but to avoid them.

I had to go all the way to page 5 before I found something that was not spam.

To the small business owners in Smyrna, something free does not mean you should abuse it.

I am very particular about where I spend my entertainment money. I think I have purchased, not counting movies, 2-3 tickets to see live performances. The ones I do remember were worth the money.

Smyrna's own Springhouse Theatre Company is putting on a performance one select dates this month and next of Fiddler on the Roof. This is one of the quintessential live plays out there. I fell in love with this story in high school when I saw a TV performance, and paid outrageous prices to see it at TPAC years ago. It is a musical, a coming of age story, and a story of social change.

It also one that I highly recommend to you to go with your whole family...but bring a hanky because you will cry at certain parts.