Clarksville Living Magazine — November 2023
The November 2023 issue of Clarksville Living Magazine traces one veteran's idea from a New Orleans museum to 244 portraits at the courthouse, celebrates dogs at Barks & Brews, and sets the Friendsgiving table.
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The cover feature follows Ron Smithfield, who attended the opening of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans on June 6th, 2000 and came home with a question: why can't we do something to honor our own veterans? He brought it to the local Kiwanis Club, which agreed to support it provided the project involved the community's children — and two projects grew from that meeting. The Veterans Essay Contest began in 2000; then, after 9/11 and the rebuilding of the courthouse damaged in the 1999 tornado, organizers realized the building held only one photo of a veteran. Today it holds 244. WWII veteran Gerry Gilman developed the display concept, Bob Lewis led the effort to collect and digitize local veterans' photos, and historian Randy Rubel supplied notebooks of images reaching back to the Civil War and beyond.
Barks & Brews brought pet parents out for its third year of an owner-and-dog look-alike contest and a “Pooch Plunge: Hot Dog Edition,” with a DJ, food trucks, pet-friendly vendors and beer from The Fallen Brewery. Organizer Brandon Easton of The Elite at Sweet Home Realty, which partners with Ruff Life Resort, said turnout keeps growing and 100% of profits are split between Caledonia Forest and the Montgomery County Angel Fund.
The issue also unpacks Friendsgiving — a tradition older than it seems, popularized by the sitcom Friends and its first-season episode “The One Where the Underdog Got Away” — walking through the theme, food and format choices that shape a chosen-family gathering, with a Toasted Pie of coconut, almonds and caramel among the seasonal recipes — proof, the feature suggests, that a Friendsgiving can be anything the hosts want it to be, from a traditional turkey dinner to a potluck brunch.
Table of Contents
- Veterans At The Courthouse (p. 6)
- Barks & Brews (p. 8)
- Friendsgiving (p. 10)
- Toasted Pie (p. 11)
- Honor Foundation (p. 28)
- Wreaths Across America (p. 40)