By Bonita Wilborn
On Saturday, April 13 from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm at the Community Center and Amphitheater, the Town of Bridgeport is hosting Bridgeport Bash, an event designed to bring the people of Bridgeport together as a community, to discuss aspects of the Thrive Program that is sponsored by the Lyndhurst Foundation.
The day’s events will include free food and drinks, live music including a dulcimer band, an art show, and the opportunity for attendees to fill out a survey about what they think needs to be done to improve Bridgeport as a town.
The current consensus reached by Thrive committee members who have spent the past few weeks polling local citizens is that the majority of the Bridgeport natives are interested in something that will keep young people from leaving Bridgeport for other towns. However, the Thrive committee needs your input as to what you might suggest.
Other long term plans for the Thrive Program include the development of the Riverfront that will include the addition of a walking trail and picnic pavilions. Another idea being developed into a working plan is the possibility of developing and restoring some of the 1800 era homes on Kilpatrick Road as a historic district with an art center and a Bed and Breakfast.
Through the Thrive Program, Bridgeport could receive a substantial sum of money to help the town “Thrive” if it meets certain criteria.
Please come out to the Bridgeport Bash and help your town!
About Lyndhurst Foundation:
The Lyndhurst Foundation had its beginnings in the broad local and regional philanthropic activities of Thomas Cartter Lupton, a pioneer in the Coca-Cola bottling business. First organized in 1938 as the Memorial Welfare Foundation, these activities continued and expanded after Mr. Lupton’s death in 1977, when the foundation changed its name to Lyndhurst, a reference to the family home in Chattanooga.
At that time the foundation leadership passed into the hands of Mr. Lupton’s son. Lupton and Lyndhurst began to focus its attention upon primary health care, elementary and secondary education, as well as arts and cultural activities.
In the mid-1980s, the foundation redirected its energies almost entirely toward Chattanooga’s effort to revitalize its downtown and riverfront, to enhance its arts and cultural life, and to improve its schools and its natural environment.
In 1992, with the retirement of Mr. John T. Lupton from the board of the foundation, and the election of his children and his nephews as trustees, Lyndhurst once again set new priorities, centered on the enhancement and enrichment of the natural, educational, cultural, and urban environment of Chattanooga and the surrounding region.
