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Smith adds color to neighborhood
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Homeowner Megan Smith is brightening her neighborhood with a mural she painted on the side of her Towles Avenue garage. Artist Smith is using her creative skills to bring joy to passersby. - photo by Lisa Hobbs

A drive down Towles Avenue is brighter and more inspirational thanks to a mural. 

Homeowner Megan Smith added a touch of color, liveliness and character to the side of her garage by painting sunflowers, geometric shapes and words to inspire neighbors and passersby to seek joy in their lives.

“Hopefully, this bright and vibrant mural can bring people joy,” said Smith. “I love it when people smile. This was my way of helping give people something to smile about and inspire them to find joy in things so they can continue to smile.”

Sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity. Much of the meaning of sunflowers stems from the sun itself. Sunflowers are known for being “happy” flowers, making them the perfect gift to bring joy to someone’s day.

“I actually placed the sunflowers last year in April. It looked a little dull without anything else. So, I followed those up this year with the rest of it. I woke up one morning and said to my husband, Mark, it’s time to paint the garage.”

While this is not Megan’s first painting, it was her first one outdoors. The geometric shapes were COVID-19 inspired.

“I’ve done some in church nurseries, an elementary school, and people have paid me to do their own children’s nurseries. This is my first outside one. I’ve never used geometric shapes before. I’ve seen people during the quarantine using chalk to create geometric shapes. I wanted to try it out.”

The sunflowers were easy in comparison to the entire wall. 

The Smiths moved to Warren County approximately two years ago with the goal of establishing a church. She is from Chattanooga and he’s from Gordonsville in Smith County. 

The garage is located on the corner of Towles Avenue and Fisher Street. 


Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community