On Sunday, November 8, the last shells of the Head of the Hooch will come off the water at Ross's Landing. On Monday, November 9, construction begins, and the South Shore park closes for about 18 months. On Saturday, October 3, the Walnut Street Bridge reopened to foot traffic after its long restoration.
Those two dates are only five weeks apart, and they decide how November will run along the river. The bridge back on the Northshore side carries the weight now. Coolidge Park, Frazier Avenue and Bluff View, joined again by a walkable deck, make up the city's riverfront through 2027 and into 2028. The November calendar already reflects that.
The last weekend on the South Shore
The Hooch almost didn't stay. When city leaders announced the Ross's Landing closure, the Friends of the Hooch Board began looking at other host cities and named Columbus, Georgia, as its backup. Organizers said at the time that the in-city alternative on the North Shore "adds an estimated $145,000 in costs and less room for boats and spectators." On October 8, Local 3 News reported that the regatta will stay in Chattanooga. The 2026 race runs Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, at Ross's Landing, and the park closes right after. In their announcement, organizers wrote that "for 22 years, this waterfront has been home to the Hooch." That makes this weekend the last time in two years that the event lines the South Shore.
The park will stay closed between events too. In a response published by Chattanoogan.com, River City CEO Emily Mack said that replacing underground utilities, grading the site and vertical construction "will require major machinery, making a safe public event impossible." According to Local 3 News, the company had not yet determined whether traffic on Riverfront Parkway would be affected. No detailed public map shows which Riverwalk segments or approaches near the Tennessee Aquarium stay open during construction, so for now it is fair to assume that walking routes along the South Shore will change.
The project, called Riverfront Parks NEXT, plans two new food and beverage concepts at either end of Ross's Landing, one of them a casual Pier Café with public restrooms, plus a one-of-a-kind play zone, a shaded Riverwalk with seating and swings, and picnic and fishing piers along the river's edge. Chattanooga-based PlayCore is designing the play structure. According to an October 2 Chattanoogan.com update, the funding plan totals $50 million. The private campaign passed its $25 million goal, and the state of Tennessee is contributing $15 million, the City of Chattanooga $5 million and Hamilton County $5 million. River City Company is targeting substantial completion for late spring 2028.
Why the bridge's timing matters
The Walnut Street Bridge came back with a new deck of rot-resistant yellow Alaskan cedar, refreshed blue spans and white railings, and more than 200,000 pounds of repaired or replaced steel. It connects the Bluff View Art District and downtown to Coolidge Park, which is where the South Shore's events are going.
Frazier Avenue knows what the bridge is worth because it went without it. During the closure, Local 3 News reported that Zi Olive owner Charlie Kimball estimated tourism normally makes up about 30 percent of his sales. Jeanne Trewhitt of A Child's Garden told the station that shuttle service wasn't bringing visitors across the way the bridge had. A week after the reopening, the Times Free Press checked back in. Gail Rich, manager of In-Town Gallery, reported booming business, and Geno Wallace of Geno's Salon said it felt like a "weight has been lifted." Lynda Curtis of Ice Cream Show called the first days "like a holiday" and told the paper she planned to return to regular hours.
The newest shop on the strip has never operated with both the bridge and a full event season. Bill Reed opened Pedestrian Wine and Cheese while the bridge was closed, and he told the Times Free Press:
"A new start for all the businesses."
November is the first month where that new start meets a crowded Coolidge Park calendar.
November along the river, by date
The schedule below combines everything confirmed so far for the weeks after the Hooch. Dates and hours come from each organizer's own listing.
- Saturday–Sunday, November 7–8. Head of the Hooch, Ross's Landing. This is the final event before the closure.
- Saturday, November 14, noon to 2 p.m. The Houston Museum reopens in Bluff View with the Chattanooga Symphony.
- Saturday–Sunday, November 14–15. The Chattanooga Renaissance Faire runs across Coolidge Park and Renaissance Park, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
- Saturday–Sunday, November 21–22. Christkindlmarkt Coolidge, Weekend 1, runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
- Friday, November 27, 4 to 8 p.m. Reindeer on the Riverfront and the 46th Lighted Boat Parade come to Coolidge Park for the first time.
- Saturday–Sunday, November 28–29. Christkindlmarkt Coolidge, Weekend 2, with an all-new lineup of artisans and the same hours.
November 14 is the first full test
The first Saturday after the closure puts events on both ends of the bridge at once. In Bluff View, the Houston Museum reopens after a major renovation. The large brick house across from Rembrandts now has a new elevator, a rear stair exit, more display space and event space indoors and out. Its collection is still the glassware Anna Safley Houston assembled, which spent years stored in a barn in East Ridge.
Across the river that same morning, the Renaissance Faire opens its fall edition. The Pulse reports that this edition is larger than the spring debut and spreads over both parks. It includes Dauntless Armored Combat, working forges, demonstrations in clay, fiber, block printing, silversmithing and leatherworking, and live-animal programming from the Chattanooga Zoo and Happinest Raptors. Tickets are sold through chattrenfaire.com. The Faire's own description encourages guests to wander between the two parks. With the bridge open, a noon symphony set in Bluff View and an afternoon at Coolidge Park make one walking route.
The Friday after Thanksgiving changes sides of the river
Only one November event has actually moved because of the construction, and it is a big one. WDEF reports that Reindeer on the Riverfront and the Lighted Boat Parade will be held at Coolidge Park this year, across from their usual home at Ross's Landing. River City Company describes the move as temporary, with a return to the South Shore once the upgrades are finished in 2028. The event is free. It starts at 4 p.m. with Santa, live reindeer, the Chattanooga Elf, the Grinch, Elsa and illuminated giant puppets by Playful Evolving Monsters. At 7 p.m., the boat parade, coordinated by Erwin Marine Sales, loops between the Market Street Bridge and the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and fireworks follow at about 8 p.m. River City CEO Emily Mack told WDEF that Coolidge Park offers "perfect views of the river" for both, plus the Ellis Carousel.
Christkindlmarkt Coolidge brackets that Friday on both weekends. It was already a Coolidge Park event, so it hasn't been displaced, but this year it shares the park's busiest stretch with the relocated parade. The organizer promises Glühwein, artisan gifts and lights along the Tennessee River. Its longer-running sister market returns to the MACC on Signal Mountain for a fifth year.
None of these listings includes 2026 parking, shuttle or CARTA instructions yet. River City Company's event page for Reindeer on the Riverfront shows parking maps for both shores but no written guidance. On the South Shore, the Chattanoogan.com reported that River City Company's board has committed not to develop its two Riverfront parking lots through 2030. That commitment does not say how much of those lots will be open on any given construction day.
What the calendar still hasn't settled for 2027
The Lighted Boat Parade is the first relocated event. The larger move comes next year. When the closure was presented to the City Council, officials said more than 50 events normally held at Ross's Landing would shift to Coolidge Park starting in 2027. So far, no one has published an event-by-event list, and several major events are still open questions:
- Head of the Hooch. As of October 8, organizers had not announced a 2027 site, including whether the regatta will temporarily use the Northshore.
- Riverfront Nights. Friends of the Festival director Mickey McCamish told the Chattanoogan.com that Coolidge Park had been offered but couldn't fit every group asking for dates. As of October 6, the 2027 series had no signed venue. Emily Mack responded that phasing the construction would raise costs and drag out the disruption, and that the City and County would help find a venue.
- Chattanooga River Games. In a Local 3 report, organizers named Coolidge Park as a possible alternative and said they were still working out logistics.
Until those decisions come out, the dates that are confirmed are the six on this November list. After the Hooch leaves Ross's Landing, four of the remaining five take place at the Northshore end of the Walnut Street Bridge, and the fifth is a short walk across it in Bluff View.
If you're keeping track of how the riverfront closure changes your part of the city, or wondering how the next 18 months could affect the timing of a move on either side of the river, The Gideon Group can help you plan around the dates that are confirmed and keep an eye on the ones that aren't. Schedule a consultation, and we'll put together a plan around your own calendar.
