Chattajack is on for 2020

From Chattajack:

Greetings and well wishes Chattajacks,

We are extremely grateful for the patience you’ve extended us over the past several weeks while we determine the proper path and protocol for Chattajack in 2020. We are excited to announce the show will go on. Certain aspects of the race this year will be a little different as we embrace the standards set forth by our federal and local government and healthcare agencies. With that said, the spirit of Chattajack remains the same, a celebration of paddle sport within the Tennessee River Gorge. Registration will open on June 1st at midnight EST (the moment clocks transition from May 31st to June 1st).

Chattajack’s website has updated information regarding any changes to this year’s event. Please note that this will be a continuously evolving situation so any further updates/changes will be added to the website as we know about them. (Please also note: While we feel confident in our Covid-19 action plan and it’s execution race weekend, it isn’t possible for us to absolutely eliminate the risks associated with Covid-19 and other infectious diseases)There will be frequent communications (email/social media) leading up to the event this year regarding the action plan so that come race weekend everyone knows what to expect.

Without further ado, we’d like to extend our gratitude to Chattajack’s 2020 artist Daniel Vincent, from Brazil. This year we wanted to embrace the spirit of perseverance in our graphic. Dragging Canoe is the epitome of just that. He survived smallpox as a child, continuously averted death even though the duration of his life involved risk (intertribal warfare, the American Revolutionary War, western world’s encroachment into the heart of the Cherokee Nation), yet he managed to maintain his home in east Tennessee/Appalachia he gorge even though his father gave up and gifted it (20 million acres) to the settlers. Dragging Canoe is buried on a little creek near the CJ finish line.

With hard work and some critical thinking we hope to navigate the current health crisis as safely as possible resulting in what will be the 9th consecutive year of paddlers racing through the Tennessee River gorge. We’re extremely grateful to the many volunteers who have replied to correspondence and shown support of helping with this year’s proposed action plan.