HERE’S THE WAY downtown Duluth is anticipated to look once current development is completed. To the immediate left is the former City Hall, once the First Baptist Church. Behind the building at the right are the railroad tracks. For more specific information on what is going on now in downtown Duluth, see Upcoming below.
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Small Town, Big World Festival Coming to Lilburn on September 10
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Relatively New City Summer Concerts Delight Many Gwinnettians
SPOTLIGHT: United Community Bank
UPCOMING: Medical Foundation To Host International Grief Counselor
NOTABLE: Medical Foundation To Host International Grief Counselor
RECOMMENDED: Readers Invited To Contribute Their Own Recommendations
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Governments in Canada and Nova Scotia Modeled after Georgia’s
CALENDAR: Gwinnett Firefighters Plan 9/11 Remembrance
TODAY’S QUOTE: Well, She Didn’t Want To Be in There Anyway
MYSTERY PHOTO: Giant Building Awaits Your Solving
TODAY’S FOCUSSmall Town, Big World Festival coming to Lilburn on Sept. 10
By Nikki Perry | Celebrate music, food, and traditions from around the world at Small Town, Big World: Lilburn International Festival on September 10 in Lilburn City Park. This free event features cultural performances, food vendors, a parade of flags, international games and crafts, and free bounce house play for the kids.
The opening ceremonies are at 10 a.m., as State Rep. B.J. Pak and Mayor Johnny Crist welcome the crowd. Along with an impressive parade of international flags, the Stone Mountain Chorus will sing a barbershop harmony rendition of our national anthem.
Entertainment will continue throughout the event, including Bollywood, Hispanic, Irish, and Bulgarian dancers, Korean drummers, and a jazz fusion band. One of the youngest performers is 13-year-old Angelina Kim, who plays Korean folk songs on a traditional stringed instrument called the gayageum.
Aside from the bounce houses, there will be plenty of activities in the park. High school exchange students from South Korea, China, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam have organized games and crafts representative of their countries to engage youth attending the festival. Students from Charles Minter’s Tae Kwon Do studio will give martial arts demonstrations. CrossFit Lilburn 678 will set up a ninja style obstacle course. Henna artists from the Amadiyya Muslim Community will create intricate temporary tattoos. The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir will host a free photo booth.
There will be a variety of international foods to try, from pho to tropical ice cream. Presenting sponsor Nam Dae Mun will serve samples of fruits and vegetables from the farmers market. For the less adventurous, American staples like hot dogs will also be sold.
The festival is organized by Lilburn Community Partnership, a grass roots effort to create and sustain a safe, vibrant, and prosperous Lilburn through fostering community engagement. Diana Preston, who is president of the nonprofit and a former Lilburn mayor, says the international festival is an opportunity to see the world without leaving Lilburn. “Lilburn is home to people from all over the world, but we are still a small town. We see people from different cultures at school or at the grocery store. This festival is a chance to learn more about each other.”
Lilburn Community Partnership teams up with the City of Lilburn to present the international festival, which is now in its third year. Mayor Crist hopes the festival will help promote understanding in this diverse community. About one third of Lilburn residents were born in another country, according to the U.S. Census 2015 estimates.
Mayor Crist says: “Residents of Lilburn, regardless of their cultural background, are bound together by the values that we share. We have chosen to live in a safe, friendly place where people know their neighbors and are involved in the community.”
- The “Small Town, Big World” Lilburn International Festival will be September 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Shuttle service will be available from the First Baptist Church of Lilburn parking lot. For more information, go to www.cityoflilburn.com.
Relatively new city summer concerts delight many Gwinnettians
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Virtually unrecognized among the many changes in Gwinnett is the way the cities of the county are now providing popular music venues, usually at no cost to concert-goers. People flock to these concerts, often setting up chairs a day in advance to get a good location.
What got us to thinking about this was the Sugar Hill concert area. During development of the new City Hall, the grading created a natural bowl, as former City Manager Bob Hale remembers. “The design engineers started talking about stair-step terracing. The Council said that since there was a stairstep anyway, why not make the stairsteps higher, also create a stage and end up with an amphitheatre? We doubled the size of the terracing for seating and tables. The flooding of the detention pond only comes up to below the stage level. It creates a beautiful venue now.”
Sugar Hill has five paid concerts, May to September, and another five free concerts a year. It budgets $300,000 for the big-name concerts, but with tickets sales and sponsorships, the net from city funds is roughly $100,000. Attendance varies, but often has 2,500 enjoying the music.
No one has pinpointed when the cities began the free music concerts. But in Duluth, the first concerts on the Town Green were in 2002, as the new City Hall was completed. Now Duluth hosts concerts monthly, May through September, with estimated attendance between 1,500 and 7,500, depending on what music group is playing. The city budgets between $40-$60,000 to pay for the music groups. About half of this amount is offset with sponsorships.
Over in Loganville, Mayor Dan Curry tells us that they have concerts about once a month on the Town Green, with from 900 to 1,200 people attending. The city also funds the groups, from $2,500 to $4,500 a time, though this is also partially offset by sponsorships.
Loganville also funds fireworks once or twice a year, and has city-sponsored movie time on the Town Green from time to time, with good attendance. He says: “People are always looking for something to do, and we like for them to do it here.”
In Snellville, the city pays for four summer concerts, with the $20,000 coming from the Tourism and Trade budget. These concerts are on Snellville’s Towne Green, in front of city hall.
Open air concerts started in Suwanee in 2004. The city now funds nine concerts from spring, Memorial Day, August and five food truck Friday concert plus a tree lighting concerts with school choruses. Altogether the city funds $30,000 for these concerts, which are all free, and with no seating space sold. Attendance varies from 3,000 to 10,000, says Amy Doherty of the city.
Lawrenceville concert
The city of Norcross has concerts in its downtown Thrasher Parks on Fridays Memorial Day through Labor Day, with attendance of between 2,000-4,000 sprawled in blankets on the grass or in chairs. It also has Jazz in the Alley four times (the last in October), but a smaller attendance of about 300. The $52,000 in funding for these concerts comes out of its hotel-motel budget. By providing a portable air-conditioned rest room trailer (instead of Porta-Potties), the city gets rave reviews. Attendees also like having the concerts near the Thrasher Park playground for the children.
Lilburn has three musical concerts a year, in its City Park, budgeting $9,000 in public funds, while perhaps one-third of that costs is covered by sponsorships. The city feels that these concerts are among the most popular events of the year.
Peachtree Corners currently only has a concert on Friday before the city’s Festival the next day in June. The city eventually hopes to schedule more concerts on its Town Green once that area of town is developed.
In the county seat of Lawrenceville, its new Lawrenceville Lawn is the focus of five concerts, plus a Prelude to the Fourth of July at the Historic Courthouse; a Rock and Ribs in September; and a concert during its art festival. The city budgets $70,000 from the hotel motel collections on these concerts, but offsets this with $40,000 in sponsorships.
It’s a competitive world for city concerts in Gwinnett each summer.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTUnited Community Bank
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriting sponsor is United Community Bank, with 30 offices within Metro Atlanta. Headquartered in Blairsville, Ga., it is the third-largest traditional bank holding company in the state with more than 130 locations throughout Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. Since 1950, United Community Bank has been dedicated to providing platinum-level service to its customers as the foundation of every relationship. Known as The Bank That SERVICE Built℠, it is committed to improving the lives of residents in the communities it serves through this philosophy of delivering exceptional banking service. In Gwinnett, the bank has offices in Lawrenceville, Snellville and Buford.
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Medical foundation to host international grief counselor
The loss of a loved one is life’s most stressful event, according to Mental Health America, an organization founded in 1909 and dedicated to wellness. To that end, Gwinnett Medical Center’s (GMC) Foundation is hosting a free community event that’s designed to help those who are grieving and mourning effectively cope.
The event will feature guest speaker Alan Wolfelt, PhD, an author, educator, and grief counselor. During the event, Wolfelt will help guests explore questions relevant grief and mourning. He will appear at the Gwinnett Medical Center Resource Center, 664 Duluth Highway in Lawrenceville, on September 8 at 7 p.m.
Jason Chandler, president of the foundation, says: “The bereavement process impacts everyone. Our organization is designed to offer relevant programming to improve lives and through this talk we will help people cope with grief and loss.” Chandler added that this program complement’s GMC’s palliative care services, created to make patients and their families more comfortable in handling end of life issues.
Dr. Alan Wolfelt is known across North America for his compassion related to healing in grief. The event is also co-sponsored by Wages and Sons Funeral Homes and Crematories.
The GMC Foundation, incorporated in 1990 (fiscal year), supports Gwinnett Medical Center by funding programs, services and capital expansion projects through charitable contributions. As a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3), the Foundation enables people to give to strengthen GMC’s hospital system.
- To register to attend the program, go to wagesandsons.com/event. (RSVPs are highly encouraged.)
Snellville to get two sign bridges on Highways 124 and 78
A new signal bridge and two sign bridges will soon span the intersection of Georgia Highways 124 and U.S. Highway 78 in Snellville after the city approved a memorandum of understanding with the Georgia Department of Transportation Monday.
When construction begins on the city’s busiest intersection sometime next year, it will now include an arched metal span with decorative signage at either end.
The project will not exceed $600,000 from city funds and will be funded through Special Local Option Sales Tax funds, city officials said. The cost has already been budgeted in the current Fiscal Year 2014 SPLOST.
The decorative posts mirror a sign to be placed at the western entrance to the city. Both structures were designed as part of the Downtown Development Authority’s wayfinding signage project completed last year.
AT THE AUGUST MEETING of the Downtown Development Authority, directors approved construction of the Primary Gateway monument. The monument will replace the old granite sign that is at the city line on the highway. DDA officials have been working for several months to obtain an easement for the new primary gateway monument. Sung Kim, owner of SignDSign, the property the sign is on, agreed to grant an easement to the city to replace the aging sign. The DDA will also repair the wall which sits behind the monument. Construction is expected to begin within a month.
Eric Van Otteren, economic development director says: “A little over a year ago, the Downtown Development Authority directors worked with a group of citizens and a consultant, Sky Design, to develop what is known as a wayfinding package. The project designed a family of monuments and signs that promote the city and give the city a unified look.” New wayfinding signs have already been built on the Towne Green and at City Hall.
Here’s an update of new activities going on in downtown Duluth
Exciting changes continue in Duluth. The downtown road projects are complete, Coleman Middle School is complete and open, Dreamland BBQ is complete and open, O4W Pizza is open, The Chocolaterie is open (Have you seen the giant mural on the side of their building?). Just last week a new restaurant, Piatto, opened in the former Huthmaker Violin location on Main Street. So much is happening and here are some updates on other ongoing projects.
The Block/Parsons Alley (Downtown Duluth) is now in full swing! New tenant information will be released shortly, so hang in there for the big reveal
Village in Duluth (former Proctor Square on Buford Highway): The Residential Group Builders report demolition of the site is nearly complete Grading will begin soon. Architectural drawings have been submitted to the City for permitting and the first round of comments will be on tap shortly.
Downtown Residential Project (in front of Town Park Place): Home South is planning this Fall a new luxury townhome community located within walking distance to the shops and restaurants of downtown. The new community will consist of 36 townhomes featuring spacious three story brick designs that will each have a two car, rear entry garage.
NOTABLECounty to get new interchange on I-85 at Gravel Springs Road
The Board of Commissioners on has voted to accept a $2 million state grant to help fund right-of-way acquisition for a new interchange on Interstate 85 at Gravel Springs Road.
District Four Commissioner John Heard says: “This grant from the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority will allow us to begin acquiring right of way for this joint project with the state.”
Gravel Springs Road is on the state highway system as Georgia Highway 324. Right-of-way acquisition is to begin within the state’s 2017 fiscal year, which runs from July 2016 to June 2017. Gwinnett County will fund the overhead costs associated with land acquisition while state and federal funds will be used to pay for the value of the land itself.
The project is estimated to cost $19.5 million to complete. A combination of federal, state and SPLOST funds will be used to achieve the engineering and right-of-way phases of the project. The construction phase is to be completed with federal and state funds.
- Additional information about these and other SPLOST road improvement projects can be found on the County’s website at www.gwinnettcounty.com.
Lilburn scheduled to open new library on Oct. 18
A schedule has been announced for the opening/closing of the library in Lilburn.
Gwinnett County Public Library’s (GCPL) Lilburn Branch, located at 788 Hillcrest Road, will close on Monday, October 3 to move into the new Lilburn City Hall and Library building on Main Street in Lilburn.
The Lilburn Branch’s materials collection, computers, self-checkout machines, and staff offices will be moved over a two week period. The branch will reopen at the new location on October 18.
Book drops will be closed. Patrons should return borrowed items to another GCPL location or hold them until the branch reopens. Fines for items due during the closed period will be waived.
- Contact the Library Help Line with any questions or concerns at 770-978-5154.
Exhibit at Historic Courthouse to feature paintings of national parks
Brady
An exciting new art exhibit will premiere at the historic Gwinnett County Courthouse in September. The opening reception is Thursday, September 8 at 6 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
Entitled “One Hundred years of Wonder”, the exhibit celebrates the U.S. National Parks on this, their 100th year anniversary. The paintings in the exhibit are the work of Lucy Brady, a Georgia artist who has spent many years visiting the National Parks and depicting their beauty and rugged character in paint.
“Mountain Vista”
Brady and her husband began visiting the parks years ago when two of their children moved to the west. After their first visit to a park, they were hooked. Since that first visit they have spent time in the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Bryce, Zion, Mesa Verde, Arches, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Tetons, Glacier and headed further north to Banff in Canada. In the east they visited Acadia in Maine and another Canadian National Park, Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.
Most travels were by car, camping in the parks (America’s best bargain with the Golden Parks Pass). One memorable trip was backpacking in remote parts of Yosemite, where few people were encountered in 11 days; part of the group was lost for a day and a half.
Brady says: “I have been incredibly lucky to see all these wonderful sights and they belong to all Americans!” She finds it difficult to choose a favorite.
The paintings are in acrylic and oil and the artist has done her best to honor the country’s heritage.
Killian Hill Road to get sidewalk near Trickum Middle School
A sidewalk is coming to an area of Killian Hill Road. County Commissioners voted recently a contract to build sidewalk on Killian Hill from Sandra Drive to Nantucket Drive near Trickum Middle School.
CMES Inc. was the lowest of five responsive bids at $745,558. The project will install just over a mile of sidewalk, curb and gutter and drainage improvements on the north side of Killian Hill Road. Construction is expected to be complete by early 2017.
- The project is funded by the 2009 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Program. Additional information about these and other SPLOST road improvement projects can be found on the County’s website at www.gwinnettcounty.com.
Here’s your chance to provide your own recommendation
Help! Help! We need reviews of books, movies, restaurants, etc. And it’s easy: we ask that you limit your review to 150 words. That’s all. Send along and we’ll edit and get your thoughts on this bit of our culture into print! Send reviews of current or long-standing classics! –eeb
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITGovernments in Canada and Nova Scotia modeled after Georgia’s
(From previous issue)
Realizing the weakness of Georgia in the ongoing war against the French and French-allied Indians, Henry Ellis cultivated the friendship of the heads of the Creek Nation. He settled the claims of Mary Musgrove, long a source of irritation between Georgians and the Creeks. He worked with influential traders like Lachlan McGillivray and George Galphin to preserve the neutrality of the numerous Creek towns during the war against the Cherokees in the winter of 1759-60. Some Creek warriors even helped defend Georgia against the Cherokees.
Poor health forced Ellis to leave Georgia in November 1760. He stopped in New York to confer with General Jeffrey Amherst to request military assistance for the southern colonies. Lord Halifax rewarded him with the governorship of Nova Scotia. Ellis never went to that province, however, because his presence was needed in London. Lord Egremont, who replaced William Pitt as the cabinet minister for America, relied on Ellis for information and advice on American affairs. As a result Ellis played a key role in formulating American policy.
Ellis planned the successful British conquest of Cuba. He advised giving Cuba back to Spain in exchange for Florida in the peace settlement, thus removing a Spanish threat from Georgia’s borders. Ellis was responsible for the order summoning four royal governors to Augusta to conclude a treaty with the Creeks in 1763 and wrote a draft of the historic royal proclamation of 1763 that transformed British North America.
The proclamation established governments modeled after Georgia’s in East and West Florida, Canada, and Nova Scotia. It drew a line down the Appalachian mountain range, forbidding settlement to the west of the mountains, to protect Indian lands and trade. The proclamation benefited Georgia by extending its boundaries to the St. Marys River in the South and the Mississippi River in the West.
Ellis was rewarded for his services by receiving several lucrative government positions guaranteeing a comfortable future. After Egremont’s death in 1763 and a change in administrations, Ellis entered retirement as a gentleman of the Enlightenment. He died in Naples, Italy, in 1806, at age 85.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Giant mystery building photograph awaits your solving
Here’s a stately building for you to identify as our Mystery Photo for this issue. No telling how long this took to build, or how many bricks are in the building. And that’s no small lawn to mow, either. Send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.
The mystery from the last edition was spotted by Bob Foreman of Grayson, who wrote: “That is the Lake Lure Inn on Lake Lure in North Carolina. We visited there recently and took the boat tour.” The photograph came from Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Mark Barlow of Peachtree Corners also identified it, as did George Graf of Palmyra, Va. He wrote: “The 1927 Lake Lure Inn and Spa, in Rutherford County, N.C., which is 25 miles south of Asheville, is the beach resort in the photo. The lake is approximately 720 acres, with about 21 miles of shoreline and sits in the heart of Hickory Nut Gorge. The Rocky Broad River runs its way in a series of rapids down through Hickory Nut Gap with great stretches of water, three long bays, an island of seven acres and many small bays and inlets with a background of tree clad hills and mountains.”
One more person commented on the photo. Harriett Nicholls, Trickum, says; “I don’t know where the photograph was taken, but I do know that it would make a great jigsaw puzzle.”
CALENDAR
16th Annual British Car Fayre will be on Saturday, September 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in downtown Norcross. No cost to attend. Over 400 British automobiles and motorcycles will be on display. Free parking and a shuttle service will be provided. More info:www.atlantabritishcarfayre.com.
(NEW) Remembrance Ceremony at the Gwinnett Fallen Heroes Memorial, Sunday, September 11, at 8:30 a.m. at 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville. This is a remembrance of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 bombing. The ceremony will be put on by the Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. The speaker will be 1st Lieutenant James M. Boatfield (U.S. Army Reserves). The Gwinnett Fire Department Bagpipers will provide the music.
Restoring Hope Partner’s meeting and breakfast, Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 a.m. at the Norcross First United Methodist Church, 2500 Beaver Ruin Road. Restoring Hope is the campaign to engage, encourage and empower the Norcross Community Ministry. Those wanting to attend should RSVP by August 22 to kyra@norcrossco-op.org or call 770 263-0013.
Open House at Byrd and Flanigan Funeral Service in Lawrenceville on Sunday, September 18, from 1 until 5 p.m. The new funeral home is located at 288 Hurricane Shoals Road Northeast.
Library Temporarily Closing: Gwinnett County Public Library’s Suwanee Branch will be closed on Thursday, September 22 for the removal of the help desk. The branch will resume normal business hours on Friday, September 23. Book drops will remain open.
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