12/20: Gwinnett Place Mall; Christmas carol; Brexit

GwinnettForum  |  Number 19.73 |  Dec. 20, 2019

YULE CELEBRATION: A Christmas luncheon at the Rhodes Jordan Park Senior Center was captured in this photograph by our Roving Photographer Frank Sharp. It’s a popular event, with just about every seat taken by the hungry seniors. Similar holidays luncheons were popular at other locations around Gwinnett.

EDITOR’S NOTE

The next edition of GwinnettForum will appear Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019.  Have a great, happy and safe holiday!

IN THIS EDITION

TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett Place Mall Needs Redevelopment Strategy, Not Hope
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Two Aloof Artists Create One of the Finest Christmas Carols
ANOTHER VIEW: Our Dispatcher Says Most Brits Were Simply Tired of Brexit Delays
SPOTLIGHT: MTI Baths Inc.
FEEDBACK: That Vote on Brexit Is Being Weighed in Scotland, Too
UPCOMING: Part of Spalding Drive to Get Bridge and Street Improvements
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Schools Benefit from Walton EMC Grants to Teachers
RECOMMENDED: The Sisters of Summit Avenue by Lynn Cullen
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Nell Choate Jones Donates Personal Art Helping Start Berry Museum
MYSTERY PHOTO: Here’s a Tall Christmas Tree for Today’s Mystery to Locate 
LAGNIAPPE: DAR Leads Groups Laying Wreaths at East Shadowlawn Gardens 

TODAY’S FOCUS

Gwinnett Place Mall needs redevelopment strategy, not hope

By Joe Allen, director
Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District 

DULUTH, Ga.  | In its hey-day, Gwinnett Place Mall was a mall of firsts.  It was Gwinnett County’s first regional mall. People would come from all corners of Atlanta and Northeast Georgia to shop there. In fact, during holiday shopping seasons in the 1980s and 1990s, parking spaces were impossible to find because crowds swarmed the mall to find every store imaginable, the latest trendy fashions and to hang out with friends. More importantly, the billions of dollars in retail transactions over the decades translated to impactful funds for local government. But those memories are long gone as are the glory days of Gwinnett Place Mall. 

Allen

Today, Gwinnett Place Mall is better known as Starcourt Mall from the popular Netflix series. The nearly vacant mall site has become a temporary hub for the film industry. It is also the place of a terribly tragic homicide where a young woman’s dead body went undiscovered for nearly two weeks in one of the abandoned food court locations. Sadly, while shopping is at its height elsewhere, there are more cars in the parking lots serving as storage for nearby auto dealers than there are paying customers visiting the mall.

Because of overdevelopment, malls began to decline in the 1990s. Gwinnett Place Mall suffered as a result of its close proximity to Sugarloaf Mills and the Mall of Georgia. The influx of online retailing and rise of social media replaced malls as shopping centers and gathering places. Five years ago, when Simon Property Group “disposed of its interests” in Gwinnett Place Mall and sold to Moonbeam Capital Investments, its purchase price was $13.5 million.

After years of stagnation, the mall is up for sale once again. Earlier this year, Moonbeam Capital sold another one of its dead malls, New Jersey’s Burlington Center Mall, for $22 million, a significant profit from the $3.4 million purchase price. 

What does the future hold for Gwinnett’s dead mall? It could be continued decline with more crime, lost jobs and less tax revenues. 

Or a brighter possibility would be where the community found the political will to transform the mall, working together to determine our future.  “Hope” is not a strategy. We need bold ideas, solutions and risk-taking to confront what has been Gwinnett Place Mall’s status quo. 

Some immediate ideas:

  • More aggressive code enforcement;
  • Fully fund the projects outlined in the ACTivate Gwinnett Place plan; 
  • Empower a high-level task force of county officials, Gwinnett Chamber and CID stakeholders to develop and implement an area-wide revitalization master plan; 
  • Fast-track trail connectivity to McDaniel Farm and Shorty Howell Parks;  and
  • Make transit a reality along the Satellite Boulevard corridor. 

The redevelopment of the Gwinnett Place Mall site presents an opportunity to transform the strategic heart of Gwinnett County into a new reality.  It will not be easy. Developer(s) will need to be disciplined, sophisticated and mindful of the risks on a complex piece of real estate. It’s going to take sweat, collaboration, creativity and courage to hit the home run that the community wants, and a robust public-private partnership to make this re-development succeed.   

Dramatic changes must occur at the mall if this area is to remain successful. Closing our eyes to these challenges will set us on a path to further decline and failure. In the true spirit of leadership that has defined Gwinnett County, we must find a new paradigm for Gwinnett Place Mall to transform the old to meet the future. 

Remember, hope is not a strategy. 

EEB PERSPECTIVE

Two aloof artists create one of the finest Christmas carols

By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum

DEC. 20, 2019  | One of the beauties of the holiday season is to hear Christmas carols (and sing-along occasionally). They can lift your heart (Joy! To the World and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing), or cause you to pause (Silent Night or O Little Town of Bethlehem).

Then there’s a song usually sung during the season that is unlike most, in that it has a non-traditional cadence, and is one of our favorites for that reason. We refer to In the Bleak Midwinter. Recently we dipped into learning about it, and came away with a new understanding.

The words are from the 19th century poet Christina Rossetti, while the music comes from composer and musician Gustav Holst. Interestingly, both were somewhat different personalities, disdaining fame and wanting to be left in peace.

Rossetti was born in England to Italian parents in a household where the arts were important. Schooled by an Anglican mother, Rossetti was pensive and withdrawn, and refused two proposals of marriage “due to doctorinal scruples,” whatever that means. She remained a spinster her whole life, telling one brother “I am well content in my shady crevice, which enjoys the unique advantage of being to my certain knowledge the place assigned me.”  One person called her life a “spirit of self-postponement.” She produced what was called a wholly original kind of devotional poetry. She was called “superior to any other woman who wrote poetry in English before the 20th century,” besides Emily Dickinson.

She published “In the bleak Midwinter” in 1872.  

It’s possible that Gustav Holst (1874-1034) never met Rossetti. We are the beneficiary of him setting her poem to music in 1906. Holst was also from an artistic family with three generations of musicians. First seeking to be a pianist, he stopped this when neuritis set in on his right arm. He took up the trombone professionally, then turned to composing and teaching. After World War II, his major compositional success, The Planets, gave him international acclaim.  Holst was shy, wanting to be left in peace, to compose and to teach. Some said his music was too austere, but he had a significant impact on English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. 

Now read these words, of Christina Rossetti, no doubt in sync in your mind with the music given to us by Gustav Holst.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Our wish for you is that you have a happy holiday season. 

ANOTHER VIEW

Our dispatcher says most Brits were  tired of Brexit delays

(Editor’s Note: For over a year and a half, Darryl McDonald of London, England has been attempting to keep GwinnettForum readers abreast of the Brexit situation in England. This is the 11th in his series of reports from England. Note that he is to retire at the end of the year from his everyday position. We hope to hear more dispatches from him in future issues on European topics.—eeb)

By Darryl McDonald
UK Correspondent

LONDON  | What a result! From a minority of 20 to a majority of 80 in Parliament! Unbelievable.  What a night! The Tories broke down the Labour heartlands in the North and Midlands and gained several seats which had never voted Tory before. 

Why did this happen? 

The Tories had a single-minded campaign “Get Brexit Done by Jan. 31” so we can move on to the Trade Deal and get back to dealing with the real issues facing the United Kingdom. Labour’s stance was to re-negotiate the deal with the European Union in three months! Then offer the country another referendum, the new deal or remain? But Corbyn’s mistake was to sit on the fence and not recommend one. Labour also had a left-wing Marxist policy for the people spending a huge amount of money by borrowing and heavily taxing the top five percent, basically anyone earning over $110,000. 

My own view is that in the end the people, including Remainers like myself, were tired of Brexit dragging on with Parliament in paralyses. They just wanted to get on with the original referendum vote and could not face another one, so they voted for Boris to get it done. 

Labour’s manifesto was offering no real hope—-just a further period of dithering and a left-wing agenda which even their supporters rejected. I think Labour ignored the fact that deep down their voters remained deeply patriotic and rejected the idea they were poor in the North and Midlands and needed support! 

In his victory address Boris thanked the Labour supporters for “lending their votes” to help the country move forward.   He also cleverly had already been visiting the areas and promised more help and investment. 

The general reaction outside the UK has been very positive. The Pound and FTSE 100 have both risen sharply and we have already seen an increase of £68 billion of investment into the UK which had been waiting for this result to happen. Even Trump has congratulated Boris on his emphatic victory and has spoken of a great Free Trade Deal with the UK as soon as possible!

So, what happens next? On Thursday there was a new Queen’s Speech in Parliament to set out Her Government’s agenda for the next five years. The Withdrawal Bill to leave on Jan. 31, 2020 will be ratified in Parliament with a large majority, so that we can then move onto the Trade Deal which will be done by December, 2020. 

This may appear to be a very short time to get this agreement done with the European Union , but I think it will be based around the existing deal the European Union has with Canada, with a few amends.

Finally, I would like to wish Elliott and all GwinnettForum readers a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. As for me I will be retiring on December 31 and looking forward to a more relaxing 2020 and will hopefully continue with my reports.

All the very best.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

MTI Baths Inc.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is MTI Baths Inc. of Sugar Hill. MTI Baths is a manufacturer of high-quality acrylic and engineered solid surface bath products, including whirlpools, air and soaking baths; lavatories; shower bases; and kitchen sinks. MTI’s patented Fill-Flush® and Simple Touch® whirlpool cleaning systems are the best on the market. MTI now offers engineered solid surface–countertops and sinks. Every product is custom-made to order and shipped within seven business days. We are now operating in an additional manufacturing plant of 38,000 square foot. CEO of the firm is Kathy Adams, while Russell Adams is president. 

 FEEDBACK

That vote on Brexit is being weighed in Scotland, too

Editor, the Forum: 

Scotland originally did not vote for Brexit, and created its own political party called the Scottish National Party (SNP). Scotland has almost completely eliminated other parties except for a small area in Aberdeen for Democratic Liberal Party, and in Edinburgh there is a small contingent of Tory support.   So unified, Scotland must be considered as a country.  I am sure shrewd Scots are waiting to see what bodacious Boris delivers as a Brexit.   

I read one article where Boris spoke of a bridge connecting Ulster and Scotland.   No small engineering task or price, it would mean a great deal to both areas.  No doubt Boris has to think big.  Whatever he brings to his people, Scotland will consider it and what is best for Scotland. 

The refrain in The Flower of Scotland is “And sent him homeward to think again.”   This is classic Scottish understatement referring to the celebrated defeat of a much larger English army under King Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314, a battle of cousins.   The SNP may send Boris home to do the same by seeking independence, if it finds his Brexit unacceptable or the timing right.

Byron Gilbert, Duluth

Realizes that letter writer must have been on secret mission

Editor, the Forum

When I saw Raleigh Perry’s review of the book, Anonymous, I was sure that it had been ghost written. Then today I saw his letter on the invasion of South Georgia by the British and I realized he had really returned.

I had assumed all along that he had been on a top secret operation in the Ukraine to uncover evidence that it was Ukraine that hacked the Democratic National Committee and, in fact, produced Obama’s fake birth certificate. I am eagerly awaiting his history-changing revelations.

— Hoyt Tuggle, Buford

Send us your thoughts:  We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum.  Please limit comments to 300 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to:  elliott@brack.net

UPCOMING

Part of Spalding Drive to get bridge and street improvements

The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners has awarded the construction contract to improve Spalding Drive from Winters Chapel Road to Holcomb Bridge Road/Georgia Highway 140 to CMES, Inc.

Gwinnett County’s 2014 and 2017 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax programs, the State Road and Tollway Authority, and the cities of Sandy Springs and Peachtree Corners are funding the contract in the amount of $6.6 million.

The project will widen Spalding Drive from two to four lanes from Winters Chapel Road to State Route 140/Holcomb Bridge Road with an additional center lane from west of River Exchange Drive to Holcomb Bridge Road. Crews will replace the existing bridge over Crooked Creek, build new sidewalks and a multi-use path on Spalding Drive.

In addition, the existing traffic signals on Winters Chapel Road and River Exchange Drive will be upgraded and curb and gutter and associated drainage improvements will be installed.

Local governments cooperating on restoring old Rogers Bridge

Restoration of the old Rogers Bridge crossing of the Chattahoochee River is to be funded in joint agreement between the Cities of Duluth and Johns Creek, and in agreement between the Gwinnett and Fulton County Commissions.

Each partner will contribute an estimated $350,000 in matching funds toward the construction of the project. These funds will meet the matching requirements from the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Regional Commission.

This intergovernmental agreement will allow for a pedestrian corridor across the Chattahoochee River. Earlier, each partner also contributed matching funds for the preliminary engineering on the project.

The city of Duluth is managing this restoration, which is currently in the preliminary engineering phase. Gwinnett County’s portion of the funding comes from the 2014 SPLOST.

 NOTABLE

Gwinnett schools benefit from Walton EMC grants 

This December was a happy month for many local teachers.

In the fourth year of Walton Electric Membership Corporation’s (EMC) School EmPOWERment Grant program, the cooperative handed out checks totaling $360,338 that will enhance the instructional programs of schools in its service area.

The money comes from unclaimed refunds. After exhausting all attempts to find the rightful owners, Georgia law allows the money to be used for education and other community improvements.

This year’s disbursements bring the all-time grant total to more than $1.4 million. Here are the Gwinnett schools getting the grants:   

Anderson-Livsey Elementary – $3,549
Debbie May, Exploring the World Through Books 

Arcado Elementary – $5,895
Jamie Garcia-Caycho, Readers Today, Leaders Tomorrow 

Britt Elementary – $8,435
Kay Brickley, Classroom Libraries

Centerville Elementary – $3,544
Marla Parish, Intervention Reading/Math Technology Lab 

Cooper Elementary – $4,000
Aimee Litt, Community of Readers

Five Forks Middle – $4,100
Andrew Whatley, Collaborative, Project-based Learning

Grayson Elementary School – $4,905
Christi Umans, Traci Green, Donna Ward, Art/Science STEAM Project

Grayson High – $1,165
Joy Thompson, Operation Grayson Way

Gwinn Oaks Elementary – $12,407
Sabine Stoffle, Integrating Technology
Sue Eason, Leigh Blakley, Guided Reading Books 

Head Elementary – $13,515
Shann Griffith, Multi-Million Word Club

Knight Elementary – $11,500
Christine Christopher, Tower Gardens
Rosi Beckman, Jennifer Broun, Blended Learning Needs 

McConnell Middle – $4,352
Falaunda Cox, Lynda’s Legacy
Angel Parks, Jennifer Akin, Sports, Fitness and Fun! 

Parkview High – $5,000
Camelia Calvert, VEX Robotics Expansion

Partee Elementary – $5,000
Lisa Mills, Through Their Eyes 

Pharr Elementary – $7,288
Kathleen Navin, Creating a Collaborative Environment 

Rosebud Elementary – $10,400
Brandi Patterson, Operation Rising Readers
Toni Gibbs, Technology Integration Initiative

Shiloh Elementary – $6,000
Thomas Trippany, Literacy in the Classroom 

Shiloh High – $5,412
Minnie Sharp, Vocational and Functional Academics
Ashley Rogers, Classroom on the Go!

Shiloh Middle – $7,950
Angela Banks-Spain, Classroom Libraries

Starling Elementary – $4,880
Ikwo Poindexter, Tools for 21st Century Learners

Trickum Middle – $3,567
Jennifer Killian, Micro:Bit Accessories
Jess Wells, Analog Mixing Board
Lindsey Theirs, Informational Text: Hidden Figures 

Trip Elementary – $9,531
Mackie Miley, Chromed Out Fourth Grade
Debbie Patrick, Full STEAM Ahead with 3D Printing
Vanita McGough, Inquisitive Learning Through Robotics

Payne-Simpkins returning to Gwinnett in Lilburn position

Payne-Simpkins

The City of Lilburn announced the hiring of Jennifer Payne-Simpkins as the new Assistant City Manager.  She was selected from a pool of over 25 candidates. Prior to coming to Lilburn, Payne-Simpkins served as the city manager for the City of Fort Oglethorpe for 2 1/2 years. She also previously worked for Gwinnett County government and the City of Savannah in varying roles. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, N.Y. and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Payne-Simpkins has worked in public service for the past 12+ years. She and her husband Scott will be moving back to the Gwinnett area, where her family currently resides.

 RECOMMENDED

The Sisters of Summit Avenue by Lynn Cullen

From Karen Harris, Stone Mountain:  June and Ruth are sisters bound by blood and a heart break that manifests differently in their two personalities.  June is blond and beautiful, married to a wealthy doctor and has a job as one of the ‘bettys’, the recipe creators who are part of the Betty Crocker test kitchens. Ruth is married to a farmer who is stricken with the sleeping sickness that devastated families in the 1930s. She has single-handedly managed the farm and raised four daughters for eight years since her husband’s illness. Dorothy, their mother, comes to stay on the farm to help Ruth manage the household. It is she who brings June to the farm in the hope of building a bridge between the two sisters who have been estranged for years because of a stunning betrayal. Dorothy’s long held secret threatens to break down the delicate balance that is being forged during the visit.

  • 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.  Send to: elliott@brack.net 

GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBIT

Jones donates personal art helping start Berry Museum

(From previous edition)

In 1925 three of Nell Choate Jones’ paintings were exhibited in Atlanta at the annual exhibition of the Southern States Art League. This regional organization, formed to promote the art and artists of the South, held annual exhibitions between 1921 and 1947.

Less than two years later, she and her husband exhibited work at the Holt Gallery in New York City. In 1929 she was awarded the first of two scholarships to attend the Fontainebleau School of Art in France, and she later traveled to England for additional study. During this early period her teachers included Frederick J. Boston, John F. Carlson, Benjamin Eggleston, and Ralph Johonnot. In addition the couple spent summers at the artists’ colonies of Woodstock, New York, and Old Lyme, Connecticut, and also visited Bermuda and Santa Fe, N.M.

In 1936 Jones returned to Hawkinsville for the burial of her sister, Coralie, in the city cemetery where her parents and brother, Walter, were interred. After that she traveled to Georgia periodically, capturing the lush rural landscape and the leisure activities of African Americans, who were frequent subjects in her work.

Jones exhibited actively from 1925 until 1979 in museums and galleries in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Among the highlights of her career were the inclusion of her work at the 1939 New York World’s Fair; her 1945 solo exhibition of Georgia scenes at Argent Galleries in New York, the headquarters of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors; and her exhibitions at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958, the National Academy of Design, and the New York Watercolor Society.

Despite a demanding exhibition schedule and frequent trips to the South, Jones also assumed a leadership role in numerous art organizations. In 1975 she was named Woman of the Year by the National Association of Women Artists, and in 1979 the Brooklyn Museum honored the centenarian with the Distinguished Citizen Award.

Jones, through philanthropic gestures, helped to bring American art to her home state. In 1941 she corresponded with Martha Berry, the founder of Berry College in Rome, concerning the donation of paintings by prominent American artists to start an art museum at the college. Jones made a personal donation of more than a dozen paintings the following year. In 1979 she donated 19th-century portraits of her parents to the Pulaski Historical Commission, the county historical society located in Hawkinsville.

Jones died in Brooklyn on April 15, 1981. During the final years of her life she was in failing health, and her neighbors, the Price family, cared for the artist in their home. After her death, they placed her ashes in the Georgia clay of the Hawkinsville city cemetery.

 MYSTERY PHOTO

Here’s a tall Christmas tree for today’s Mystery 

With it getting near Christmas, check out this Christmas tree. There are some clues lurking here that ought to tell real mystery spotters something about this location. Figure it out, and return with your answer to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.

It was a photograph of a ship docked at port, and from the Georgia Encyclopedia. Yet it stumped many of our readers. 

Billy Chism of Toccoa simply reported it was “in Brunswick,” and was correct. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. was more specific: “I believe this is the middle dock (there are three) of the AVP (Atlantic Vehicle Processors) Marine Terminal located on Joe Frank Harris Boulevard and Fancy Bluff Creek in Brunswick, Georgia.  It is just off U.S. Highway 17 near the Jekyll Island Causeway.” 

Allan Peel, San Antonio, Tex. went into more detail: “Today’s mystery photo is at the Colonel’s Island Terminal, one of three deepwater terminals owned by the Georgia Port Authority (GPA). The terminal is located on the shore of Fancy Bluff Creek, just north of U.S.17 and approximately halfway between I-95 and the Sidney Lanier Bridge, neither of which is visible in the photo. Other, somewhat nondescript, landmarks that are visible in the photo are Blythe Island to the center-left, and off in the far distance, between the two right-most cranes, the Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper Mill in Brunswick.

“Colonel’s Island Terminal ranks as one of the nation’s largest and environmentally conscious auto facilities. As a dedicated Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) facility, the terminal is the second busiest port in the USA for total RoRo cargo and second busiest for RoRo imports. RoRo ships are ferries designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter. Owned and operated by the Georgia Ports Authority, the Colonel’s Island Terminal has three RoRo berths and three on-terminal auto processors which handle cargo for more than 60 auto and heavy machinery manufacturers.”

LAGNIAPPE

DAR leads groups laying wreaths at E. Shadowlawn Gardens 

Patriotic organizations and Gwinnett citizens gathered recently to lay Wreaths at East Shadowlawn Memorial Gardens in Lawrenceville, the final resting place of over 300 U.S. Veterans, and an official Wreaths Across America cemetery location. Participants included members from the Philadelphia Winn Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Button Gwinnett Chapter Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard (SAR), Elisha Winn Society Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.), VFW Post 4180, American Legion Post 262, Boy Scout Pack 597 and Cub Scout Pack 597, plus local dignitaries. The ceremony concluded with over 150 attendees reading the name of a buried Veteran and placing a fresh balsam wreath at the grave site. The participants of this ceremony were standing with a grateful nation at 1,700 locations on the official Wreaths Across America Day. 

 CALENDAR

Menorah Lighting: Join with Temple Beth David at Snellville’s Towne Green on Sunday, December 22, from 6-8 pm., for the lighting of the Menorah to celebrate the first night of Chanukah. There will be music and song, traditional jelly donuts and lots of holiday fun. Rabbi Jesse Charyn will lead the celebration and tell the story of Chanukah (the Festival of Lights). All are welcome.

New Year’s Eve: Psi Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and its philanthropic arm, Georgia Pearls of Service Foundation, Inc., will ring out the old and ring in the new with their third annual “A Kaptivating Affair”, on December 31 at the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center, from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. Proceeds will be used to fund community service projects, outreach programs, and college scholarships. Guests can expect an evening of the whimsical sounds of The Magic Dream Band, a traditional New Year’s Day meal, a count down and champagne toast at the stroke of midnight.Tickets are $85 per person and attire is formal. For tickets, click here.

Cornhole League Forming: A seven week winter outdoor cornhole league is being planned at the Peachtree Corners Town Center. The Season begins on Thursday, January 9, but individuals must be registered by December 30. Play times are 6:45, 7:30, and 8:15 p.m. All teams play a best of three series against an opponent at their same skill level. For more details, click here.

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