GwinnettForum | Number 21.83 | Oct. 26, 2021
HERE’s A DRONE’S VIEW of West Broad Street in Sugar Hill, showing some of the array of new facilities on its main street. The City Hall is in the left foreground, with the white tent being its outdoor skating rink. There’s the Eagle Theatre down the street with the E Center. In the right foreground is the apartment complex known as The Local. For more about the quick growth of Sugar Hill, see Elliott Brack’s perspective below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett’s Fire Department marking 50th anniversary
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Sugar Hill’s downtown has amazing growth in 10 years
ANOTHER VIEW: Stephens’ “Cornerstone” speech part of today’s thinking
SPOTLIGHT: Mingledorff’s
FEEDBACK: Questions high density housing apartments with high fees
UPCOMING: County needs poll workers; plans three hiring events
NOTABLE: Peach State Credit Union marks 60th year; Contributes $360,000
RECOMMENDED: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Right to vote for women in Georgia was slow process
MYSTERY PHOTO: Another lighthouse for you to determine its location
LAGNIAPPE: Check out photographs of inside the new Aurora Theatre
CALENDAR: Ribbon cutting today at Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility
Gwinnett’s Fire Department marking 50th anniversary
Station 1 in Norcross. Photos provided.
By Capt. Brian Gaeth
Public Information Officer
LAWRENCEVILLE Ga. | Gwinnett County’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2021 as an organized fire and emergency service department. A proclamation on December 14, 2020 commemorated the original agreement that started the department on the path to where it is today. If you pass one of the 31 fire stations, you see banners that have been placed at the stations to recognize this 50th anniversary year to bring attention to the ways the department serves the community. Fire Chief Russell Knick leads the department today.
It all started on December 14, 1970, in an agreement between Gwinnett County and the City of Norcross to create the first fire service district for Gwinnett County. Until this time, each city in Gwinnett County was responsible for providing its own fire protection. The foundation hired its first two firefighters, Raymond Mattison and Tom Griffin. Soon after came the first emergency call on March 30, 1971 at 10:15 a.m.
The original Station 1.
The original Fire Station 1 in Norcross was staffed by 10 firefighters with one fire engine. Mattison was the first Fire Chief. As the reputation of the county fire department spread, in 1972, the Lilburn area voted to be included in the fire department coverage. Thirty-two personnel were hired and three new fire engines were purchased. One fire engine was purchased from the city of Lilburn. Station 2 in Lilburn and Station 3 in Mountain Park were constructed.
In 1973, the department purchased its first piece of aerial equipment, a 50-foot Telesquirt. By 1980, all but the northern one-third of the county was covered by the Gwinnett County Fire Department and in 1981 the cities of Buford, Dacula, Lawrenceville and Sugar Hill chose to go with the county department.
Many homeowners found a fire insurance cost reduction when their home was included in the service area.
By the end of Chief Mattison’s tenure as chief in 1984, the department had grown to 18 stations that spanned the entire county. In 1985, having 318 personnel, a fire academy/training center was opened in Hog Mountain. The fire department ran 6,758 calls in 1985. The Department of Public Safety was created on February 22, 1985 with a consolidation of the county’s police, fire, corrections, and emergency management services.
On May 21, 1986, an agreement was signed between Gwinnett County and the Hospital Authority of Gwinnett County for the county to purchase all assets used to provide the ambulance service. Emergency Medical Services was incorporated into the Bureau of Fire Services effective July 1, 1986. The Hazard Materials Unit was created during the late 1980s, along with the Tactical Rope Rescue Unit and Trench/Building Collapse Rescue Units. The Tactical Rope and Trench Rescue would later become the Technical Rescue Team.
The department has continued to expand and now serves Gwinnett County’s more than 960,000 residents with over 1,000 personnel, 31 fire stations and 31 truck engines, 12 ladder trucks and 33 medic units. Gwinnett County also fields four specialty teams covering Hazardous Materials, Technical Rescue, Swiftwater Rescue and Mass Casualty response. On October 2, 2021, three alternate response vehicles (known as ARVs or Rescues) were put into service. These provide rapid response capabilities and help to take the load off the much heavier engines and ladder trucks.
Today’s department incorporates community risk reduction with the emergency response capabilities. Personnel and community educators spend time teaching fire safety courses, installing smoke alarms in homes, and identifying hazards in homes that can be mitigated with a variety of county agencies.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Sugar Hill’s downtown has amazing growth in 10 years
The Local
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
OCT. 26, 2021 | If you haven’t been to Sugar Hill in a few years, you will find it difficult to believe how much this fourth-largest city in Gwinnett has blossomed. In the last 10 years, the City Council has brilliantly created a new downtown area, now teeming with about 2,000 people living within a half mile of City Hall and enjoying the “Sweet Life.”
While Sugar Hill has had fast population growth—it jumped from 18,522 people in 2010 to 25,701 in 2020—the springing up of the downtown area and its amenities is really astounding.
How has it happened? Both the most recent mayor, Steve Edwards, and the not-yet-elected-but- unopposed Mayor Brandon Hembree agree: it came as a city council worked together harmoniously to achieve its vision and goals. Downtown private sector investment is over $300 million.
You might date the start of the downtown growth with two things: the opening of Sugar Hill’s new fully-paid-for city hall in 2012 and the arrival of Paul Radford in 2013, with him being named city manager in 2014. Previously Radford was the deputy executive director of the Georgia Municipal Association for 12 years. Before that he served as deputy commissioner of the State Department of Community Affairs.
Novare rendering.
Among key elements of its “new” downtown:
- The $46 million E (entertainment, exercise, engagement) Center, a community center, with a major theatre seating 300 for plays, movies, concerts, plus nine restaurants, retail and second floor private offices. It’s made money all along. The city went to the bond market to fund its construction. It overlooks The Bowl at Sugar Hill, a 1,800 seat entertainment venue.
- 300 apartments in The Local, across from the E Center and City Hall. It’s fully occupied. Adjacent to it is the Sugar Hill Cemetery, which the city now maintains, giving additional walking areas for downtown residents.
- The Cadence, on Georgia Highway 20 near the City Hall, another 300 apartments, now underway, with approximately 100 units already rented, and more filled as soon as they are finished.
- Fuqua Development has another apartment-townhouse development on Highway 20 of 289 units, with construction underway.
- The city is working with the Rangewater group with 126 condo-style townhomes planned.
- Magnolia Senior Living and memory care facility is nearing completion on upper West Broad Street, which will have 86 residents.
- Northside Hospital plans a 35,000 square foot medical office building in the city.
Hospital rendering.
Hembree anticipates the city next needs to concentrate on an office component for the city. “As housing expands,” he says, “We are getting more interest in offices.”
Sugar Hill has its own city-owned golf course, which has seen a resurgence in activity since Covid. The 67-acre Gary Pirkle Park on Austin Garner Road has vast recreation fields. The city plans to open 10 acres for Gold Mine Park on Level Creek Road in the spring of 2022. That’s a throwback to the early days of gold mining in Georgia, in the Sugar Hill area. The city has another 22 acres on Cumming Highway, which will be designed as a park. Hembree notes that the Sugar Hill Greenway, its first phase being six miles, is now under construction. He adds: “We want to make the area along the Chattahoochee River a place people come to fish, kayak and hike.”
Then there’s the city’s outdoor ice skating rink, behind City Hall, the only outdoor ice skating rink in Gwinnett, to open this year on November 11, to stay continually busy during the cold season.
Check out Sugar Hill. You’ll be amazed at how fast and how distinctively sweet it has grown.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Stephens’ “Cornerstone” speech part of today’s thinking
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | If our citizenry does not think “Plantation Capitalism” is being pushed upon us again, we need to review U.S. history, not the conflated opinions of Tea Partiers, Neo-Cons, QAnons, Proud Boys, Trumpsters et al. We can begin with an easily available reference. pre-Civil War history, Georgia’s Alexander Stephens, who was to become the vice president of the Confederacy, whose “Cornerstone” speech was one of the most infamous speeches of our history.
Herndon
Growing up in Georgia schools, my classmates and I were not exposed to Stephens’ words.
We were taught to sing Dixie and pay homage to leaders who proved to be losers. Sadly, many of our fellow citizens in this the 21st century agree with Stephens’ words. That speech, given in Savannah on March 21, 1861, was filled with sickness. This “sickness” even when proven wrong has not dissipated.
He introduced the word “Cornerstone” his “great truth of White Supremacy and black Subordination” upon which secession and the Confederacy were based. “States Rights” was the bluff to elicit evil. Same as today.
Today we are being bombarded and propagandized hourly by politicos, economic forces, talking heads, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and some ministers of the gospel to accept this philosophy as we go about our daily tasks.
Stephens
Stephens preached that the foundations for supremacy were based square on the evil myth: the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural condition. Today’s remnants of a once reputable Republican Party want a government based on the Confederacy.
The GOP is trying their hardest to establish control. Texas, Mississippi, and other states have already passed laws telling women which parts of their bodies belong to the state and which are theirs to control. Can you believe it?
Stephens used the Old Testament as proof Psalm 118:22 (“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”), attempting to persuade listeners that divine laws consigned African Americans to their status then, (today to include all people of color). That condition in today’s world is translated as “Working for the Man, ”meaning subjugation. Those not in the top or sycophants of the top are considered to be the “substratum of our society,” that is the “mudsills,” as his friend James Henry Hampton of South Carolina classified the non-Plantation Class peoples.
Stephens, like many Christian ministers today, advised: “Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which was rejected by the first builders have “become the chief of the corner,” as the real cornerstone in their new non-democratic world, patterned after “Plantation Style Capitalism.” The terms “laws of nature”; and “all men are created equal” from our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution will be placed in the “Burn these books next” stack.
Of course, Americans are currently free and freedom-living people as we make our decisions. It would be equitable if these decisions were vigorously studied, referenced, and thought out by individuals…not pushed around by rank base propaganda.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Mingledorff’s
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is Mingledorff’s, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff’s corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 37 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, Mingledorff’s is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Bard.
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Questions high density housing apartments with high fees
I read with concern the reader comment about the Gwinnett commissioners receiving housing shortage advice from KB Advisory Group. My concern is that the solution they will and have likely endorsed consists of even more managed and high density rental property.
High density owner-occupied townhomes requiring $200-$800 per month in association fees, on two or three bedroom apartments costing over $2,000 per month is not the solution Gwinnett or any other county in this country needs. Those cost structures are enormously profitable for the investors, but enslave renters with costs so high they will never be able to own their own home.
Managed owner-occupied townhomes with monthly fees approaching 30 percent or more of your mortgage payment are a scourge. We need solutions that encourage and enable affordable, owner-occupied housing that leave money at the end of the month for school taxes and retirement savings. Commissioners would do well to enact a limit on investor-owned housing in order to defend Gwinnett families and the dream of home ownership.
Owner-occupied condos are better than REIT-owned condos but they still have very high maintenance fees. So it’s a bait-and-switch. If a consultant is telling commissioners that we have an affordable housing crisis and need high-rise condos with $200+/month fees then they are pushing a business model, not a housing solution.
The problem with apartments is assessment. Even “luxury” apartments rarely assess and pay taxes on more than $100,000 per unit for the standard 900-square-foot unit. But they house exactly the same number of school-age kids as a 5,000-square-foot/$500,000 home in a subdivision, that pay their fair share of ad valorem taxes. So they rapidly dilute and stress school funding because 200 apartments can be placed in the land occupied now by 20 single-family homes. We do need rental housing for transient residents. But not so much that it stresses what we value most in Gwinnett County like schools and parks.
— Joe Briggs, Suwanee
Dear Joe: you make good points. Gwinnett needs a balance of homes/businesses for raising local tax revenues. But some types of properties don’t pay their fair share, such as mobile homes, and as you suggest, some rental units. –eeb
Here’s a new wrinkle at how the scammers are working
New scam: Amazon impersonator. Here’s the script they’re using:
“Hi, I’m from Amazon; we’ve noticed an unusual charge on your account of $1,436.65 and wanted to verify if this was correct; I’ll now connect you to one of our customer service people.” When he did connect me, a foreign-speaking woman asked for my information ‘”to verify the account.” My response to her: “What credit card was in question?” She said “I’m not allowed to give that information.” Ummmm, scam? Yes.
I had a one sentence reply (it was loud and harsh) and hung up.
Then I called my credit card companies to determine if there was any activity and alert them that I had the scam call. In the past, the credit card companies have called if there is “suspicious activity” — and being a customer for more than 30 years, the credit companies know I don’t use the cards much. I’m a cash lady.
Guess what? This morning, same call. And what’s frustrating is that blocking the number doesn’t work, as the originating number keeps changing. So for readers and everyone else — be aware and investigate.
— Eliza Simpson, Mebane, N.C.
Dear Eliza: Lo and behold, on Saturday morning we got one of these phony calls from Amazon telling us that we had charged $1,499 and needed to press one to talk to their customer service people. Because of getting this from you on Friday, we immediately hung up. Others have told of similar calls. Thanks for your warning. –eeb
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, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
County needs poll workers; plans three hiring events
Gwinnett citizens who are interested in the electoral process and want to give back to the community are invited to attend one of Gwinnett County’s upcoming poll official hiring events. The Gwinnett Voter Registrations and Elections Division is looking for citizens of all backgrounds, especially bilingual people, to serve as poll officials. Poll officials will gain valuable work experience and training in preparation for the 2022 elections. Currently, positions pay up to a $350 stipend.
The hiring events will take place:
- October 27 and 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lenora Park, 4515 Lenora Church Road, Snellville;
- November 9 and 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Best Friend Park, 6224 Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Norcross; and
- November 29 and 30 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at George Pierce Park, 55 Buford Highway, Suwanee.
Interested citizens are encouraged to apply online prior to the event at GwinnettCountyJobs.com.
Peach State Credit Union marks 60th year; Gives $360,000
The credit union founded by Gwinnett County educators in 1961 is celebrating their 60th anniversary with donations throughout their service area.
In October 1961, which also happens to be International Credit Union month, a group of friends—James Shewmake, Irving Levy, Adrin Staton, Lyle Coker, B.B. Harris, Crawford Puckett, and Henry Boddie – met at Shewmake’s house in Lawrenceville to establish the credit union. The Gwinnett Teachers Federal Credit Union that was founded at the Shewmake’s kitchen table has expanded to become Peach State Federal Credit Union which now serves more than 72,000 members throughout Georgia and South Carolina with assets of $752 million.
Peach State President/CEO Marshall Boutwell says: “Since the charter was signed on October 31, 1961, we’ve grown from a cardboard box in the back of a station wagon to one of the largest credit unions in Georgia.”
To celebrate the milestone and honor the founders, the Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation has pledged $360,000 in donations to show support for the individuals and communities they serve in recognition of the credit union’s roots in education, donations were committed to the support of teachers and students:
- Chattooga County Schools;
- Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation;
- Paine College;
- Trion City Schools; and
- Walker County Schools;
Organizations that support their communities and their residents also received pledges: \
- Tim Lee Boys & Girls Club; and
- Walton County YMCA Initiative.
Jackson EMC team placed second at 37th Lineman’s Rodeo
A journeyman lineman team from Jackson EMC was named second among electric cooperatives competing at the 37th Annual International Lineman’s Rodeo in Bonner Springs, Kan. recently. Top linemen from around the world compete in a series of events in traditional linemen skills and tasks at the event.
Jackson EMC sent three journeyman lineman teams and 12 apprentices to the international competition. A total of 122 journeyman teams and 182 apprentices competed at the event. Apprentices compete as individuals, while journeymen compete in teams of three. The International Lineman’s Rodeo includes participants from electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities and electric providers for the military.
A journeyman team with Cody Thompson, Matt Tolar and Jose Rodriquez finished second among electric cooperatives. The team also placed fifth as the top overall team, second in an obstacle course event and sixth in the journeyman pole climb.
A Jackson EMC journeyman team with Jeff Sutton, Kaleb Chapman and Jeremy Adams finished in first place in the journeyman hurt man rescue and third in an insulator replacement event.
Another journeyman lineman team with Austin Gragg, Devin Humphries and Justin Cash finished third in the journeyman hurt man rescue, ninth in the journeyman pole climb and 10th in an obstacle course event. Official results from the International Lineman’s Rodeo are available at https://www.linemansrodeokc.com/results-final/
Lilburn Woman’s Club donates dictionaries to 3rd graders
The Lilburn Woman’s Club has donated over 1,300 dictionaries to all Lilburn area third graders.
The Dictionary Project was started in Lilburn by the Lilburn Woman’s Club several years ago. Each year the club provides special dictionaries to the third grade students in Lilburn elementary schools. It’s thought that by the third grade, students have begun “reading to learn” instead of “learning to read.” In the spring of 2021, the club applied for a grant from the “Believe in Reading” organization of the Steve and Loree Potash Family Foundation. The club received a $3,000 grant which has allowed the club to reach its full potential this year for serving the Lilburn area public schools/students. In addition, the club also received a grant from Walton EMC Foundation of $250.
Working with its partners from Lilburn Lion’s Club, Sweetwater Masonic Lodge No. 431 and the Lilburn Business Association, the club has been able to distribute these dictionaries. Delivery of the dictionaries was completed by October 15.
They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: This book by George Takei is a firsthand account of his experiences of the American concentration camps that housed Japanese Americans during World War II. George takes the reader through each change, each disruption, and each necessary re-grouping that his father handles to keep the family safe and cohesive during a devastating time period. Japanese Americans were compensated nearly 40 years later during the administration of Ronald Reagan and also acknowledged for their valor during the war once they were allowed to serve. George Takei brings to light how his acting career developed, and he went from life in a concentration camp to a lead performer in Star Trek, to iconic series that are dear to many. The graphic novel format brings the anguish, consternation and fear front and center in this page turner that is not an easy read, but it is an important one.
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Right to vote for women in Georgia was slow process
In the spring of 1914 a Georgia chapter of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, founded in 1895, was formed in Macon. Three months later, it claimed to have 10 state branches and 2,000 members, far more than the pro-suffrage organizations. The leadership included Mildred Lewis Rutherford, head of the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens and president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
In March 1914 pro-suffrage women held their first rally in Atlanta, with urban reform leader Jane Addams as speaker. The following November, a significant event in the movement occurred when pro-suffrage groups marched after Atlanta’s Harvest Festival celebration. The march included more than 200 students in caps and gowns, marchers wearing “votes for women” sashes and carrying banners, and decorated automobiles, all led by a brass band.
In 1917 Alice Paul formed the National Woman’s Party. Because of the party’s protest of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson’s lack of support for a federal suffrage amendment, their attempts to organize in the South as early as 1915 had failed.
Two 1917 events were significant to the suffrage movement: the United States entered World War I (1917-18), and New York women won the right to vote. Although the NAWSA endorsed the war effort, not all suffrage organizations were in agreement. The same year, Georgia suffrage supporters again presented the irresolution to the senate committee. Endorsement was finally achieved by a vote of eight to four in favor, but the senate did not act on that support. Elsewhere in Georgia, the city of Waycross allowed women, many of them property owners, to vote in municipal primary elections. In May 1919, women were allowed to vote in Atlanta municipal primary elections, by a vote of 24 to 1.
On June 4, 1919, with the support of only one southern senator, Georgia’s William J. Harris, the U.S. Congress passed the Woman Suffrage Amendment, and it was submitted to the states for ratification. On July 24 Georgia became the first state to reject the ratification of the amendment, and both houses adopted resolutions to that effect.
By August 1920 35 states had ratified the Nineteenth Amendment. One more state was needed for full ratification, and the state of Tennessee ratified it on August 18. Although many in Tennessee and the South continued to challenge it, the amendment became effective on August 26. Women finally had won the vote, but Georgia’s women still could not vote in that year’s November elections. Georgia, along with Mississippi, cited a requirement that one must be registered six months before the election in order to vote. Because the legislature refused to pass an “enabling act” to make voting immediately possible, Georgia women did not vote until 1922.
Assured that women had won the vote, the League of Women Voters organized in February 1920 to carry on the work of the NAWSA. In Georgia all branches of the various suffrage societies and leagues merged into the League of Women Voters of Georgia. Through this organization and others, women sought to address the many issues important to them that had been raised, including employment, education, and health care. The Nineteenth Amendment remains a milestone from which women could begin to do this through political means.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Another lighthouse for you to determine its location
Here’s another photo with a lighthouse as part of it, almost hidden behind the keeper’s house. See if you can determine where this is, and when you do, send your answer to elliott@brack.net, including your hometown.
The most recent Mystery Photo was spotted by several readers. The photo came from Bob Foreman of Grayson.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. recognized the lighthouse: “Today’s mystery photo is of the Split Rock Lighthouse, located on the north shore of Lake Superior, approximately 45-miles northeast of Duluth, Minn.. It is one of Minnesota’s best known landmarks and is the most photographed lighthouse in the state.
In the early 20th century, Lake Superior was, as American novelist James Oliver Curwood called it, “the most dangerous piece of water in the world.” To illustrate this point, consider that a single storm on November 28, 1905 damaged 29 ships. After this devastating loss, Congress appropriated $75,000 in 1907 for a lighthouse and fog signal to be built in the vicinity of Split Rock, and the lighthouse was completed in 1910. For over a half a century it oversaw the safe passage of freighters carrying freshly mined ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Here are some more facts about the Split Rock Lighthouse:
- The tower is 54 feet high and sits atop a 130-feet high cliff;
- The lens is a third-order bi-valve type Fresnel lens;
- The current light is a 1,000-watt electric bulb with a range of 25-miles;
- It flashes every 9.5-seconds, for 0.5-seconds each time; and
- The light was retired in 1969 by the U. S. Coast Guard.
Also getting the identification right were Lou Camerio, Lilburn, (“You still have time to make it to the annual deer hunt there, November 6 through 21”); George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; and Fran Worrall, Lawrenceville.
Grand Stage Theatre.
It was a glorious weekend for the Aurora Theatre, as people streamed in to take a look at the new Lawrenceville Arts Theatre on the Courthouse Square in Lawrenceville. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp got a look inside the 500-seat main theater (Grand Stage Theatre), as well as the lobby (Peach State Federal Credit Union Grand Lobby) and the dark theater (Bartow and Leslie Morgan Cabaret). The first performance at the new building is this Saturday with celebrity comedian Henry Cho. The first performance on the expanded main stage will be Christmas Canteen, starting November 26.
Peach State Federal Credit Union Grand Lobby
Bartow and Leslie Morgan Cabaret
Today (Tuesday, October 26) is ribbon-cutting at 2 p.m. of the rehabilitated and enhanced Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Peachtree Corners at 6557 Plant Drive. Renovations include upgrades to the electrical and computer systems, odor control systems, biological reactor basins, solids handling, UV system and clarifiers. This $136 million project modernizes the facility and enhances safety and efficiency.
Ribbon-Cutting (today) for the new Norcross Library is October 26 at the library at 5735 Buford Highway. Located connected to Lillian Webb Park, the library is twice as large as the previous library, and has a 128 space underground parking deck. Funds for the library were provided by the 2009 and the 2014 SPLOST votes.
Gwinnett County will mark the positive impact of afterschool programs at the “Walk Among the Stars” event on Thursday, October 28 at 6 p.m. at Rock Springs Park in Lawrenceville. The free event, which is part of the National Lights on Afterschool initiative, will feature a Hollywood theme. Participants are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite characters and enjoy STEAM activities, interactive games, crafts and more. This is part of more than 8,000 National Lights on Afterschool programs nationwide. Rock Springs Park is located at 3110 Old Peachtree Road in Lawrenceville. More information is at AfterSchoolAlliance.org.
The first Deutsche Klassic Autoberfest will be held in Norcross on October 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Featuring 150 classic German automobiles, the event will bring BMWs, Audis, Porsches, Mercedes Benzes and Volkswagens to downtown Norcross. Enjoy German food, beer and music in this family-friendly festival. Proceeds benefit local non-profit Special “K’s.” For more information, visit deutsche-klassic.com.
Braselton Halloween Path Parade and golf cart Trunk ‘n Treat party, will be Saturday, October 30 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Prizes will be awarded for top decorated golf carts and costumes. If you’ve got it, haunt it.
Symphony SPOOK-tacular: The Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra will open its 15th anniversary season with “Symphony SPOOK-tacular,” a family-friendly matinee performance on Saturday, October 30, at 2:30 p.m. at the Johns Creek United Methodist Church, 11180 Medlock Bridge Road. Attendees are encouraged to come in costume if they like, and to arrive early to participate in hands-on activities in the lobby, courtesy of the Johns Creek Arts Center. Face masks are required inside the church. The hour-long concert will be performed without intermission, and it will include tunes that honor the traditions of both Halloween and Día de los Muertos. Some of the featured works include Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre, Themes from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas, and Día de los Muertos by Richard Meyer. Tickets range from $15-42.50, and children ages 0-2 are admitted FREE. For tickets, call (678) 748-5802 or visit www.johnscreeksymphony.org.
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