The Georgia Downtown Association recognized the City of Suwanee with two Downtown Excellence Awards in the categories of Promotion: Creative New Event and Design: Best Public Improvement Project.
Suwanee’s newest interactive public art piece, The Ultimate Participation Trophy, won in the category of Promotion: Creative New Event. This installation with a bold vision celebrates the power of community while capitalizing on a cool idea to use the community’s treasure trove of endless trophies.
The city sent out the call for old trophies in the fall of 2022. Expecting a few hundred, the city received a few thousand. Artist Phil Proctor then reimagined these outdated relics of past glory, infusing them with new meaning and purpose. The Ultimate Participation Trophy was unveiled at the Suwanee Arts Festival in April 2023.
Suwanee Assistant City Manager Denise Brinson remembers: “I asked my kids if they wanted their old trophies, and the answer was a hard no. As a parent, it’s hard to just throw them away. This project gives those mementos a meaningful purpose and second life.”
The recently completed Better Buford Highway Project took home the prize for Design: Best Public Improvement Project. This project has already been instrumental in transforming downtown Suwanee into a vibrant and walkable destination, and is expected to be as transformative to downtown Suwanee as Town Center Park was over 20 years ago.
In 2008, the City of Suwanee recognized the importance of preserving the walkability of its downtown and included the goal of redesigning Buford Highway in its comprehensive plan. The city envisioned creating a “complete street” that accommodates pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles and connects the historic Old Town with vibrant Town Center.
A concept was developed for a low-speed, two-lane city street with a center-turn lane and medians, deviating from other plans for a four-lane divided highway. This shift in design prioritizes pedestrians over cars in order to preserve the walkable environment the city worked so hard to create. Aspects of the project include:
- A roundabout that provides a sense of arrival and encourages vehicles to slow down,
- Ten-foot-wide sidewalks,
- Street trees that offer shade and separation from vehicles,
- Streetlights,
- On-street parking supporting downtown businesses and helps to slow down traffic, and
- Dedicated bike lanes.
8th annual Suwanee photo exhibit opens Oct. 10
The Suwanee Arts Center, located in Suwanee Town Center, is gearing up to celebrate its eighth annual juried Photography Exhibit. The call to artists is currently open and will accept submissions until midnight of September 10.
The exhibit opens October 10, and continues through November 11. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. An opening reception will be held on October 6 from 5 to 9 p.m. The art center gallery was recently renovated to accommodate a larger exhibiting capacity and has drawn artists from throughout the nation and internationally.
This year the exhibit will accept submissions and be judged in two categories: photographic and creative. The entries to the photographic category must be exclusively photographed by the artist with limited post processing. A link to the call to artist submission form and details of the submission criteria are outlined on the Suwanee Arts Center website: https://www.suwaneeartscenter.org/photography
Judging the show this year is David Clifton-Strawn, executive director of the Atlanta Photography Group. He is the recipient of 2022/2023 City of Atlanta Mayor’s Cultural Affair Emerging Artist Award and has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the county.
The Suwanee Art Center is located at 3930 Charleston Market Street in downtown Suwanee.
Ride Gwinnett expands with new routes, microtransit
Gwinnett County expanded the reach of its Ride Gwinnett transit service on Monday with the launch of microtransit plus two new local routes aimed at bringing enhanced convenience to residents.
Microtransit — an on-demand, shared-ride service — allows customers to request a shuttle from the Ride Gwinnett app. The service is currently available within the designated zones in Snellville and Lawrenceville and operates Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Using the app, customers can set their pick-up and drop-off location, pick-up time and number of riders. Each trip costs $3 per passenger and can be paid using the application or exact change.
In addition to microtransit, transit riders can now get around Gwinnett using two new local routes, route 25 and route 70.
Route 25 services parts of Duluth, Lilburn and Stone Mountain. The route begins at the Gwinnett Place Transit Center at Gwinnett Place Mall. It travels down Pleasant Hill Road and takes Lawrenceville Highway toward Lilburn City Hall. After passing Lilburn City Hall, Route 25 travels through Mountain Park towards Stone Mountain, where it ends near the Amazon fulfillment center.
Ride Gwinnett Route 70 is the first to provide service to the Snellville area. It also services parts of Stone Mountain. Beginning in downtown Snellville, Route 70 travels down Highway 78 towards Stone Mountain. It connects with Route 25 at the Amazon fulfillment center before traveling through DeKalb County and ending at the Indian Creek MARTA Station.
The launch of microtransit and the two new routes provides service in areas of Gwinnett that were not previously served by transit. Visit RideGwinnett.com for more information and to download the Ride Gwinnett app.
40 Jackson EMC linemen head for Colquitt County
Jackson EMC is assisting with power restoration efforts at Colquitt EMC in Moultrie where heavy rain and strong winds from Hurricane Idalia resulted in widespread power outages. As of 10 a.m. today, more than 45,000 members remain without power in that area.
Forty Jackson EMC crew members left in the early morning hours Thursday, taking several trucks and equipment to join line workers from across the state working alongside Colquitt EMC line crews to safely restore power to service areas. Jackson EMC has also released construction and right-of-way contract crews to assist with restoration efforts resulting from Hurricane Idalia.
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