Here’s looking at you, East Cobb: Community events, people and happenings in 2017

solar eclipse, East Cobb Park
East Cobbers take in the solar eclipse in August at East Cobb Park. (East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker)

Previously we posted about the notable news stories in East Cobb during the past year. What follows is a photo gallery of other East Cobb community events since East Cobb News launched in July.

Related coverage

Click on the photo for a related story and photo link, and scroll all the way down for a gallery of even more photos from our first six months of publication.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Skip Wells Memorial Ride

Skip Wells Memorial Ride

Braves dedicate Sandy Plains Baseball field

East Cobber Parade marches down Johnson Ferry

East Cobber parade, Walton flag team

East Cobb Garden Tour debuts

McFarlane Nature Park

Mt. Zion UMC celebrates 125th anniversary

Mt. Zion UMC 125th anniversary

East Cobb Rotary Club’s Dog Day Run

East Cobb Rotary Dog Days Run

Labor Day BBQ and Classic Cars at Holy Smoke Festival

Holy Smoke Festival

A new community piano for East Cobb Park

'Sunny" Piano Dedication at East Cobb Park

13th annual Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service

Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service

But wait, there’s more!

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The last East Cobb News Digest for 2017 is out! Subscribing is a snap!

East Cobb Park fall

If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you received a special year-end edition of the East Cobb News Digest on Friday, ahead of the New Year’s holiday.

The newsletter usually comes out on Sunday, and will return on its usual date next Sunday, Jan. 7.

If you haven’t subscribed, it’s free and easy to do so. Follow this link, type in your e-mail address and you’re all set! Catch up with the top headlines in East Cobb, find out what’s coming up and find convenient community information all in one place!

East Cobb News doesn’t offer or sell its newsletter list to anyone, but in the future subscribers may receive occasional messages from advertisers.

We launched in the middle of the year and I’m looking forward to expanding our coverage of East Cobb in our first full year, and provide readers and local business owners more opportunities to make community connections.

I want to end 2017 with a special thanks to all of you who have subscribed recently, and who continue to read East Cobb News:

Greg Talsky, Lisa Hanson, Elizabeth Brown, Frankie Bidwell, Robert Love, Cecilia Griesenauer, Robert Tchou, Steve Worrall, Jana Hill, Bobbie Whitaker, J. Stewart, Megan Lee, Katie Williams, Teresa Glamp, Christina Engberg, Cornelius O’Connor, Bill Zingalie, Katie Hinson, Lonnie Hignite, M. Brown, Gordon Hopper.

Doris Wilson, Patricia Young, Caroline McGrath, Nate Bennett, Alexis Williams, Robert Thompson, Iris Thorn, Laura Springer, Barbara DeLaRonde, Jacky Rojas, Ruth Powell, Amanda Myers, Makiko Onodera, Gail Harris, Bob Zartarian, Johnnie Hunsucker, Ellen Williams, Charles Muckey, Miles Seymour, Douglas Martin, Dipti Khilnani.

Jennifer Gleaton, Roger Wilby, Janice Ciejek, Charlotte McDowell Montgomery, Mary Scruggs, Steve Ridenour, Ed Speirs, Stacy Gibbs, L. Stokes, Meredith Pierce, Jessie Lovett, Dorie Gallagher, Catherine Raymond, Jessica Karp, Mike Politinsky, Mikki Hester, Jennifer Burke, Heather Johnson, Scott Felcher, Angela Herritt, Barry Riesenberg.

Please feel free to get in touch, send tips and news items, and let us know how we’re doing: wendy@eastcobbnews.com; phone/text 404-219-4278.

Have a great New Year’s celebration, and a great start to 2018!

Selected New Year’s Eve events near East Cobb

While a number of East Cobb restaurants are having special dinners Sunday night, there are quite a few places to ring in 2018 in public settings that aren’t far from home.New Year's Eve, East Cobb

This first one is for kids only, and it’s in East Cobb: a quick Zumba celebration from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Sunday at the Northeast Cobb YMCA TRX Studio (3010 Johnson Ferry Road). There will be dancing, singing and a special countdown right around the noon hour.

This event is for kids ages 5-12, and there’s no registration or cost.

Making its New Year’s Eve debut is The Battery Atlanta (800 Battery Ave.), with two events with free admission.

The children’s/family party is from 5:30 to 8 p.m., D.J. Rekka on the Fox Stage, as well as stage show performances and other entertainment. The ice skating rink will be open until 7 p.m.

The adult party goes from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., also with D.J. Rekka, aerialists and acrobats and fireworks. The featured music is by Charles Esten of the CMT “Nashville” program at the Georgia Power Pavilion.

All parking decks are open for both events.

The Marietta Square Winter Wonderland is back for another holiday season, and the ice skating hours are generous: from 10 a.m. to “late” on New Year’s Eve, and from 2-9 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

On New Year’s Eve, food trucks and kid’s events get underway at 5 p.m., the Chick-fil-A cow drop starts at 7 and live music fills the air from 7:30 to 11 p.m. The evening is topped off by the countdown to midnight at 11:59 p.m. and the chicken drop to follow.

In downtown Atlanta, the Peach Drop, presented by the City of Atlanta, has an evening of free events starting at Woodruff Park from 5:30 p.m. until well after midnight. Performers include rappers Jeezy, TLC and Tyrese.

The location is new this year, at the Flatiron Building, and is accessible via the Peachtree Center and Five Points MARTA stations.

Wherever you go and whatever do, bundle up! Temperatures could dip into the low 20s and even lower to start 2018, and may not get above freezing on New Year’s Day and into the first week of the new year.

 

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Start of horror flick series closes 2017 events at East Cobb-area libraries

The last day that East Cobb-area libraries will be open for 2017 is Saturday, and the newest branch will be kicking off a new film series in the final event of the year.Videodrome poster

The new Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road) keeps adding to its film screenings with the showing of “Videodrome,” a 1983 Canadian science fiction film starring James Woods and Deborah Harry (of “Blondie” fame).

Woods plays a television executive who chases down the source of a broadcast signal that shows violence, and who loses touch with reality in what’s dubbed a “techno-surrealist” film.

It’s the first of a “Horror Movie Saturday” series that continues every other week through Feb. 24. Saturday’s flick, and all the others in this series, run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and you’re free to bring your own food and drink.

Please keep in mind that this series is for adults only (and “Videodrome” certainly is loaded with adult material), and some films are rated R.

All Cobb library branches will be closed Sunday and Monday, and will reopen Tuesday, Jan. 2 at regular hours and with several events scheduled. Among them is an orientation of the new programs and services offered at Sewell Mill from 7-8 p.m., including the chance to register for classes and programs.

The library opened on Dec. 4, with a formal ribbon-cutting taking place Jan. 9.

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Cobb Police release photos of Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill bank robbery suspect

SunTrust robbery suspect

The suspect wanted for the recent robbery of a SunTrust bank at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads has been identified via surveillance camera.

Cobb Police have released photographs of the man they believe held up the SunTrust branch at 1380 Powers Ferry Road on Dec. 20 (previous East Cobb News post here) as he approached a teller demanding cash.

The suspect left with the money but there has not been a description of the vehicle.

Police describe the suspect as a black male, 20-25 years old, 175-180 pounds, and was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, camouflaged hoodie, black jacket and blue jeans. Police also have said the same suspect may have robbed a South Cobb motel earlier this month.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3945 or provide an anonymous tip at Greater Atlanta Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477).

 

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Johnson Ferry-Lassiter Road zoning application proposes restaurant, gym, retail use

Licata Rezoning

The first look at the February zoning calendar is out (Cobb doesn’t handle zoning cases in January), and the preliminary agenda includes a Johnson Ferry-Lassiter Road zoning case that would convert a vacant medical complex for a restaurant, gym and retail use.

The applicant for Z-4 is Robert Licata of Pediatric Medical Care of East Cobb, LLC, who wants to rezone the 1.09-acre parcel at the southwestern corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Lassiter Road from low-rise residential (LRO) to neighborhood retail commercial (NRC).

There are two buildings on the site, which is accessible only on Lassiter Road, and the proposal includes space for a learning center.

The site plan filed with the Cobb Zoning Office would make use of the existing buildings as they are, as well as the existing parking lot. The buildings total around 10,000 square feet combined.

The businesses would be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, and there would be no drive-through businesses on the property, according to the zoning filing.

There is NRC zoning in the vicinity, but the property is adjacent to a residential complex (zoned RA-5).

There’s not a staff recommendation now since only the preliminary calendar has been released. The case will be heard during the Cobb Planning Commission meeting on Feb. 6.

The site of the former Mountain View Elementary School was rezoned in October for a multi-use commercial project that includes a restaurant, retail space, a bank and a supermarket (previous East Cobb News post here).

The developer, Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, has applied for a special land use permit that’s also on the Feb. 6 agenda that would allow for a self-storage facility to be built on the nearly 14-acre site on Sandy Plains Road.

Another East Cobb case, Z-15, would convert 1.2 acres on the east side of Lawana Drive, south of Allgood Road, from single-family residential (R-20) to RM-8, multi-family residential. The applicant, Traton Homes, LLC, wants to build five townhomes.

 

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East Cobb Government Service Center meeting rental fees take effect Jan. 1

East Cobb Government Service Center

Last week we noted the closure of the business office only at the East Cobb Government Service Center, which technically takes place tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 29, since it’s the last business day of calendar year 2017.

The rest of the facility at 4400 Lower Roswell Road is staying open, including the community meeting rooms near the back of the building. It’s where early voting takes place, and has been a regular meeting spot for the East Cobb Civic Association.

Starting Jan. 1, there will be a $25 fee charge to reserve the meetings rooms, and Cobb government has provided instructions and on how to do that, and to sign up.

The fee is part of a set of fees and service charges approved by Cobb commissioners last month for public use of a variety of county facilities, including libraries, parks and senior centers (see yesterday’s post here about town hall meetings in January for the senior fees).

The South Cobb Government Service Center on Austell Road is also part of the new reservation fee structure.

The large meeting room at the East Cobb center has a capacity of 88 and a smaller conference room holds up to 10 people.

The reservation fee goes into effect for bookings starting in February.

 

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Top East Cobb headlines for 2017: Taking a look back

Walton High School, Top East Cobb headlines 2017
Students, teachers, staff and parents at the official opening for the new Walton High School building in July. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

East Cobb News launched in July, but most of the most notable stories in the community took place during those last six months of 2017.

With just a few days left before the start of a new year, here’s a more-or-less chronological compilation of the stories, events and people who were the biggest newsmakers in East Cobb in 2017.

Handel elected in nationally-watched Congressional race

Karen Handel

When Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in a June runoff to win the 6th Congressional District special election, she got a strong turnout in East Cobb that aided her victory. Among her biggest supporters were East Cobb commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, at whose August town hall meeting Handel spoke shortly after taking office to succeed Tom Price. Story.

New classroom building opens at Walton High School

Walton High School ribbon-cutting

The new $48 million Walton High School classroom and administration building was officially opened in late July, right before the start of a new school year, as work on a new gymnasium and fine arts building was set to get underway. Story and Photos.

Cobb budget closes $20M deficit; millage rate hike rejected

Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce

In his first year in office, Cobb Commission chairman Mike Boyce was defeated in his proposal to raise the property tax millage rate to fulfill the 2008 parks bond referendum. Story. A couple months later, he and his colleagues hammered out a fiscal year 2018 budget by using contingency funding to close a $20 million deficit. Story.

Wheeler High School becomes STEAM-certified

Wheeler High School STEAM

Shortly after the school year began, Wheeler High School was notified that it was the first high school in Georgia to earn STEAM certification. Story.

Lower Roswell Road crash kills two

Lower Roswell Road accident

Two young men escaping hurricane weather in Florida were killed in September when their car crashed into a brick wall at the entrance to the Gold Branch Unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area on Lower Roswell Road. One of the victims was a Wheeler graduate. Story.

Dream season for Walton football team

Walton football team

With a first-time head coach and a losing record a year ago, the Walton Raiders weren’t expected to be a contending team in 2017. But they were one of the biggest surprises in all of Cobb and Georgia high school football with an 11-1 season that ended in the state playoffs. Story.

East Cobb water main replacement completed

East Cobb Water Main Project

After nearly two years of traffic delays on Lower Roswell Road, the $47 million East Cobb Water Main replacement project was completed in the fall and into the early winter, replacing the 54-inch, 6-mile pipes laid down 50 years ago. Story.

Funding for Mabry Park construction approved

After years of delays, Mabry Park is set to become a reality in 2019, as Cobb commissioners voted to spend $2.85 million to build the new facility on Wesley Chapel Road. Story.

A library opens, another eyed for closure

Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center

In December, the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center opened to replace the East Marietta Library. Story. However, the occasion was preceded by commissioner JoAnn Birrell’s suggestion to close the East Cobb Library, which drew heated opposition. Story.

A Winter Wonderland in East Cobb

Willow Ridge Christmas

In early December, an unexpectedly heavy winter storm dumped nearly a foot of snow in north Georgia, and most of East Cobb got several inches. Coverage. For one East Cobb family, however, the storm left them without power and heat for nearly four days. Story.

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Cobb senior services fees subject of East Cobb Senior Center town hall meeting

East Cobb Senior Center

The East Cobb Senior Center will be the venue for the first of several town hall meetings in January for public feedback on newly enacted Cobb senior services fees.

That first town hall hosted by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 12, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The East Cobb Senior Center is located at 3332 Sandy Plains Road (phone: 770-509-4900).

At a November Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting, some East Cobb seniors sounded off against the rising fees, including the imposition of a membership fee for the first time (previous East Cobb News post here).

Senior fees had been recommended several years ago by a Cobb government citizens oversight committee, and were approved by commissioners who are facing a projected $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019.

The membership fee for seniors will be $60 annually for Cobb residents and $90 for non-residents. It goes into effect on Feb. 1 and does not affect winter class registration that starts Jan. 22. The membership fee will be required to sign up for classes in the spring.

The other town hall meetings will take place Jan. 17 at the North Cobb Senior Center in Acworth and at the West Cobb Senior Center in Powder Springs, Jan. 18 at the Freeman Poole Senior Center in Smyrna and on Jan. 19 at the Marietta Senior Center.

For more information visit the Cobb Senior Services Department website.

 

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Cobb winter weather advisory includes chance of ‘wintry mix’ for Wednesday morning

Cobb winter weather advisory
Forecast map issued by the National Weather Service Atlanta around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement for Cobb County and much of central and north Georgia, and includes the possibility of a “wintry mix” of light sleet and rain in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

Shortly after 3 p.m. the NWS office in Atlanta said brief periods of light rain and possibly sleet are most likely along and north of Interstate 20. Accumulations are not expected, according to the NWS forecast, which indicates that the precipitation is most likely to take place between midnight and 6 a.m.

The chance of rain or sleet after daybreak Wednesday is 30 percent, and the highs tomorrow are expected to be in the mid 40s. A slight chance of rain or freezing rain could return on Thursday, when temperatures are expected to reach in the mid 30s and lows could reach into the mid 20s.

Friday and Saturday will be sunny, with highs in the mid 40s and lows in the 20s.

On Sunday, New Year’s Eve, more winter weather is a possibility, with snow and sleet possible before 1 p.m. Lows could dip into the low 20s.

On New Year’s Day, the sun will return but it will still be cold, and may not get above freezing.

 

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Honors for Walton football coach, star receiver as all-Cobb teams named

East Cobb football
Walton coach Daniel Brunner at an East Cobb kickoff breakfast in August.

First-year Walton football coach Daniel Brunner has been named coach of the year for 2017 by the Cobbhsfootball website, and Raiders’ star receiver Dominick Blaylock was tabbed as offensive player of the week.

Blaylock led the 22-man all-Cobb team that was released just before Christmas, and that includes three other players from East Cobb high schools.

They include Walton linebacker Malik Adams, Kell offensive lineman Johnathan Bass, and Lassiter defensive back Derrik Allen.

Brunner, a former assistant at Walton, led the Raiders to an unlikely 11-1 season, after the program came off a losing season under Mo Dixon in 2016.

Walton’s only loss came in the state playoffs to eventual state runner-up Colquitt County, where Dixon is now an assistant. In Brunner’s first game, in the Corky Kell Classic, the Raiders defeated North Gwinnett, which went on to win the Georgia Class 7A state championship.

Brunner, who was named Cobb coach of the year by The Marietta Daily Journal, is a graduate of Roswell High School and also coached there before coming to Walton.

Before the season started, he inaugurated “Raider Day,” a jamboree-style event that included all the Walton football teams, from varsity down to the grade school-level.

With Blaylock, who has committed to play at the University of Georgia, and Adams returning, Walton is expected to contend in the region and state in 2018.

Bass was part of another Kell state playoff team under Brett Sloan, a former Walton assistant in his first year as head coach. Bass has signed to play at Georgia State University.

Allen, considered one of the top high school players in the country at his position, had another strong season for Lassiter, whose state playoff streak ended this season. He has signed to play at Notre Dame.

 

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Keep Cobb Beautiful tree recycling date is Jan. 6, includes 4 East Cobb locations

Christmas is over, but you’ve still got time to enjoy your tree before Keep Cobb Beautiful’s annual free recycling event.Keep Cobb Beautiful Bring One for the Chipper

The date for “Bring One for the Chipper” is next Saturday, Jan. 6, and there’s one East Cobb location change from previous years.

Sewell Park is not a drop-off point due to the construction of the new library and road entrance that’s still being finished.

But four other locations in East Cobb return as venues. Two of them are Cobb public parks:

  • Fullers Park, 3499 Robinson Road;
  • Noonday Creek Park, 489 Hawkins Store Road.

The other locations are the Home Depot stores at Providence Square Shopping Center, 4101 Roswell Road, and at Highland Plaza, 3605 Sandy Plains Road.

The times to drop off trees at all locations are between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Chipper program includes free mulch; only trees with all decorations removed will be accepted.

 

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East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels program delivers Christmas dinners for 34th year throughout the county

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels
Volunteers of all ages fill fruit baskets with special Christmas messages to be delivered to seniors in Cobb County. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

On Christmas Day, the East Cobb Lions Club and the Marietta Lions Club prepared special holiday meals for elderly citizens and their families, and community volunteers helped deliver them around Cobb County.

More than 100 volunteers turned out at Powers Ferry United Methodist Church by mid-morning Monday to cook food, fill plates and fruit baskets, and deliver special messages for about the same number of shut-ins.

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

East Cobb LIons Club Meals on Wheels

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

Longtime East Cobb Lions Club member Ray Moore said the Meals on Wheels program started when he and other Lions learned that the Cobb Senior Services Department didn’t make deliveries on holidays.

What began as a two-day turnaround before Thanksgiving in 1983 has turned into one of the lasting charitable Christmas traditions anywhere in Cobb County.

In early November, Moore contacts Cobb Senior Services for a list of those in need of meals, and starts making holiday delivery plans. If some recipients need extra meals, then the Lions volunteers make sure to note that.

“I’ve got food for 120 people here,” he said. “We’ve got to do something with it.” The Lions groups raise money throughout the year for the holiday deliveries, including selling $5 tickets for a homemade quilt that will be raffled off in May.

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

Pamela Williams, a member of the Marietta Lions Club, said she wanted to be a part of the program after her grandmother received Meals on Wheels in South Carolina. “I could see the light in her eyes,” Williams said. “It showed me that they cared.”

Each recipient is given a plate with sliced turkey and ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, dressing and gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, small cakes and a fruit basket. The meals are cooked on-site in the church kitchen, which wafted with the savory smells of holiday food.

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

Santa Claus paid a visit as volunteers continued to create the fruit basket messages. A first-time volunteer is Dorie Gallagher of the Roswell area of East Cobb, who is spending Christmas alone after her husband died earlier this year.

She admitted it’s been a difficult few months since then, but said “I need to get out, and help the community.”

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

At the same table, former East Cobb residents Jay Levy and Debbie Cohen were returning as volunteers, for the fifth and third years, respectively. Both now live in Sandy Springs, after raising now-grown children who graduated from Pope High School.

“We come back and see people we recognize, but the most rewarding thing is when you deliver the meals,” Cohen said.

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels

East Cobb LIons Club Meals on Wheels

As volunteers filled the fruit bags and loaded food onto the plates, others were getting ready to roll out with the meals. Drivers raised their hands, then got maps for their deliveries.

East Cobb LIons Club Meals on Wheels

East Cobb LIons Club Meals on Wheels
Driving volunteer Jay Levy gets his map from Ray Moore of the East Cobb Lions Club.

Each driving volunteer is typically assigned two or three homes in relative proximity. Levy and Cohen were assigned two residences in the South Cobb area. Among them were an elderly woman with two high school seniors in the Mableton area, and a man living alone in Smyrna.

Levy said the biggest challenge often is squaring up the address on the map with what’s on the road. The latter meal recipient, James Dyer, lives in an apartment building on Sandtown Road, which stretches for miles and is located amid commercial and industrial buildings.

East Cobb Lions Club Meals on Wheels
Jay Levy uses his GPS device to track the Sandtown Road address of a Meals on Wheels recipient.

Dyer opened the door and was eager for some company, as Levy and Cohen placed his food on a kitchen countertop and chatted with him for a few minutes.

East Cobb LIons Club Meals on Wheels

Moore said he’s gratified the holiday Meals on Wheels has grown from “a family thing” in his own household and Lions Club friends to many in the community who simply want to lend a helping hand on Christmas for those who can’t get out.

 

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Merry Christmas East Cobb! Today’s worship service schedule

St. Ann Catholic, East Cobb Christmas Day services

Only a few churches are holding Christmas Day worship today, if you still wish to attend a service:

 

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Christmas lights in East Cobb: An Indian Hills Parkway spectacular

Christmas Lights in East Cobb
Indian Hills Parkway heading north, at Summit Drive. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

Situated along Bishop Creek and a fairway at the Indian Hills Country Club is one of the more incredible Christmas light displays one could ever hope to see.

Shooting high into the evening darkness, and lighting up the sky along a portion of Indian Hills Parkway near Summit Drive, the residential display was stopping traffic in both directions when we went by earlier on Christmas Eve.

The intersection is closer to the Lower Roswell Road end of Indian Hills Parkway, and taking a first glimpse of the display in the clearing of the golf course was just stunning.

These photos can’t do it justice, but for all the impressive East Cobb Christmas displays, it’s hard to find any that rival this.

Christmas lights in East Cobb
The view heading south on Indian Hills Parkway.

A little bit further north on Indian Hills Parkway, on the same side of the road, was another display that also had motorists stopping. This is between High Green Drive and Sentry Crossing.

The photos below are from homes on Club Valley Drive, off Holt Road.

Christmas lights in East Cobb

Christmas lights in East Cobb

Want to share your Christmas and holiday photos? Send them to us at: editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll post them through the New Year.

 

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The Rib Ranch restaurant closes after nearly 35 years on Canton Road

The Rib Ranch restaurant closes

Christmas Eve was the last day in business for The Rib Ranch, a barbecue restaurant at 2063 Canton Road (near the split with the Canton Road connector).

WhatNowAtlanta reported that the owners announced that the restaurant was serving for the last time at 2 p.m. today.

There wasn’t an initial reason given for the closure when the announcement was first made on Dec. 18. The following day, Barbara Folwell, one of the longtime owners of The Rib Ranch, said on the restaurant’s Facebook page that she has purchased a cafe in Canton and plans to add The Rib Ranch there.

She didn’t respond to customers’ questions about the business reportedly losing its lease.

Folwell said she is hopeful the new restaurant will be approved by the summer, since variances and renderings are required, but in the meantime, she is operating the Keithsburg Cafe for breakfast and lunch, with a country cooking menu, at its location on Ball Ground Highway.

In addition to serving a full barbecue menu, The Rib Ranch has been a meeting spot for many civic groups and other organizations over the years, including the East Cobb Lions Club.

The Rib Ranch opened in 1983 at the site of a former hot dog stand. Cindy Newman, the original owner, moved from Idaho and turned it into a family-run business, selling the restaurant and a related catering operation to her siblings David and Barbara in 1992.

The restaurant building burned down in 1995 after being struck by lightning in a storm, and The Rib Ranch didn’t reopen until 1997.

After that, however, the Rib Ranch won several awards at the Taste of Marietta.

 

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Christmas weather in East Cobb: The sun returns, but bundle up

Christmas weather in East Cobb

Two weeks ago, East Cobb and most of North Georgia was digging out of several inches of snow.

Two days before Christmas, the temperatures were nearly 70 degrees, and Christmas Eve day weather will be mild, with highs in the 50s.

But if you’re heading out to Christmas Eve services or other activities tonight, dress warm, and expect to stay bundled up most of the week, heading into the new year.

In addition to getting much colder, the weather also will be windy for the next few days.

After several days of rain and dreary skies to go with those warm temperatures, the skies will be clearing up. Sunday’s forecast will be mostly cloudy, with a high around 53, according to the National Weather Service.

By mid evening, temperatures will drip into the 40s, and may fall below freezing overnight, with some lows into the high 20s. Winds could get as high as 30 mph throughout the day on Sunday.

The Christmas Day forecast calls for sunny skies, but highs may not reach into the 40s all day, and winds as high as 20 mph.

On Tuesday, it will start to warm with sun, and highs in the high 40s, and the same goes for Wednesday, when rainy weather could return.

By Thursday, we may be in for a chance of freezing rain, with precipitation continuing and highs reaching into the high 30s.

Sunny skies will return by Saturday, but high temperatures aren’t likely to exceed the low 40s.

 

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Where to worship in East Cobb on Christmas Eve

Eastminster Presbyterian
Eastminster Presbyterian Church is having three services on Christmas Eve, including one for children.

We’ve previously rounded up the Christmas service schedule in East Cobb that has all the details, but wanted to note that several of them will be starting on Sunday morning, with a handful pushing into Christmas Day with late-night Candelight services.

Sunday is also the 4th Sunday in Advent, and a good number of East Cobb churches will be holding traditional Advent services in the morning, then offering special Christmas worship services later in the day. Click the link on the church name for that information.

On Monday, a few churches will be having Christmas Day services in addition to Christmas Eve, and we’ve pulled them out individually and listed them below:

To report incorrect or updated information or to add a service you don’t see here e-mail: editor@eastcobbnews.com.

 

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Cobb government holiday schedule released, including for libraries and transit

Released by Cobb County government:Cobb County goverment holiday logo

All Cobb County Government offices will be closed Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 25-26, for the Christmas holiday. In addition, Switzer Library — which is the only county library usually open on Sundays — will be closed Sunday, Dec. 24, for Christmas Eve. Cobb County offices will also be closed for New Year’s Day, Jan. 1.

There will also be modifications to CobbLinc’s commuter service for the holidays, with no bus service, Paratransit service or Paratransit reservation service on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. For more information about transit service, click here.