Month: September 2021

Marietta Art in the Park festival marks 35th anniversary

by

Marietta Art Park festival

After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Marietta Art in the Park festival is taking place Saturday-Monday at Glover Park on the Square as the event marks its 35th anniversary.

Admission is free, and so is nearby street parking. A chalk street art display for kids on Saturday (from 10-3) costs $10 per person, and paid parking lots near the square will be available.

There will be artwork from more than 175 fine artists, and nearby shops and restaurants will be open. Hours are 10-5 Saturday-Monday, and here’s more from the festival organzers:

“In the spacious Artist Market, attendees this year will be delighted by the range of artists new to the festival who offer a high level of fine art in media including jewelry made from fine metals and precious stones; ceramics; paintings in watercolor, acrylic, oil and pastel; woodworking; glass; photography; textiles and much more. Of course, everyone’s favorite artists from past years will be back too! In fact, the 175 artists showcasing one-of-a-kind works and commissions represent the best of the best at Cobb County’s only annual fine art show. The affordable original artwork is offered in a variety of price ranges and styles.

“Since 2007, Art in the Park has been honored as a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event, ranked in the Top 100 in the nation in the Classic and Contemporary Craft Shows by Sunshine Artist Magazine and has also earned awards from the Southeast Festivals and Events Association and the International Festivals & Events Association.

“Proceeds will benefit the Marietta High School Art Club.”

More info at the Marietta Art in the Park website.

Related content

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

UPDATED: Marietta Kiwanis ‘Field of Flags’ 9/11 event changes

by

Marietta Kiwanis Field of Flags events

We posted a couple weeks back about the upcoming “Field of Flags” festivities being put on by the Marietta Kiwanis Club to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11.

Those events start on Saturday with a parade and procession of flags at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, and Debbie McCracken, a member of the Field of Flags Committee, has sent updated information.

Specifically, there are revisions for volunteer parking and shuttle service to/from the Grace Community Church on Saturday. Details here about what’s taking place on Saturday, and for the next couple of weeks:

The entire community is invited to participate in the 20th Anniversary of 9.11. Field of Flags Memorial Events sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Marietta held from September 4th through September 18th (flag removal occurs on the 18th). The Field of Flags at Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park will honor and memorialize the 2, 977 innocent and unsuspecting individuals who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Each flag representing one life lost on that tragic and horrific day in our nation’s history.

Procession of flags led by the Atlanta Pipe Band will occur on September 4th 10:00 am from Grace Community Church to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Parking and shuttle bus service to the church will be available from CW Matthew 1600 Kenview Rd off of Old 41, Shrine lot on 1380 White Circle, and Gardens of Kennesaw Mountain on 1127 White Circle beginning at 8:30 am. Return shuttle service will be provided until 12:30 pm.

Memorial Ceremony will be held on September 11th 7:55 am to 11:00 am in front of the Visitors Center Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

911 Ceremony will include: Bagpiper Detective Tommy Burns, Speaker Retired NYFD Capt. James D’Avolio, Soloist Heather Graham Tamburello, Marietta Fire Department Color Guard, 21 Gun Salute by Cobb County Police Honor Guard, Riderless Horseman presentation by the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department, Richard Rubio, Retired Homeland Security Agent, will play taps after the reading of the names of the 2, 977 innocent victims at the end of the Ceremony.

For more information: http://www.fieldofflags.com.

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Majority of Cobb residents ‘fully vaccinated’ against COVID-19

by
Cobb COVID-19 vaccines
To view by Census tract, click here. For a legend, see the chart below, at the right.

While local health officials continue to issue urgent messages about COVID-19, their efforts to get Cobb residents to get “fully vaccinated” recently reached a milestone.

A slight majority of eligible citizens—aged 12 and older— have received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Cobb COVID vaccines

Those are the latest figures from the vaccine dashboard of the Georgia Department of Public Health, which shows that 381,465 Cobb residents are fully vaccinated. That’s 51 percent, a figure that’s above the statewide average of 44 percent.

Another 429,617 people, or 57 percent, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The map above shows vaccination rates via Census tracts, with the higher percentages in darker purple shades and lower rates in light blue and white (see the legend at right).

The Census tract data can be seen in more detail by clicking here; and those numbers also break down vaccination rates by age, sex and race.

Earlier this week Cobb and Douglas Public health announced that Pfizer and Moderna booster shots are available to select people with weakened immune systems.

Transmission rates of COVID-19 continue to rise in Cobb and Georgia. Cobb and Douglas Public Health reported Wednesday that the 14-day average of cases her 100,000 people was at 834, several times higher than the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases per 1000,000.

And Cobb’s COVID-19 test positivity rate also is high, at 13 percent, well above the ideal 5-percent threshold.

But as has happened in nearby Southern states, including Florida, the current surge, marked by the rapidly transmissable Delta variant, could be reaching a peak.

The Georgia DPH Daily Status Report shows that the 7-day moving average of cases in Cobb according to date of onset was 418, as of Aug. 19. That’s the last day before a 14-day window that’s observed in tracking onset data that’s considered preliminary.

Since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, there have been 73,805 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Cobb County, and 1,098 deaths.

Cobb COVID cases 9.2.21
To view more data from Georgia DPH, click here.

Related content

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb restaurants participating in Cobb Foodie Week

by

East Cobb Taqueria Tsunami restaurant

Several restaurants in East Cobb are offering specials for the upcoming Cobb Foodie Week.

That’s an annual promotion of Travel Cobb, part of Cobb Travel and Tourism, and Cobb Foodie Week lasts from Sept. 11-18.

Restaurants are invited to offer specials, discounts and other promotions.

The East Cobb restaurants taking part this year are:

Camps Kitchen & Bar, Catfish Hox, Kale Me Crazy, Marlow’s Merchants Walk, McCray’s Tavern, Stockyard Burgers and Bones, Taqueria Tsunami, Tin Lizzy’s and Williamson Bros. B-B-Q.

The details can be found here, including the dates and specials offered by each restaurant.

Related stories

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb 2021 Citizen of the Year nominations accepted

by
East Cobb Citizen of the Year, Mitch Rhoden
The East Cobb Citizen of the Year for 2020 was Mitch Rhoden. File

Submitted information:

The Cobb Chamber is now accepting nominations for the 2021 Citizen of the Year Awards. The Citizen of the Year Awards, created by Cobb County civic clubs and cosponsored by the Cobb Chamber Area Councils and Cobb County business associations, have been presented annually to extraordinary individuals for the work they have done in Cobb County.

Awards are given to deserving individuals based on nine local area nominations: Acworth, Austell, East Cobb, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs, Smyrna and West Cobb. Given to honor an individual whose impact through the years will be recognized and regarded with pride throughout the area as a role model, these outstanding citizens are chosen for their definable, exceptional deeds, with which he or she has made their community a better place to live.

Nominations are now open through Friday, September 24 at www.cobbchamber.org. For more information on the Citizen of the Year Awards, contact Katie Guice at 770-859-2334 or kguice@cobbchamber.org.

Related story

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Youth mental health town hall slated for Sewell Mill Library

by

From the office of Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson:Suicide Prevention Month, Sewell Mill Library youth mental health town hall

September is Suicide Prevention Month, so we are partnering with Cobb Collaborative to host a town hall regarding youth mental health.

On Tuesday, Sept. 14 at Sewell Mill Library at 6 p.m. we will have a tabling event where various organizations around Cobb will be present to answer questions regarding their mental health resources. We will have a panel of experts to talk about the subject starting at 7 p.m. at the amphitheater behind the library. We will use the black box theater inside should we face inclement weather.

Registration for the event can be found here.

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Pope HS graduate named 2021 Cobb schools teacher of the year

by

Beth Foster, 2021 Cobb schools teacher of the year

Submitted information:

Beth Foster thought she was attending the August Board of Education meeting to be recognized as the Cobb Schools High School Teacher of the Year, but she was in for a big surprise.

Instead of solely recognizing her accomplishment as High School TOTY, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced that she had been selected as the District Level Teacher of the Year!

“Beth Foster is an example of Cobb’s high-quality educators who help students overcome obstacles and succeed in school and beyond. Teachers like her are the reason why 91% of Cobb students reach the graduation stage when they attend a Cobb high school all four years,” said Superintendent Ragsdale. 

Beth Foster, a graduate of Pope High School, teaches ESOL and History/Civics classes at Osborne High School, where she has helped students succeed for 13+ years. Cobb’s Teacher of the Year has taught students from all around the world and serves as a daily encouragement to both her students and her fellow educators.

“I love teaching at Osborne because we work as a team to help our students.  Every single person in our building contributes – teachers, staff, administrators, parent facilitators, department chairs, the social worker, our cafeteria staff, and academic coaches,” Ms. Foster explained.

Osborne Principal Josh Morreale describes Ms. Foster as a dynamic teacher who consistently meets the needs of all of her students. Principal Morreale also praised the District’s top teacher for building strong relationships with her students.

She maintains some of those relationships long after graduation. One of those relationships also makes up one of her favorite memories as an educator. 

“It is difficult to pinpoint one favorite memory as an educator, but one that stands out is a former student who faced a lot of adversity throughout high school.  He relied heavily on my husband and I for support, and he eventually went on to graduate and pursue higher education.  He now owns his own business, and he has a beautiful family.  It has been a joy to see him flourish,” said the veteran Osborne educator.

The success of her student epitomizes why she serves as a teacher.

“I love seeing students happy, learning, and finding success in challenging situations,” Cobb’s TOTY added.

In addition to recognizing Beth Foster, Superintendent Ragsdale and Cobb’s Board Members also congratulate Cobb’s Elementary Level TOTY, Dr. Darline Douangvilay, City View Elementary School; and Middle School Level TOTY, Michelle Gottenberg, Mabry Middle School.

Related stories

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb Cityhood town hall: ‘Government is a difficult business’

by

Peachtree Corners city manager Brian Johnson runs the daily operations of one of Georgia’s newest cities.Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners city manager

The municipality in Gwinnett County of 43,000 came into existence in 2012, and he arrived five years ago.

He’s also a veteran of local government and has been involved in other cityhood movements in Georgia.

During a virtual town hall meeting of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee last week, he repeatedly touted the local control benefits of incorporation, noting that Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb—a portion of a sprawling, growing county.

Like Cobb, Gwinnett has a five-member county commission, with four district commissioners representing roughly 250,000 people.

That’s more than Cobb, where commissioners’ district include a little less than 200,000 people, a major driving point for the East Cobb Cityhood effort.

“No one individual can represent that many people,” he said at the East Cobb group’s third virtual town hall in recent months.

He noted that even when Peachtree Corners citizens don’t agree with decisions made by their city government, “they feel more comfortable that it was made at the local level.”

The Peachtree Corners City Council is non-partisan with seven elected members. East Cobb Cityhood legislation calls for six non-partisan council members, with one of them chosen by colleagues every two years to serve as mayor.

“Potholes could care less what party you’re affiliated with,” Johnson said. “Local government, city government, is the purest form of service delivery that exists because of that very reason.”

Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb in other respects, with an affluent, educated population. The city also provides similar services to what the East Cobb group is proposing—code enforcement planning and zoning.

And like the current East Cobb legislation that’s pending before the 2022 Georgia legislature, Peachtree Corners does not have public safety services. Gwinnett County police and fire continue to serve that municipality.

But Johnson also spelled out the challenges that new cities face. Peachtree Corners opted to provide trash pick-up with one vendor, which he said has led to complaints by some citizens who wanted a choice.

And he also said there are some people who opposed cityhood and other citizens who at times speak out when there are problems, often vocally.

“We’re not perfect, and we hear that every day,” Johnson said. “Government is a difficult business, and we’re invariably going to miss the mark.”

Before Johnson spoke, East Cobb Cityhood Committee member Sarah Haas stressed in a slide that a city of East Cobb would “not be another layer of government” but would be in charge of services transferred from the county.

In addition to code enforcement and planning and zoning, the proposed services are parks and recreation and road maintenance.

You can watch the entire video by clicking here.

Related Stories

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb-Douglas Public Health offering 3rd COVID vaccine doses

by

CDPH logo

Submitted information:

Cobb & Douglas Public Health is now providing a 3rd dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to certain patients with weakened immune systems.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised receive an additional dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccine at least 28 days after completion of the initial two doses. This recommendation does not include Johnson and Johnson vaccine recipients.

Currently, CDC is recommending that moderately to severely immunocompromised people receive an additional dose. This includes people who have:

  • Been receiving active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
  • Received an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  • Received a stem cell transplant within the last 2 years or are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  • Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (such as DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
  • Advanced or untreated HIV infection
  • Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress your immune response

Eligible patients must request a third dose of the vaccine, and to receive it, they may either provide documentation from their physician or self-attest to one of the medical conditions above.

The vaccine is free, and appointments are encouraged.

COVID-19 vaccinations (1st, 2nd and 3rd doses) are available at the following locations:

Marietta Public Health Center
Providing Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine
1650 County Services Parkway
Marietta, Georgia 30008
Phone: 770-514-2300
Hours: Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Walk-ups welcome or to schedule an appointment, visit: https://cdph.jotform.com/211665390563963

Smyrna Public Health Center
Providing Pfizer Vaccine
3001 South Cobb Drive
Smyrna, Georgia 30080
Phone: 770-514-2300
Hours: Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Walk-ups welcome or to schedule an appointment, visit: https://cdph.jotform.com/211662814872964

Acworth-Kennesaw Public Health Center
Providing Pfizer Vaccine
3810 Old 41 Highway NW
Kennesaw, Georgia 30144
Phone: 770-514-2300
Hours: Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Walk-ups welcome or to schedule an appointment, visit: : https://cdph.jotform.com/211614044789054

Douglas Public Health Center
Providing Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine
6770 Selman Drive
Douglasville, GA 30134
Hours: Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Walk-ups welcome or to schedule an appointment, visit: https://cdph.jotform.com/211785390102955

Related content

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

ECBA moves open networking location to Goldberg’s Bagel Co.

by

Submitted information from the East Cobb Business Association:Goldberg’s Bagel, East Cobb food scores

East Cobb Open Networking “ECON” is the oldest and most consistent meeting where entrepreneurs and business owners or representatives can meet over breakfast to network. ECON meets every Friday Morning from 7:30 to 8:30 AM. (Free Networking Event)

Bring your business cards and give a 50 second introduction. One participant is selected each Friday for a 5 minute presentation, based upon prior attendance.

Goldberg’s Bagel Co & Deli [1062 Johnson Ferry Road] lets us hold our meetings in their East Cobb restaurant at no cost, so please get a coffee and/or order breakfast and don’t forget to tip your server.

Have a 1 on 1 with someone afterwards to meet East Cobb business owners and small business community leaders – This Meetup is sponsored by East Cobb Business Association as an open forum for networking.

We look forward to meeting all attendees – New, Guests and Returning, so join-us!

Our motto: “It’s another beautiful day in East Cobb. Go out, kick some butt, make some money, come back next week and bring a friend!”

Related content

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!