Quite a few vehicles were leaving the Highland Plaza Shopping Center on Saturday with Christmas trees fastened. That means one thing: The Lassiter Band tree sale is underway.
The tree sale takes place through mid-December (see the band’s Facebook page for updated hours) in the corner of the shopping center near the intersection of Sandy Plains Road and Gordy Parkway.
The proceeds benefit Lassiter band programs in one of their major fundraisers of the year. The trees are Carolina firs, and wreaths and other holiday items are for sale. The purchase of a tree includes complimentary trimming, wrapping and vehicle loading.
If you’ve got a holiday event to share that’s already happened, please e-mail story and photos (if you have those) to: editor@eastcobbnews.com. If you have a calendar item for an event that’s upcoming, send that information to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
This coming Saturday, Dec. 2, the St. Nick’s Cafe family holiday show returns as The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road) unveils its seasonal schedule.
This year, the St. Nick’s Cafe presentation is “What Could Go Wrong the Night Before Christmas?” It’s a retelling of “The Night Before Christmas” in which the narrator, according to to the program description, “must deal with every interruption imaginable.”
The shows, which are presented by The Art Place and the Mountain View Arts Alliance, take place at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online (a $1.75 service charge applies to each ticket). Catered meals from Chick-fil-A will be provided after every program.
On Sunday, Dec. 10, The Art Place will hold its Empty Bowl Brunch to benefit MUST Ministries. Visitors can come from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., purchase a handmade soup bowl and enjoy a hearty meal. Tickets are also $15 each (advance purchase here).
The Artist Attic, which has been underway since Nov. 9, continues through Dec. 14. The Art Place gallery is selling original pieces made by students, teachers and local artists. Gift ideas also include gift certificates and holiday shows.
Sales are available during regular opening hours (Monday-Thursday 10-5); for evening and weekend hours call 770-509-2700.
Rick’s Farmers Market on Roswell Road. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The fine art of giving thanks can often feel like a duty instead of coming from a place of deep gratitude.
I was mindful of this as I thought about how I wanted to say thanks to all of you who have been following, supporting and getting in touch with East Cobb News in the few short months since launching.
I’ve been wanting to say thanks every so often, as we pick up new social media followers and newsletter subscribers and make person-to-person contact with people covering the community.
My message has been that there’s not been anything like this in East Cobb, an all-online, all-local, independent and daily news and information resource. I’m deeply grateful to all of you who have given us a look, a read, and your feedback in this early stage.
There’s no way to say thank you to everyone, but as East Cobb News keeps growing, I’d at least like to thank those of you who have begun following and subscribing in the last few weeks:
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Businesses and Organizations: Crooked Tree Cafe, Honest-1 East Cobb, Maid Right Marietta, The Villas of East Cobb, Burn Boot Camp East Cobb, Dr. Melissa Wikoff, Heywood’s Meats, Catfish Hox, Loyal Q and Brew, KELLY+CO, East Cobb Real Estate, Family Promise Cobb County, Bar Method Atlanta-East Cobb, Curran PR, The Wine Shop Parkaire, liveSAFE Resources, LGE Community Credit Union, Stockyard Burgers & Bones, Taqueria Tsunami, Farmers East Cobb, LOUD Security Systems, Mezza Luna Pasta and Seafood, High Meadows School, Camps Kitchen and Bar, Lucky Dog Spa, Zeal Kitchen and Bar, Edward-Johns Jewelers, Sephora at Avenue East Cobb, Studio 348 for Women, Orangetheory Fitness East Cobb, Club Pilates East Cobb, The Art Place-Mountain View, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, fab’rik East Cobb, Cactus Carwash Marietta, Red Sky Tapas Bar, Keegan’s Roswell/East Cobb.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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The East Cobb Thanksgiving schedule is a limited one, but here are few things to note, mainly that Cobb County government offices will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 23 and 24.
This includes all branches of the Cobb County Library System, which will close at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22, and will reopen on Saturday, Nov. 25, at their standard opening times.
The biggest Thanksgiving Day event near East Cobb is the Gobble Jog on the Marietta Square, presented by and benefitting the programs of MUST Ministries. A number of East Cobb organizations, faith communities and other entities will be participating in that event, which starts at 7:30 a.m.
Walk-in registration is still available and will take place Wednesday at the Cobb Civic Center, 548 South Marietta Parkway, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Here’s more from the Gobble Jog website:
“If you have kids coming with you, we will have free bounce houses there as well. We will open race day registration Thursday morning at 6:30 am on the Marietta Square. The timed 10K and 5K will be closed but all of the untimed events will still be available – 5K, 1K, Tot Trot.”
We’re still collecting information about stores and restaurants that will be open on Thursday, and will update them here. If you have Thanksgiving-related opening or closing information to share, please e-mail: editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll post it right away.
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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!
We’re compiling a comprehensive guide to holiday events that will go through New Year’s celebrations, but for the moment, check the list below for what’s on tap over the next few weeks.
If you’ve got a holiday listing (or photos and news of a previous event) to share, or think we’ve missed something, let us know! Send us an email to editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll post it ASAP!
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!
It’s always the music that moves me the most whenever I attend a religious service.
While the words spoken at Thursday’s Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service at Temple Kol Emeth were comforting and inspiring, the human voice in chanting, poetry or song is one of the more uplifting sounds there is. To hear the Muslim call to prayer in a synagogue is an incredible experience.
When many voices collaborate, the effect is sensational. The interfaith choir’s finale, “Take Down These Walls,” was absolutely stirring, following Rabbi Steven Lebow’s remarks about the diversity of faith communities represented at the service, that “this is what America looks like!”
But it was a musical number right before that, by some young people who might not have much reason to be joyful, that really delivered the message of thanks that’s fitting for this time of year.
They were teenagers living at the Center for Children and Young Adults facility in Marietta, which was the beneficiary of offering proceeds from the service. If you’re not familiar with the CCYA, it’s a place where homeless, neglected and abused young people live, and as one of their leaders pointed out, it’s not just a shelter, it’s a home.
We were asked not to photograph these young people for privacy reasons, but if you could have seen the looks on their faces as they were greeted with applause following their song, it would have brought tears to your eyes. Tears of joy, that is.
Another holiday season will soon be upon us with Thanksgiving this week, and it’s easy to mumble about seeing decorations in stores and commercials on television urging us to buy, buy, buy. Sometimes the sledgehammer comes down before Halloween.
We often become weary of the wrong kind of holiday messages, and are reminded in the media about how to cope with stress and demands on our time that don’t reflect the spirit of the season.
But imagine being 16 or even younger as the holidays approach, and there isn’t a traditional family with which to enjoy turkey and trimmings and the other familiar Thanksgiving traditions. You’re living at a place that’s certainly better than a typical shelter, but it’s not the sense of home that most of us take for granted.
The money collected by attendees at the Ecumenical service was going directly for these foodstuffs, to help these young people enjoy not only an excellent meal, but also to feel the comforts of home in as meaningful a way as possible.
In years past there were times when I would look upon the holiday season with some trepidation. The commercialism of it all still is too much, but focusing on the real meaning of Thanksgiving, thinking about and helping those in need, makes me look forward to what’s to come over the next few weeks.
The good cheer, comforting messages and fellowship on display at the synagogue this week is not only the perfect way to start the holiday season, but has year-round lasting value. Especially the music.
The show continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the church (1770 Johnson Ferry Road). It’s an annual benefit put on by the Mt. Zion United Methodist Women, with proceeds benefitting a number of Cobb and metro Atlanta service organizations.
Among those organizations benefitting include Battered Women’s Shelter LiveSafe; Bethany Place; Blue Skies Ministries; Canine Assistance; Center for Children and Youth; Childspring International; Cobb County Department of Family and Children Services; Cobb County Community Services Board; Cobb Street Ministry; Drake House; Family Promise; Food Boxes for the Hungry; and Girl Scouts Gold Award.
More beneficiaries include: Habitat for Humanity; Hospice Atlanta; Methodist Children’s Home; Mt. Zion Preschool Scholarships; Mt. Zion Youth Mission Trip; Mt. Top Home for Boys; Murphy-Harpst Home; MUST Ministries; My Sister’s Place; North Fulton Community Food Bank; North Georgia Foster Parents’ Support; Papa’s Pantry and Red Bird Mission.
Other beneficiaries: Safepath Children’s Advocacy; Samaritan’s Purse; St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital; Sweetwater Mission; Ten Women of Hope; United Methodist Committee on Relief; United Military Care; Wesley Community Center; Youth Villages-Douglas Center.
The Mt. Zion UMC Craft Show runs from 9-4 Saturday, and attendees can sign up for door and raffle prizes. Admission is free.
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More than 100 vendors selling holiday gifts, ornaments and decorations and a wide variety of crafts were spread out in the gymnasium and cafeteria Saturday for the first day of the 32nd annual Lassiter Craft Show.
It’s among the first of the many local gift and craft shows during the holiday season; check our holiday-related calendar listings for more (Send your holiday items to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com).
Lamps made of beer and wine bottles. East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker
The fair, which continues at the school (2601 Shallowford Road) Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., is a fundraiser for the Lassiter Band programs. In addition to Christmas-oriented items, local vendors were selling novelties, handbags, toys, clothing, gift items, handbags, jewelry, quilted materials, towels and kitchenwares, soaps and candles and more.
Admission is free, and there also are concessions and a bake sale, as well as Lassiter Band and other gear for purchase, with proceeds also going to the band programs.
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Proceeds from the East Cobb UMC Pumpkin Patch support the Boy Scouts Troop 435. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
A few of the Methodist churches in the area are just now receiving their pumpkin supplies as the Halloween season approaches. East Pumpkin Patches are underway at three of the usual locations through Halloween Day, on Oct. 31.
At East Cobb UMC (2325 Roswell Road), the pumpkin patch is open from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The proceeds support Boy Scout Troop 435, and for more information you can visit the troop’s website and Facebook page. In addition to a basic pumpkin, suitable for pie-making and jack-o-lantern carving, the East Cobb UMC spread also has the following:
“Pie pumpkins, wee bees, red, green, and grey Indian, warted pumpkins, small, big, and bigger, captains, and just good ol’ carving pumpkins. Oh . . . and a carving contest where you can enter to win the $10,000 national prize.”
At Mt. Zion UMC (1770 Johnson Ferry Road), the patch is open from 12 p.m.-7:30 p.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m.-7:3) p.m. on Saturday, through Oct. 31. On Oct. 14, the church is holding a Party in the Patch from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with trick or treats, games, and a lunch for purchase. That event is sponsored by the Mt. Zion Youth Group and Evangelism Team.
The following week, on Oct. 21, Mt. Zion is holding a Movie in the Patch from 7:30 p.m.-10 p.m. featuring “Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin” and “Hocus Pocus.” Bring chairs and a blanket; popcorn and lemonade are provided and no RSVP is required.
At St. Andrew UMC (3455 Canton Road) the “Pumpkin Church” patch hours are from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 12-8 p.m. Sunday.
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We’re just getting started with our compilation of Halloween events, leading into the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year Holiday seasons.
If you have events you’d like to share with the East Cobb community—holiday or not—we’ll be glad to post them. E-mail us at calendar@eastcobbnews and we’ll add them to our calendar listings. Feel free to send photos, flyers and of course contact information as East Cobb News aims to make our calendar listings the best around!
You can also send breaking news and news tips anytime—check out our submission guidelinesfor more information.
