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Harry Johnston

Harry Johnston

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Around Acworth | Around Canton | Around Kennesaw Around Woodstock | TowneLaker

READERS’ CHOICE

2023

Readers’ Choice 2023!

Nominations open March 1. Stay tuned for more details.

What’s Coming

Jimmy John’s, HOTWORX gym and Fyzical, a physical therapy center, are coming to a newly configured shopping strip in the former location of Rite Aid, at 4477 Towne Lake Parkway. No opening date was available at press time.

What’s Closed

J. Miller’s Smokehouse at 150 Towne Lake Parkway has closed. The Oct. 21 Facebook post announcing the closure read: “It has been 10 years and 10 months since J. Miller’s Smokehouse came into existence, and after tomorrow, it will exist no more. We have lost our lease, and, sadly, we are not moving anywhere.”

Welcome

Brian Borden is the new director of Woodstock Parks and Recreation Department. He has 24 years of experience in parks and recreation; as director of the Brookhaven Parks and Recreation Department, he oversaw the maintenance of 19 existing parks and more than 300 acres of green spaces and trails. Borden worked with Brookhaven officials to obtain a $40 million park bond to complete a park master plan that was approved in 2018. woodstockparksandrec.com.

Borden has 24 years’ experience.

Kudos

Congratulations to Cherokee Recreation and Parks for earning the Outstanding Program Award for its Cherokee Youth Basketball program, awarded by the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association. The award highlights the steps the agency has taken to grow the program from its inaugural season in 2011 to a program that now boasts 556 teams with more than 4,000 basketball players playing annually from October to March. www.playcherokee.org.

Towne Lake Rotary Club Foundation donated nearly $5,000 to Ferst Readers of Cherokee County, allowing the nonprofit to provide books to more than 130 children in the county for a year. Ferst provides age-appropriate books and a monthly corresponding newsletter to 240 children up to age 5 in Cherokee County.

Keep Georgia Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful, Inc., recently welcomed Keep Cherokee Beautiful (KCB) into its expanding community-based network of affiliates after a year of preparing for the certification. According to Cherokee County District 3 Commissioner Benny Carter, the affiliation allows KCB to grow and expand programs.

Letter From the Editor

Last month marked the beginning of my 11th year with Aroundabout Local Media. I was looking through my scrapbook as I was reminiscing about my time with the company and all the changes in Cherokee County since I’ve worked here.

OK, don’t be too impressed. I don’t have a scrapbook. I do, however, just like you, have access to past issues on each magazine’s website. When you have time, go to www.townelaker.com and click on the Archives tab. If you read Page 4 of each issue, starting in November 2012, you’ll get a quick history lesson about the growth in the area and countywide.

When I started with ALM in 2012, the aquatic center was one month away from opening, The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta had a late summer 2013 completion date, and the ground clearing had just begun for a new Walmart Supercenter in Holly Springs. MUST Ministries was preparing to move to its new location in Canton.

As many of you can relate, I applied for the job at ALM as a distraction when our youngest left for college; it’s been an exciting time for this empty nester. My first project was to relaunch Sixes Living magazine (currently Around Canton) in March 2013, bringing back the title after a 12-year absence. In May 2014, I was named executive editor and the rest, as they say, is history.

The greatest blessing has been how my position at ALM pulls together all of my journalism experience: as a copy editor and page designer in St. Petersburg, Florida; a section editor in Charlotte, N.C., and then a copy editor and special sections designer in Atlanta. Not to mention the years of freelance writing.

That should explain why I’m so passionate about print. While our major metropolitan newspapers are shrinking, we continue to grow at our hyperlocal level. Right now, we have five publications. Notice I said, right now? Stay tuned!

In the past 10 years, we’ve seen our fair share of change in Cherokee County. I hope you are enjoying the monthly updates from Commission Chairman Harry Johnston (Page 24). Stay on top of all the activities this year by posting our Year at a Glance calendar (Pages 32-33) on your refrigerator.

Another common theme over the years is the care and concern we have for one another. Learn how Cherokee Connect, the Facebook page with more than 63,500 members, has made a difference in the lives of our neighbors (Pages 36-37). Connecting with each other makes the difference, and I hope that, by reading our magazines each month, you’ll be able to stay connected to your immediate community.

Happy New Year!

Candi Hannigan is the executive editor of Aroundabout Local Media. She has lived in Cherokee County since 1987. Send your comments or questions to candi@aroundaboutmagazines.com

America’s Community Magazine

Volume 10, Issue 3

PUBLISHER Aroundabout Local Media, Inc. www.aroundaboutlocalmedia.com

PRESIDENT Kim Dahnke | 770-778-5314

kim@aroundaboutmagazines.com VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES Jennifer Coleman | 470-263-8414

jen@aroundaboutmagazines.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR Candi Hannigan | 770-615-3309

candi@aroundaboutmagazines.com MANAGING EDITOR Donna Harris | 770-852-8481

donna@aroundaboutmagazines.com CONTENT EDITOR Jessica Forrester | 770-615-3318

jessica@aroundaboutmagazines.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Michelle McCulloch | 770-615-3307

michelle@aroundaboutmagazines.com CONTROLLER Denise Griffin | 770-615-3315

denise@aroundaboutmagazines.com PAGE DESIGNER Laura Latchford

laura@aroundaboutmagazines.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Savannah Winn

savannah@aroundaboutmagazines.com SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Kathryn Holt

kat@aroundaboutmagazines.com MARKET & ADVERTISING SPECIALIST | Michelle Smith

michelle.smith@aroundaboutmagazines.com COPY EDITORS

Bill King, Eliza Somers

Around Woodstock, a publication of Aroundabout Local Media, Inc., is a community magazine with 17,000 free copies distributed monthly. Approximately 16,600 are direct mailed to homes and businesses and an additional 400 are placed in racks in the community.

Around Woodstock welcomes your comments, stories, and advertisements. Editorial deadline is the first and advertising deadline is the fifth of the previous month.

Subscriptions are available for $24 per year. Send check or money order to: Around

Woodstock, 1025 Rose Creek Drive, PMB 380, Suite 620, Woodstock, GA 30189.

The viewpoints of the advertisers, writers and other submissions do not necessarily reflect those of the editor/publisher. And the publisher makes no claims to the validity of any opinions expressed by charitable, business or civic organizations mentioned, or statements made within the editorial content. The cover and inside related article, and other editorial-type submissions labeled SPONSORED CONTENT, are paid content. The publisher neither guarantees nor supports any product or service mentioned in this magazine, nor does it guarantee any assertions made by the manufacturers or providers of such products or services, or claims regarding the status of such businesses.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2023.

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