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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 36). Stay on top of all the activities this year by posting our Year at a Glance calendar (Pages 16-17) 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 (Page 30-31). 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 27, 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 | 678-279-5502
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
TowneLaker, a publication of Aroundabout Local Media, Inc., is a community magazine with 16,400 free copies distributed monthly. Approximately 15,800 are direct mailed to homes and businesses and an additional 600 are placed in racks in the community.
TowneLaker welcomes your comments, stories, and advertisements. Editorial deadline is the first and advertising deadline is the fifth of the previous month.
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