Local News

Art House Hosts Holiday Exhibits

The submission deadline for the Acworth Arts Alliance’s It’s a New Year exhibit is midnight Dec. 15. Submissions are open to artists who can hand deliver their works. The exhibit will run Jan. 8-Feb. 26. The artist receptions will be 4-7 p.m. Jan. 8 and Feb. 5. Visit the website (acworthartsalliance. org/guidelines) for the submission form. Email images of submissions to acworthartsalliance@gmail.com.

The Small Works exhibit will run through Dec. 23. This exhibit features items that are perfectly sized for small holiday gifts. Art House events are free and open to the public.

The Acworth Arts Alliance offers classes and workshops, so consider giving the gift of art this holiday season, with gift certificates, classes and memberships available for purchase, as well as small art and gift items. The Art House is open noon-6 p.m., TuesdaysSaturdays, and is closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.

Acworth Community Honors the Johnsons

Save Acworth History Foundation presented the Nancy Smith Maxwell Award to Claude and Willie Mae Johnson for preservation of heritage and history in Acworth, in a ceremony Nov. 4 at the Acworth Depot Park History Center.

The Johnsons affectionately are known as the mayor and first lady of Logan Farm Park. As park visitors walk down Taylor Street, the Johnsons offer a friendly wave. Willie Mae has lived in Acworth for the past 75 years, and Claude for the past 85 years. The couple got married Aug. 2, 1954, and have one son, Claude Johnson Jr.

Through the years, the Johsons have served actively at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Willie Mae also has held various roles throughout the community, including vice president of the PTA at Roberts Elementary School, event coordinator for the Carrie Dyer Woman’s Club and hostess at the Governor’s Mansion during Gov. Sonny Perdue’s administration.

Claude organized and coached the city’s first African-American youth baseball team in the early 1960s. Together, the Johnsons transported team players to and from Acworth’s Coats and Clark Field to Marietta, Canton and other surrounding cities for games and practice, as well as supplied uniforms and covered all team expenses.

Additionally, Mayor Tommy Allegood and the board of aldermen issued a proclamation designating Nov. 4 as Claude and Willie Mae Johnson Appreciation Day in Acworth “for their contributions to the entire community.”

The Nancy Maxwell Award was created by the Save Acworth History Foundation to honor people who have made a significant contribution to preserving the proud heritage and rich history of the Acworth community. The first recipient of the award, in 2020, was Nancy Smith Maxwell.

Willie Mae and Claude Johnson. Photo by Yvonne Leander.

GTS Students Win Welding Competition Georgia Trade School (GTS) students Jordan Adcox, Cade Cordle, Kelly Myers and Skylar Voeltner won first place at the Xcel North Georgia Welding Competition in Dallas Nov. 6. The students custom fabricated a smoker/ cowboy cooker to resemble the classic Lincoln Electric tombstone welder. Tasked with submitting the most artistic take on a cowboy cooker, they used recycled materials from paper mills, railroad spikes and other miscellaneous metal. Cordle also placed first in two individual welding competitions. Certified welding inspectors Stephen Leone and Kyle Lockwood prepared and coached the team. Xcel North Georgia Welding Competition is an annual event that features celebrity judges, including Bob Moffat from Weld.com and Jason Becker with the Arc Junkies podcast. The competition is sponsored by Savannah-based Xcel Strategies, a mentoring network founded in 2012 to fuel young people with purpose and passion to reach the fullness of their potential Instructor Stephen Leone poses with the winning team and other competition attendees. through a network of mentors.

Giving Cancer the Boot

Kennesaw residents Carol and Glenn Walls, along with Lynn Ziner, senior community development manager with the American Cancer Society, recently organized Give Cancer the Boot, a line dancing fundraiser at Acworth Community Center.

More than 200 people danced at the event, which raised money for the American Cancer Society. The event included a silent auction, with more than 60 donated items, a 50/50 raffle, door prizes, T-shirts and luminaria available to honor loved ones lost to cancer.

Event organizer Carol has lost seven family members to cancer, including her brother and her first husband, and saw this as an opportunity to combine her two passions: fundraising to fight cancer and line dancing. Give Cancer the Boot raised more than $11,000.

All the dancers enjoyed a catered lunch while Don Zarkou, vice president of oncology at Wellstar Health Systems, spoke. Dance instructors Leslie Thompson, Jeanette Bowen, Gail Dawson and Michelle Neese donated their time and talents, alongside DJ Terry McLeroy, to make the event a success.

For more information on next year’s event, contact Carol Walls at carolwalls@comcast.net.

Carol and Glenn Walls

ABA board member Jim Hilber poses with the winning team from The Cowan Historic Mill.

ABA Holds Successful Tournament

The Acworth Business Association (ABA) held its annual golf tournament Oct. 25 at Governors Towne Club. The event raised funds for ABA education outreach and Horizon Field.

Allatoona Students Help Build Beds

Allatoona High School sophomore Abby Adams recently organized a community service project at her school. She worked with Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) local chapter President Rik Roberts to set up a bunk bed building day in the school parking lot. She recruited 73 students to build beds for local children that don’t have beds. SHP provided all the wood and tools. Together, they set up stations and built the pieces in an assembly line fashion. The students built 50 beds and donated 30 sets of twin bedding.

Most people think about giving food and clothing to children in need, but they also need beds, mattresses and bedding. Sleep is important, in order for children to be successful in school, and providing these items for them helps. For more information, or to volunteer, visit shpbeds.org to contact the local chapter.