Lady Tigers win 2
at home.
SPORTS, IB
Kids and adults
enjoy breakfast with
Santa, inside, sa
DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I DECEMBER 11,2019 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
Deck the city halls
Photos by Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
A large crowd gathers around Dawsonville City Hall for the annual tree lighting ceremony on Dec. 7.
Dawsonville rings in Christmas with parade, tree lighting
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
INSIDE
See more photos from
the parade. | 7A
Christmas has officially arrived in Dawsonville. The
city welcomed the holiday season with a parade
through the historic downtown Saturday evening, and
waited until dark to
light the city’s
Christmas tree.
Families gathered
around the historic
courthouse and along
Hwy. 53 towards the
Dawsonville Municipal Complex to watch as some
familiar faces came through town.
The Grinch himself was apprehended by the
Dawson County Sheriff’s Office for trying to steal
Christmas away from local children. The Mayor of
Whoville and Cindy Lou Who were in town to help
judge the floats in the parade.
Based on their votes, Harmony Baptist Church’s
locomotive float won first place for Best Float while
the sheriff’s office’s valiant efforts to apprehend the
Grinch secured a second place victory. KG Cleaning’s
band of superheroes like Spiderman, Iron Man and
Captain America earned them third place. The judges
were impressed with Dawson Insurance’s snowmen
in a winter wonderland, winning the group the cov
eted Most Creative Float.
After Mr. and Mrs. Claus concluded the parade,
they took time to meet with the boys and girls of
Dawsonville at city hall while families gathered to see
the enormous Christmas tree in front of the Georgia
Racing Hall of Fame be lit.
City Hall was bustling with Christmas cheer as
hundreds gathered around to stop by the food tracks
and fire pits to make roasted marshmallows. The
Georgia Racing Hall of Fame was teeming with peo
ple perusing the annual Jingle Market that’s sponsored
by the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce.
By 6:15 p.m., it was dark enough to light the tree.
Families gathered around and chimed in with the
countdown and cheered in celebration when the tree’s
lights illuminated the night, ensuring that Christmas
was alive and well in Dawsonville once again.
Christmas is officially here in Dawsonville as the city lit its
Christmas tree in front of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Dec. 7
as hundreds of community members gathered around to cele
brate the season.
GDOT to hold
public meeting
on bridge
replacement
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
The Georgia Department of
Transportation is holding a public meet
ing this Thursday to present the proposed
replacement of the Hwy. 136 bridge over
Toto Creek.
The meeting will be held from 5 to 7
p.m. Dec. 12 at Dawson County Fire
Station No. 2, at 145 Liberty Drive in
Dawsonville.
According to a GDOT press release, the
project will replace the existing bridge
built in 1956 and will require a local
detour during construction.
Detour details and routes will be pre
sented at the Dec. 12 meeting. Citizens
are encouraged to attend and leave com
ments via comment cards provided.
Living
Nativity
attracts
thousands
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
Entering its fourth decade as a
Dawsonville tradition the Bethel Baptist
Church’s living nativity took place during
the evenings of Dec. 6-7. With 12 scenes
and more than 100 actors the yearly pro
duction takes the entire congregation
along with help from family, friends and
neighboring churches according to volun
teer Gary Discharoon.
“There are typically not enough people
in our church,” Discharoon said. “We rely
a lot on neighboring churches and our
friends and families.”
Although each scene is a stand-alone
performance, complete with individual
scripts, costumes and music, church-
member Tracey Phillips serves as the
coordinator for the entire production and
he says that the popularity of the event
has grown rapidly in just the past few
years.
“We had a little more than 500 people
come out in 2003 and by 2015 we had
over 2000 people come see us,” Phillips
said. “It takes the whole church to put it
on, and as the church has grown so has
the production.”
The performance started at 6 p.m. on
the both nights and a large crowd had
gathered for the event well before that
time. Attendees waited in a long, snaking
line to board tractor-pulled wagons for
the roughly 45 minute trip through the
birth, death and resurrection of Christ.
See Nativity 15A
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 4, Number 64
© 2019, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
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