About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2021)
See local photography at Bowen Center art show, inside, 8A Bailey ready for Lady Tigers to take softball season by storm. SPORTS, 1B DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I JUNE 23, 2021 Dawson News ► com dawsonville, GEORGIA $1.00 Creative Enterprises coming to Dawson Non-profit will help locals with disabilities learn independent living skills, interact with community By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com This fall, Georgia-based non profit Creative Enterprises will expand into Dawson County to help local residents with dis abilities learn independent liv ing skills and interact with the community. Creative Enterprises has been in operation in Gwinnett County since 1976 but had never expanded much until offi cials decided to set up a second location in Forsyth County four years ago. According to Creative Enterprises CEO Leigh McIntosh, the Forsyth County location grew quickly in those years. “We expanded into Forsyth and went from six clients to 80 in four years,” McIntosh said. “And six of those clients were coming in from Dawson County.” Then one day more than a year ago, McIntosh was at a baby shower and happened to start a conversation with former Dawson County Commissioner Julie Nix, who asked how Creative Enterprises’ Forsyth location was doing. After hear ing about the growth of the Forsyth branch, Nix encour aged McIntosh to consider bringing a new location to Dawson County. “So I went with Lisa Bennett who’s the director of the Cumming Creative Enterprises to a commissioner’s meeting to talk to them about our servic es,” McIntosh said. “They were very interested and said these were services needed in Dawson County.” But even with the commis sioners’ encouragement, McIntosh and her team ran into one big obstacle: they had no building to meet in. Until one day, Program Coordinator Abby McCormick happened to mention the problem to Tony Holtzclaw, pastor of Harmony Baptist Church. “I kept talking about how I really wanted to get Creative Enterprises into Dawson County and we were looking for a building, and then one night at dinner I just started talking about how we’re in an old church building right now in Forsyth County,” McCormick said. “And Tony said ‘wait a second we have our old fellowship hall and the only time we use it is on Sunday mornings for Sunday school.’” Holtzclaw met with the church’s head deacon Kip Brady, who helped McIntosh and McCormick present the idea to the other deacons at the church. “We presented it to the dea cons and they mulled that over for weeks, talked to their con gregation about it and then the congregation voted that they wanted to get behind this and let us use that building,” McIntosh said. In addition to letting Creative Enterprises use the fellowship hall, the church is now working to pay for renovations to make the building more accessible to those in wheelchairs. See Creative 13A ‘Just a good time’ Photos by Erica Schmidt Dawson County News Crowds of vendors and festival-goers flocked to Uncle Shucks Corn Maze in Dawson County this weekend to take part in the second annual Hippie Fest. Hippie Fest draws crowds for second year despite rainy weather By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com This weekend, dozens of festival-goers in tie-dyed t-shirts and bell-bottom jeans flocked to Uncle Shucks Corn Maze in Dawson County to attend the second annual Hippie Fest, a grassroots festival aimed at celebrating all things colorful and groovy. According to Uncle Shucks owner Mathew Hughes, this year’s two-day festival included over 100 vendors and saw crowds of visitors despite rainy weather. “There were some vendors that left because the places they live are getting hit hard with the storm, but [on Saturday] there were 120 vendors,” Hughes said. “So it’s been a good turnout, and I noticed too that a See Hippie 14A Musician Noah Back plays a musical set during the second annual Hippie Fest at Uncle Shucks Corn Maze in Dawson County on Sunday, June 20. New charges in entering auto spree By Alexander Popp apopp@dawsonnews.com Authorities have filed multiple new felo ny warrants against a man and woman who were arrested last week after a string of entering auto thefts occurred in south Dawson County. Sabrina Bronson, 22, of Cumming, and Brandon Strickland, 20, of Gainesville, have now each been charged with 16 counts of theft entering auto. In addition to those charges, Bronson has also been charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug-related objects, Strickland has been charged with possession of a firearm during the com mission of a crime and possession of drug- related objects. See Auto 12A Kilough Chorus performs anthem at Braves game By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com Students at Kilough Elementary School in Dawson County received a very unique honor last week, taking the field at Truist Park in Atlanta to sing the national anthem and officially open the Braves vs. Red Sox Major League Baseball game. According to Kilough Elementary School Principal Teresa Conowal, the school’s journey to Truist Park began more than a year ago when school music special ist Jessie Tomes submitted an application for the Kilough Chorus to sing at a game. “Mr. Tomes submitted an application and we were chosen,” Conowal said. The students were originally scheduled to sing for the Memorial Day game in See Braves 14A 0 9 0 9 9 4 Inside Volume 7, Number 24 © 2021, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 2B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 7A Sports 1B GEORGIA'S TOP HEART DOCTORS. POWERED BY N0RTHSIDE. With 30 locations from Braselton and Canton to Sandy Springs and Midtown Atlanta, our network of more than 60 providers brings the leading heart experts to your community. Specialties include vascular surgery, maternal heart care, interventional cardiology, open heart surgery and more-the complete heart care you expect and deserve. Get to know Northside Cardiology at northside.com/excellence. NN NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL 3A Dawson Board of Education OKs 2021-22 budget 5A Re p- cl > ,de responds to controversy over medal vote.
