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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
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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
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3A Dawson
Board of
Education
OKs 2021-22
budget
5A Re p- cl > ,de
responds to
controversy
over medal
vote.
