About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2021)
4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, December 1,2021 4 places to get the perfect Christmas tree in North Georgia Photo submitted to DCN Holly Hill ChristmasTree Farm is a family-owned Christmas tree farm in Dahlonega. Staff reports It's that time of year. Time to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. Want to cut your own? There are a few places in north Georgia to do just that. Even if you don't want to cut it yourself — they will for you — these Christmas tree farms are a great place to make mem ories with the family. Check out our list below. Holly Hill Christmas Tree Farm A family-owned Christmas tree farm in Dahlonega. Cut your own cypress or pine, or a fresh-cut Fraser fir. Handmade wreaths are also available. Where: 276 Woodland Drive, Dahlonega, GA 30533. Located off Hwy. 19/60 4 miles north of Walmart in Dahlonega Hours: 3 p.m. to dark, Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m. to dark, Saturday; 1 p.m. to dark, Sunday. Closed on Monday. Contact: Dave Horton, 678- 897-9009, on Facebook at Holly Hill Christmas Tree Farm. Bottoms Tree Farm Bottoms Tree Farm has over 5,000 Christmas trees, hun dreds of wreaths and over 4,000 feet of handmade garland. There’s a huge selection of fresh-cut Fraser firs from North Carolina in the barn. Just show up with friends and family and be prepared to make a memory that will last a lifetime cutting your very own Christmas tree. All four-legged family mem bers are welcome as long as they remain on a leash. From the family's Facebook page: "We were asked one time, 'Why do you grow Christmas Trees?' Our response, 'Family, Faith, and Fellowship.'" When: 3-6 p.m., Monday- Thursday; noon to 6 p.m., Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday; closed Sunday, through Dec. 18. Where: 5880 John Burruss Road, Cumming, GA 30040 Contact: 770-887-2728, visit bottomstreefarm.com, or on Facebook and Instagram at @bottomstreefarm. Kinsey Family Farm Kinsey Family Farm has a plethora of trees available to choose from. The farm offers a variety of ways to harvest a Christmas tree including choose and cut your own, pre cut, and living trees in contain ers. This year is the farm’s 18th anniversary and as is ‘our tra dition we love to give a small gift to our visiting friends . . . our annual pewter Christmas tree ornament.’ The ornament is included with the purchase of a Christmas tree, while supplies last and doesn’t include Charlie Brown trees or table toppers. And our Christmas tree farm just wouldn’t feel complete without the classic Charlie Brown Christmas Tree . . . which we have plenty of in our barns! These “table toppers” are perfect for older couples that don’t desire a large tree anymore and are also fun for children to have in their rooms! Just don’t let those ras cally Christmas “Elf on the Shelf’ Elves get into them . . . we’ve seen some crazy “tree decorating” when that hap pens. When: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Where: 7170 Jot Em Down Road, Gainesville, GA 30506 Contact: 770-887-6028, kinseyfamilyfarm.com, or on Facebook and Instagram @ kinseyfamilyfarm. B.L Mullinax Landscaping B.L. Mullinax Landscaping & Shrubbery is a local, family- owned business that has been doing business in Forsyth County for almost 30 years. Where: 1886 Peachtree Parkway, Cumming 30041 Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday. Contact: 770-781-9823, on Facebook at B.L. Mullinax Landscaping. FROM 1A Place “None of us liked it .... but we were still in survivor mode,” Smith said. But this year, The Place has found a way to bring families back into the build ing and give them back that freedom of choice. New shopping method One way they were able to offer the choice of items and food back to clients was through a new soft ware, which allows families to pick out items they want online that are currently available in The Place’s warehouse. Smith compared it to Instacart, which many have started using during the pandemic to order groceries from Publix and other stores on mobile devices. To use the software, cli ents don’t always need their phone or access to the inter net. They can come to The Place, and a volunteer will help them order whatever they may need for the next week. Once they order what they want from a list of The Place’s inventory, a receipt is printed at the warehouse on Martin Road where vol unteers then pack up bags according to the list. The bags are later brought to The Place where volunteers will bring them out to cli ents waiting in the parking lot. “Not only does it help us control inventory better, but more importantly, it allows our clients to have a choice,” Smith said. “So they’re able to decide what they take home to their kids, and they’re able to better plan and use their food stamps for what they can’t get here.” Before the start of the pandemic, Smith said she and her team began work ing with an architect to physically expand the food pantry to give families more space to come in and shop with points for the items they needed. As the pan demic began to calm down, The Place’s team decided that a major physical remodel was no longer needed. "With the technology currently available, we felt an investment in software was a more efficient way to bring back choice to our cli ents and a more effective use of the resources the community has given invested in our programs and services,” Smith said. So far this year, more than 960 households repre senting more than 3,000 individuals have used The Place of Forsyth's pantry for supplemental food, including 216 households who needed to use the pan try for the first time. Clients waiting outside of The Place for orders of fro zen meat, fresh produce and other items said they like the new software. One woman said she has been coming to the pantry for about a year and the ser vices offered at The Place have been amazing for her and her family. “I’m just thankful I can get food every week,” she said. “I like [the new shop ping system] much better you can get what you want and pick your own stuff.” Smith said the software took about two months to fully implement, and it has required much more work from their volunteers to take orders, pack bags and get them out to families. In the end, though, she said it is entirely worth it to give that freedom of choice back to clients. The nonprofit plans to continue to give choice back to families through the holidays this year with one of its largest annual events — The Place Holiday House. 7th annual The Place Holiday House The Place of Forsyth hosts a toy drive each year starting in November to collect toys and gifts for kids of all ages throughout the community. After col lections are over, it invites registered parents to come out and shop, using points, for gifts for each child. They can then wrap the gifts at The Place of Forsyth and have them ready for their kids to open during the holidays. “The kids receive great gifts, but the true benefit is for the parents who are able to create the magic of the Holidays for their children according to their traditions and customs,” Smith said. Last year during the height of the pandemic, the nonprofit could not invite families to all shop together for their kids among the donated items. Instead, they asked parents to send in wish lists that they tried to fulfill. More than 2,100 kids received gifts donated to The Place last year, but for its 7th annual Holiday House, Smith and her team wanted to invite parents back out to pick out gifts. “That’s really important that the parents are treated with dignity and they, just like with the food, get to choose what they want and the gifts their kids would want,” Smith said. More than 1,800 children from 630 families have reg istered for Holiday House this year, and shopping days for parents are planned for Dec. 13-18 at Freedom Tabernacle Church. Smith said The Place of Forsyth will be collecting toy donations for the shop ping days through Dec. 9, and they continue to look for help from the communi ty to collect all the gift donations they will need for the holidays. Those interested can help by donating items for kids to The Place of Forsyth or making a financial dona tion. For ideas of what fam ilies may want, the nonprof it created a gift guide, which can be found on is website at www.theplaceof- forsyth.org/holidayhouse. They also have an Amazon wish list, which allows community mem bers to purchase gifts from Amazon and have them delivered directly to The Place of Forsyth. Smith said they receive many donations of kids’ toys during the holidays, but this year, they also want to put a focus on middle and high school students who are often overlooked. Gift suggestions for teens include headphones, watch es, gift cards, books and sunglasses along with a full list of other items. “It seems like, ‘Oh, it’s just Christmas gifts,’ but the fact that they can go back to school and say, ‘Look, I got these new shoes,’ or ‘I got a bike,”’ Smith said. “They don’t have to know that you donated it. They just know that with their family and custom, they were able to have a wonderful holiday.” “We’re really glad that parents get to come back this year and shop,” she said. Those with questions can email holidayhouse@the- placeofforsyth.org for more information. The Place will also be looking for donations on Giving Tuesday right after Thanksgiving on Tuesday, Nov. 30. An anonymous donor offered to match any donations given by the community to The Place that day up to $20,000. Smith said this donation could give a huge boost to the programs and services leading up to the holidays in December. “We are very grateful for this donor,” Smith said, “and excited to share that 100% of donations received will go to programs and services.” The Place of Forsyth — where every Person, Dollar and Hour has a PURPOSE — has been serving the Forsyth County community for more than 45 years. For more information, visit www.theplaceofforsyth.org. Dawson Forest Road Lift Station & Sanitary Sewer Etowah Water & Sewer Authority Dawsonville, Georgia Etowah Water & Sewer Authority is requesting individual sealed Bids for furnishing all materials, labor, tools, equipment and appurtenances, and performing all work required to construct the Dawson Forest Road Lift Station & Sanitary Sewer project. The project includes sanitary sewer system and water system improvements at one location within Dawson County and consists of the work as detailed on the construction drawings and generally as follows: Demolition of an existing abandoned wet well and installation of approximately 1,000 L.F. of 12-inch gravity sanitary sewer, 5,000 L.F. of 18-inch gravity sanitary sewer, 180 L.F. of 8-inch sewage force main, 145 L.F. of 54-inch diameter tunnel, 30 precast manholes, 1,600 L.F. of 12-inch water line, 100 L.F. of 1-inch water service line, a new Gorman-Rupp wet-well mounted package lift station (including miscellaneous site piping, electrical, concrete, fencing, etc.), including all necessary and required appurtenances and erosion and sedimentation control for a complete project. The work will be awarded in one Contract. Pre-qualification of Bidders is required for the Dawson Forest Road Lift Station & Sanitary Sewer project. Beginning Wednesday, December 1,2021, a copy of the application and qualification requirements can be obtained from the Etowah Water & Sewer Authority Engineering & Construction Department located at 1162 Highway 53 East, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 or via email to Tim Collins at timc@etowahwater.org. Completed pre-qualification applications for Bids will be received at the Etowah Water & Sewer Authority Engineering & Construction Department, 1162 Highway 53 East, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 until 5:00 p.m., local time, Friday, January 14, 2022. (m ^Waitr & Sewer Authority “Excellence in every drop ” Telephone: 706-216-8474 Fax: 706-216-6170 Emergency Only (After Hours): 706-265-3395 Dawson County Humane Society a no kill shelter 706-265-9160 Doggy Spotlight Meet Goofy, our big of boy! At 130 lbs Goofy will give any Great Dane a run for their money as far as size goes. While Goofy is a world of sweet, he can be difficult to bond with due to his fear of new people. Goofy is most comfortable with what is familiar, and new faces tend to make him uneasy and standoffish. He will require multiple visits with potential adopters in order to get familiar with them and allow him to truly put his best foot forward and bond with them. Patience is key with our big guy. While Goofy is admittedly, hard to get to know, these is nothing he likes more than spending time with his favorite people. While he would love someone to take him on walks and stay active with them, he is also a big ol’ lounge dog and would love to spend time curled up on the floor enjoying nothing more than quality time. Because of his fear of change and the strange, Goofy would do best in an older and more established home, without children, other pets, or much foot traffic. Goofy is approximately give years old and a real sweetheart. For more information contact the 706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Rd, Dawsonville Dawson County Humane Society Adjacent to the Rock Creek Sports Complex Visit our RESALE SHOP & BOUTIQUE Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | 54 S. Lumpkin Campground Rd. All proceeds benefits the Humane Society ANH Collision Specialists 706-216-0992 103 Industrial Park Road, Dawsonville Bradley M. Maple CPA, PC 706-216-2362 2390 Thompson Rd • Ste 100 Dawsonville Dawsonville Veterinary Hospital 706-265-8381
