About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2024)
6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, May 15,2024 Peachy Paws Pet Spa opens in Dawsonville Erica Jones Dawson County News The Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 6 for Peachy Paws Pet Spa. By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com Downtown Dawsonville now has a place for pet lovers to get their fur babies groomed and pam pered, thanks to new local business Peachy Paws Pet Spa. According to Peachy Paws owner Liz Lewis, she and co-owner Sofia Brown met a year or so ago when they worked together at an animal hos pital. Both of them had experience working with animals, and they began talking about opening a pet spa together. “I’ve been a groomer for five or six years now and this is something that I've always wanted to do, and Sofia has always worked with animals,” Lewis said. The pair found a vacant storefront in downtown Dawsonville, and after many weeks of hard work and elbow grease they fixed it up. “The first time we came in here I was shaking my head to Liz but she said it had potential,” Brown said. “It took weeks and weeks and my dad helped clean and paint, and finally it's all come together, and I think it's come together really nicely.” Peachy Paws provides all manner of groom ing services for both dogs and cats, and they accept appointments over the phone or walk-ins at their storefront, which is located at 236 Highway 53. “Give us a call or you can walk in; we're here every day except for Thursdays and Sundays right now and we would love to see y' all,” Lewis said. “I'm very happy to be in the community and work with everyone's pets here.” “We've loved it so far, we've loved playing with dogs every day and we're just so happy to be here,” Brown added. On Monday, May 6, the Dawson County Cham ber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome Peachy Paws to the chamber and to the Dawsonville community. “We're happy to have such a great small busi ness downtown and to welcome y'all to not only the chamber community but the community at large to take care of our fur babies,” Dawson County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mandy Power said. For more information about Peachy Paws Pet Spa, go to www.facebook. com/p/Peachy-Paws-Pet- Spa-100092992316727/ or call 706-912-4996. Dawson County gamers help with $1M grant for new health department By Julia Hansen juliahansen@dawsonnews.com About two years after start ing public talks on a new health department building, Dawson County commissioners have now taken the next step in securing funds for the project. The Board of Commission ers unanimously voted on May 2 to approve an agree ment with the Georgia Moun tains Regional Commission to help the county apply for a $1 million grant to fund a new building. The GMRC is a regional planning commission that helps municipalities with development and planning- based initiatives in northeast ern Georgia. Under the agreement, Dawson County will have to pay the GMRC $1,000 for its services helping the county apply for the Community Development Block Grant. This $1,000 will come from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 7 funds since it's a SPLOST 7 project. In April 2022, the county sent the GMRC a letter asking for help with the CDBG grant. File photo The current Dawson County Health Department building sits at 54 Ga. 53 in downtown Dawsonville. County officials planned to make the current health depart ment last in the meantime, with the building temporarily clos ing for renovations at the end of 2022. Fixes at that time included replacing old door frames, replacing aging carpet with waterproof, non-slip vinyl flooring and various electri cal repairs, among other work done on the 70-year-old build ing. The county budgeted $60,968, with a $5,000 contin gency for the fixes. During the board's work meeting on April 18, BOC chairman Billy Thurmond reminded the county commis sioners that the county had also contracted with GMRC when planning for the senior center. “I think $ 1,000 to potentially get $1 million is a pretty good deal,” Thurmond said. New event venue opens at Dawson farm Photos by Erica Jones Dawson County News Above, 1826 at Stowers Farm is a recently opened wedding and event venue in Dawson County. At left, Several members of the Stowers family stand on the fam ily farm, which they have recently opened as a wedding and event venue. By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com A local family is opening their centu ries-old family farm to local weddings and other events, thanks to their recently established family business 1826 at Stow ers Farm. According to Shannon Stowers Goines, whose parents Fred and Dru Stowers own the farm, over the past several years they've had many friends and relatives askif they could come to the farm to take photos or to host parties or weddings. Because of these many inquiries, she decided to take a leap of faith and officially open and manage the property as a wedding and event venue. “I started working on it last year but I didn't start booking until this year,” Stow ers Goines said. “What I really want to do is not just focus on weddings, but I want it to be a place where people can come for family reunions, company gatherings and church events too.” The name, 1826 at Stowers Farm, comes from the year that the farm was originally established. Fred and Dru Stowers are the fourth generation of their family to own the farm, and over the past several years they've put a great deal of work into restor ing and maintaining it. “It's been a bit of an elixir for Dru and me to be here,” Fred Stowers said. “We put a lot of work into it as you can imag ine, and now that we're retired it keeps us moving.” The venue features a platform area under a huge, 185-year-old oak tree, overlooking a backdrop of hills and a picturesque pond, as well as the farm's original log bam and several buildings from different eras. Amenities include a tent, tables and chairs for up to 100 guests, luxury rest room trailer, parking and a parking atten dant, the use of five acres and an arch, wine barrel and full area to decorate however the customer wishes. The venue also offers several affordable pricing packages to fit any occasion the customer may need it for. “I'm excited about this venture and I hope to see you in the near future,” Stow ers Goines said. For more information about 1826 at Stowers Farm including pricing and how to book the venue, go to https://1826farm. com. RESTAURANT INSPECTIONS From Staff Reports Several food storage issues resulted in one local pizza and American-style res taurant earning a C on its latest health inspection. I Love NY Pizza, located at 29 Main St. Ste. 150 in Dawsonville, scored a 77 on its May 2 inspection. The pizza restaurant got docked nine points for chicken wings not cooling off fast enough within two hours of cooking. Wings are supposed to cool to 70 degrees Fahrenheit within that timeframe, and the wings had only cooled to 75-82 degrees, according to a health inspector’s notes. The person in charge discarded the wings. Similarly, the restaurant was cited four points for sliced deli meat and marinara sauce being stored without use-by dates, so those food containers were labeled. The kitchen was also cited four points for several food containers being stored over night inside a prep top cooler without a lid. The food was covered during the inspection. These two violations were counted as one infraction. The kitchen also got a separate three- point violation for items not being discard ed upon their expiration dates. Four points were taken off for soda noz zles and a soda gun at the bar with mold debris build up. I Love NY Pizza also received five one- point violations for prep areas, floors and outdoor areas in need of cleaning and personal gum seen stored with food above a prep top cooler. Two of the one-point violations were counted as a single infrac tion since they involved cleaning. The Georgia Department of Public Health defines a C as “marginal compli ance” in its food score protocol. Any grade below 80 earns kitchens a follow-up health inspection. The downtown Dawsonville Bojangle’s, located at 25 Main St, scored an 87 on its May 1 kitchen inspection. A health inspector noted breaded chicken being held at temperatures of 122-124 degrees Fahrenheit instead of at least 135 degrees. Bojangles’ was docked nine points for that. Several employees were also observed not wearing hair restraints, and the base board along the walk-in cooler entrance and mop sink area had broken tiles. Food service establishments are given a letter grade that corresponds to a percen tile: “A” (90-100), “B” (80-89), “C” (70- 79) or “U” (69 and below). Any grade below 70 is considered unacceptable or failing. A searchable list of food service scores is available through the Georgia Department of Public Health at https:// ga.healthinspections.us/stateofgeorgia. Restaurant rules are available at https:// dph.georgia.gov/environmental-health- inspections. To register a complaint against a food service establishment, contact the Dawson County Environmental Health Department at 706-265-2930. May 2 Dawson County Jail Kitchen Location: 19 Tucker Ave., Dawsonville Score: 96; Grade: A May 1 Arby's No. 7067 Location: 4041 Dawson Forest Road E., Dawsonville Score: 96; Grade: A Popeyes No. 13253 Location: 429 Power Center Drive, Dawsonville Score: 96; Grade: A
