Covering Roswell’s Historic Square in Color for 22 Years

Calling all husbands, fathers, and children, this is your final warning that Mother’s Day is this weekend! Unless you’re of an age where the Tooth Fairy regularly visits, you probably have outgrown simply giving Mom a great big kiss to go with the card you made in school. Husbands – as much as your wife might let you think that a new washing machine or vacuum cleaner is just what she wanted, take it from me, your stock will rise measurably if you’re a little more creative.

If picking out gifts for Mom isn’t your thing, don’t worry - Roswell has you covered!

The 22nd Annual Colors Festival of Arts is Saturday and Sunday, May 12th and 13th. Admission to the show is free. The festival is held on the Historic Town Square, located at the intersection of Highways 9 & 120, from 10 am. - 6 pm, both days. For those of you who need more detailed directions, the official address of the Square is 610 Atlanta Street, Roswell.

The Historic Town Square will be filled with fine arts, original crafts, children’s activities, fun food, and entertainment. Shopping, food, and entertainment all in one place – we’ve got you covered!

Entertainment ranges from local dance groups to young musicians to storytelling to folk/rock/bluegrass/county musicians to everyone’s favorite Adam Komesar and his balloon creations. You can find the full entertainment schedule at www.visitroswellga.com/include-new/events/2012ColorsFestivalArtsEntertainment.pdf

Don’t forget to visit the children’s area of the festival for art work opportunities for your children to make to take home. There are even vendors who create clothing and accessories just for children. What mom doesn’t want her child to look perfect?

Want a sneak peek at the artists that will be at the festival? There’s a full list on our webpage: www.visitroswellga.com/include-new/events/2012ArtistsCraftsmenColorsFestival.pdf

While you’re out, make sure that you treat Mom to a day off from cooking! If festival food isn’t your thing, we have many unique and fun restaurants in Roswell. Mother’s Day lunch can be a very busy time so reservations are recommended. For restaurant ideas, check out www.visitroswellga.com/restaurants.html

Looking forward to seeing you on the Square in Roswell this Mother’s Day weekend for the Colors Festival of Arts.

Roswell Celebrates Tourism

When you hear the word Tourism, what comes to mind? For some, it’s the last trip they took to some far off exotic location. For others, it might be a memory of pretending that you were not related to your dad as he walked down a sidewalk dressed in a brightly-colored shirt, plaid shorts, white socks and brown sandals, with the family brownie camera on a strap around his neck. Yes, that is Tourism, but I’m talking about something much closer to home.

Every time you see license plates from other states and counties as you drive into a restaurant, store, hotel or attraction parking lot in Roswell you are seeing tourism at work. It’s that wonderful economic engine that brings people in from other places to enjoy all that we have to offer.

With Georgia positioned as a premier travel destination, Tourism is the 5th largest employer in Georgia with a total economic impact of $45 billion, supporting more than 391,000 jobs, or 10.4% of all payroll employment in Georgia. If that wasn’t excitement enough, Tourism is the second leading revenue producing industry in the state. All of that revenue translates to a state and local tax savings of $706 for each Georgia household. With that much of an impact, it’s easy to see why we LOVE tourism in Roswell.

January 24th was the 2012 Tourism and Hospitality Day at the Georgia State Capital. Together with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chambers of Commerce professionals from around the state of Georgia, Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association members, as well as attractions and arts entities converged on the Capital to celebrate all that Tourism means to the state.

With so much for tourists (and of course our residents, too) to see and do in Roswell, the Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau was excited to participate in this annual event. With a theme of T.I.E.D. – Tourism is Economic Development, our legislators were reminded of the incredible benefits of tourism to Roswell and the entire state of Georgia.

As part of the festivities, the 2012 Georgia Travel Guide was unveiled, featuring Grammy Award-winning group Lady Antebellum on the cover. In addition to printed copies being available at the state’s eleven Visitor Information Centers, the guide is online so I just had to check it out. It was exciting to find all of the places in the Guide where folks can find out about Roswell.

Get Those Taste Buds Revved Up

We all know that Roswell has a wide selection of unique restaurants, right? What, you didn’t know? Where have you been?

My mouth is watering just thinking of the possibilities. From BBQ so good that it’s hard not to eat it multiple times a week to sandwiches made from bread and meats cooked on premise, daily, to mouthwatering steaks and salmon to vegetables cooked the good old country way to unique French and Italian dishes to new takes on Mexican and Thai dishes to you name it, Roswell has it all.

To showcase Roswell’s wide variety of yummy choices, a group of Roswell restaurants teamed up to create the First Annual Roswell Restaurant Week from January 14-22. The nine-day promotion will showcase the outstanding cuisine of the area’s best restaurants that will each offer a prix-fixe, three-course menu consisting of an appetizer, a main course and a delicious dessert for $15 and $25 per person excluding alcohol, tax and gratuity. Can you say bargain and yum in the same sentence?

www.roswellrestaurantweek.com has all of the details plus a list of participating restaurants.

After writing about all of this food, I just may have to get a jump on Restaurant week at lunch, today. I’m headed out to www.visitroswellga.com/restaurants.html to check my options, right now.

Christmas in Roswell

Christmas in Roswell is more than an event. It’s an entire season of Holiday Events with the Southern Trilogy sites, Bulloch Hall, Barrington Hall and Smith Plantation, dressed in seasonal splendor and open for tours, Santa sightings, holiday tours, musical performances, high teas, re-enactments of Mittie Bulloch's Christmastime 1853 wedding to Theodore Roosevelt, theatrical performances, art, open houses, dance and of course fabulous shopping on Georgia's officially recognized "Great Places In Georgia – Great Street," Canton Street, and all around Roswell.

The season kicks off in November with all of the Southern Trilogy sites ready to wow you by Thanksgiving week. “A Very Southern Christmas” at Barrington Hall features the traditions that make Christmas in the South a truly memorable experience. From fireworks to fruit cake, from Christmas Bags to the Pink Pig, Barrington Hall will be sure to bring back childhood memories while making new ones for you and your family.

“All I Want for Christmas Is…” at Smith Plantation will delight your senses with fantasies for the young and the young-at-heart. Rooms of historic Smith Plantation are filled with timeless wishes from the past along with vibrant colors, whimsical trees, and countless memories for all.

Bulloch Hall celebrates with “A Christmas Carol.” Each room of the house will show the story of the Charles Dickens’ holiday favorite Ebenezer Scrooge and what happens to him on that fateful Christmas Even in the early 1840s.

Annual special events complement the daily home tours at the Southern Trilogy homes. The special events sell out so it’s not too early to reserve your spot.

Christmas High Teas at Bulloch Hall are December 1, 6, 8, 13, and 15. Reservations are required. Call 770-992-1731 to reserve your spot for this warm, engaging afternoon with ladies in period clothing serving a two course tea in candlelight followed by a tour of the home.

Manners with Snowflake the Ballerina at Bulloch Hall is December 3rd for children ages 4 to 11. Reservations are required. Call 770-992-1731 to reserve your spot as Snowflake dances her way into the hearts of the children with gentle reminders of good manners. Light refreshments and holiday favors will be provided.

Also on December 3rd, is the Gingerbread Christmas at Smith Plantation home for children ages 5 and up. Reservations are required. Call 770-641-3978 to reserve your spot. This fun event includes preparing and decorating Christmas themed cookies, baked over the open hearth at the plantation’s outdoor cookhouse. Children also prepare a craft to take home.

A Christmas Carol will be performed in the Terrace Room at Bulloch Hall December 3, 16, 17, and 23rd. What better way to enjoy Bulloch Hall’s 2011 decorating them than with a performance of this Charles Dickens classic? Reservations are required. Call 770-992-1731 to reserve your spot as Wally Hinds, with 20-years experience with this holiday classic, once again brings it to life.

A Southern Trilogy Candlelight Tour is December 10th. This is your chance to see all three of the homes in their holiday finery by candlelight. Enjoy festive holiday decorations, children’s activities, seasonal treats, and entertainment.

Cookies with Mrs. Claus at Barrington Hall is December 17th. Mrs. Claus will be on hand for a seventy-five minute cookie making workshop with the children. Children will take their cookies home as well as their special letter to Santa. Reservations are required. Call 770-640-3855 to reserve a spot.

Christmas for Kids at Bulloch Hall is December 17th. Non-stop fun for ages 5-11. Activities include Yule log hunt, candy cane hunt, Christmas crafts, light snack, storytelling by “Queen Glitter,” a visit with Mr. & Mrs. Claus and a tour of the house. Reservations are required. Call 770-992-1731 to reserve your spot.

The Reenactment of Mittie Bulloch’s 1953 Wedding to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. is December 21st at Bulloch Hall. In this much anticipated annual reenactment, each room represents a snippet of the mid-1800s. Ladies discuss the fashion of the day while the gentlemen talk about the events of the times all leading up to the wedding. Reservations are required. Please call 770-992-1731 to reserve your spot.

These are only a few of the many special events taking place in Roswell from mid-November until New Year’s Eve. For specific times, prices, and more information on these events and the many others that Roswell has to offer during the holiday season, just click on hwww.visitroswellga.com/christmas-in-roswell.html

Okay, adults, it’s time to fess up and acknowledge that we all ready love hearing a good story. One of my earliest memories is hearing my mom or dad tell me a story. Entire family reunions were filled listening to stories. I can remember sitting spellbound listening to the various exploits of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As an adult, I realized that not all of them were 100% true, but it doesn’t matter because the teller enjoyed sharing the story and the audience enjoyed listening.

Stories have the capacity to do more than simply entertain, as much fun as that is. They can also pass along culture, like Native American stories do, impart wisdom, and are excellent ways to keep concepts in the mind of your audience. Long after the bullet points on your carefully crafted PowerPoint slides have faded from memory, the stories you told will still be fresh in the minds of your audience.

Each year, Roswell keeps the joy of storytelling alive by participating in a world-wide storytelling event called Tellabration! It is a time when guilds and storytelling enthusiasts all around the globe share their storytelling talents in concerts held in cities and towns to celebrate the art of storytelling. Roswell’s Tellabration! brings together highly respected regional storytellers, to delight, captivate, and mesmerize audiences with their tales.

As is Roswell’s tradition, we hold our Tellabration! the Friday night before Thanksgiving and this year is no different. It’s a fun night of family-friendly stories geared to adults – yes, adults! You don’t even have to bring along a child or grandchild to hide behind while you enjoy the stories.

This year’s tellers are Mary Apps, John Beavin, Grace Hawthorne and Phil Kaplan. Martha Tate will be the emcee. I love hearing each of these tellers and would be hard put to tell you which one is my favorite. Each brings their own unique style to telling.

Admission is $5 and tickets are sold at the door. Join us at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 18th at the Roswell Adult Recreation Center, 830 Grimes Bridge Road for a great evening of entertainment.

The evening is sponsored by the Roswell Ramblers Club, Historic Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau, Roswell Recreation and Parks Department and the Magnolia Tellers of the Roswell Folk and Heritage Bureau.

Thank You Veterans

My earliest Veterans Day remembrances are of a day off from school, which is a special treat to almost every child I know. That was long before I realized just what a Veteran was. As I progressed through my American History courses, I slowly began to realize that everyday men and women had answered the call through many wars to serve their country. Today, we honor those men and women for their sacrifices to ensure our freedom.

Throughout my life, I’ve been privileged to know veterans of all wars since WWII. Many served their time, came home, and for years didn’t speak about their experiences. My dad’s cousin served in WWII in Europe and only began to speak about the war in the past 10 years. My aunts and uncles served in WWII and the Korean War but I mainly only know their branches of the service and maybe where they were stationed. I didn’t know until fairly recently, that my mom was an airplane spotter during WWII. Do you know your family Veterans’ History?

The Library of Congress American Folk Life Center has an exciting project to “collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.” If you have a veteran in your family, consider checking out this project and encouraging your family member to add their memories to the project. More information can be found at www.loc.gov/vets/about.html

One of the hidden treasures of Roswell is the “Faces of War Memorial” on the grounds of City Hall. This fourteen by twenty feet bronze monument captures 50 faces showing the fear, grief, and courage of people in war. One figure in the sculpture is a soldier who reaches out of the memorial to clasp the hand of a little girl who is in front of the sculpture. It’s a great place to remember and be thankful for our veterans as we honor them, this Friday, November 11.

Take a moment today to thank a veteran. The best things we can do for them are very easy:
1. Acknowledge their sacrifices. Even if they didn’t see a single minute of battle, they spent time in a strange place far away from family and friends.
2. Listen to their story. Many of our older veterans, especially, hunger for someone to hear about their experiences.
3. Let them know that you appreciate all they’ve done for you.

4. Check with your closest Veterans Affairs hospital to determine the needs of the veterans they serve. Items like gently used magazines and books, for example, can serve a new purpose helping a Veteran pass the time, waiting to see a doctor.

And now for my fellow history buffs, here’s some information from the Veterans Affairs website about the history of Veterans Day.

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m. The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926. In 1954, the holiday was officially renamed Veterans Day by Congress.

Roswell In The News

If you haven’t had time to read all of the wonderful publications that highlight the goings-on in Roswell, here are a few that you may have missed:

Mayor’s Wrap Up Bragging Rights: The Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau partnered with the Alpharetta Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote activities in both cities with “Holidays Along the Divine 9.” The kick-off event featured some friendly completion between the mayors and their wives from both cities. www.northfulton.com/Articles-c-2011-10-17-189565.114126-sub-Wrap-Stars-Mayors-wrap-up-bragging-rights.html

roswell.patch.com/articles/roswell-mayor-wood-wins-charity-challenge

Sip of the South: Ready for a great party? Bulloch Hall’s annual Sip of the South will have a Halloween theme this year. Reservations are required. Check out roswell-neighbor.com/stories/Sip-of-the-South-gets-spooky,177033 for more details.

Youth Day Grand Marshal to Present Award: Even though the Youth Day Parade was October 1st, Sally White, the Grand Marshal of the 61st Annual Youth Day Parade still has one duty to complete. roswell.patch.com/articles/youth-day-grand-marshal-to-present-award

Ever wonder about some of Roswell’s more interesting sculptures? Check out roswell.patch.com/articles/public-sculpture-abounds-in-roswell