Suwanee Fun Stuff Category
Impromptu Fun and Entertainment - Town Center Park, Suwanee, GA
June 20th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Fun Stuff, Suwanee Real Estate
One of Suwanee’s greatest attributes is the genuine small-town neighborhood feeling that fills the area and creates a friendly, inviting atmosphere. Town Center Park serves as a catalyst for that friendly atmosphere and the community pride that invites people to come play in the park. As a result, people from all walks of life mingle in the park everyday enjoying the wonderful scenery and opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Many times the groups that gather to enjoy themselves attract the attention and curiousity of the other visitors, who are treated to unexpected entertainment or totally new experiences.
A recent example of this occurred when a group of friends gathered in the center of the park
for a “Meet Up” drum circle in the early evening. Area residents and park visitors were treated to about an hour of rhythmic sounds and movement as the group of 20-30 people played their various drums and percussion instruments while belly dancers moved through the circle to their enticing beat. The impromptu gathering drew about 40-50 spectators, with some joining the fun as drummers or dancers.
Other such gatherings include occasional bagpipes practicing in the park, some amazing kite flying demonstrations, or weekend games of Cricket being played by small groups of young men, who actually understand the game and play well.
Sometimes it just pays to be in park because you never know what you might see. Suwanee plays hard, lives well and smiles more, because of the friendly people who live here….come join us.
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Suwanee Takes Progressive Step with New Arts Commission
June 19th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff, Suwanee Real Estate
Suwanee’s list of innovative and progressive initiatives continues to grow with the addition of the recently formed Public Arts Commission. Council members on a selection committee evaluated potential candidates for the commission, who were then approved for appointment by the city council. Placing this level of emphasis on public art is an approach typically found only in much larger metropolitan cities, but Suwanee maintains its lead as a sophisticated small town with a keen eye on the future.
The commission intentionally includes a very diverse group of local residents and business people with active business or personal involvement in creative art. Vanessa Boggs, owner of vBoggs Galleries at Town Center, is proud to be part of the commission as Suwanee positions public art as a priority initiative. Vickie Johnson, local artist and long-time Gwinnett teacher, says it is an honor and great responsibility to be part of helping our award-winning city also become the “best-dressed” city.
The role of the commission will include creating a mission statement which will serve as a guide for the city council for future commission members, developing consistent criteria for considering public art projects, improve resident’s awareness of the community benefits from public art, and involve the overall best interest of the community in art selection.
Art Commission Appointments
Vanessa Boggs, appointment expires December 31, 2009
Dick Goodman, appointment expires December 31, 2009
Vickie Johnson, appointment expires December 31, 2008
Linnea Miller, appointment expires December 31, 2009
Earl Mitchell, appointment expires December 31, 2009
Alison Nalley Starnes, appointment expires December 31, 2008
A seventh member may be appointed at a later date
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Suwanee Town Center Park - Popular for Early Morning Workouts
June 18th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Fun Stuff, Suwanee Real Estate
Boot Camps are a growing trend in the fitness and personal training market, and Suwanee’s Town Center Park and other area parks have become very popular locations for many area gyms, fitness centers and trainers to “torture,”……I mean exercise their clients. Town Center Park’s close proximity to many surrounding neighborhoods and fitness facilities makes it a perfect place for these daily sessions. Local residents, men, women, young and old, with various levels of physical fitness show up, usually during the early morning hours, to run through 45 minutes of rigorous exercises using the many features of the park’s landscape to enhance fitness, lose weight and build stamina. Xtreme Transformations, a neighbor of the park, is one of the primary fitness centers using the park and they have been offering free sessions on Saturday mornings at 9:00 AM for anyone willing to show up. Other programs include the North Atlanta Boot Camps (women’s program) as well as several independent personal trainers in the area. This is a great way, and a great place, to jump start your workout program or step it up a notch, if you’ve already started. See you in park……maybe.
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Suwanee Has Many Great Connections to Professional Sports
June 9th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff, Suwanee Real Estate
Suwanee has a tremendous connection to professional sports, which many residents and neighbors may not know about. The Suwanee Sports Academy has a well-respected staff of former professional and college athletes and coaches from several different sports, including ties to the NBA, WNBA, MLB, and even European Professional Soccer. The facility and commitment excellence in training young athletes continues to attract the attention of their former professional friends and colleagues in basketball, soccer and volleyball.
On June 27-29, Suwanee Sports Academy will host the NBA Development League Pre-Draft Camp for aspiring basketball stars. The camp participants must be 18 years of age. There will be 200 participants hoping to catch the attention of the many NBA D-League scouts and coaches in attendance, as well as NBA scouts and league management.
At the end of the camp, a few lucky participants will join the player pool for the November league draft. The D-League draft is held in Orlando where players put through a variety of drills and are placed on a team for at least two games to show their skills. For more information see Sam Amico’s article in Pro Basketball News.
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Smooth Jazz Is Back at Suwanee Town Center Park
May 28th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff, Suwanee Real Estate
The month of June kicks off in Suwanee with Joey Sommerville playing his own style of smooth jazz trumpet at Town Center Park amphitheater on Friday, June 6th as part of the 107.5 WJZZ Smooth Jazz Concert series. His performance will include music from his newest CD release “Like You Mean It” as well as many other favorites. Joey Sommerville has performed with a diverse range of artist including the mega-rock group Phish and as the featured instrumental soloist on Cirque de Soleil’s Grammy-nominated album, Alegria. The performance begins at 7 PM with Chandra Currelley’s improvisational vocal energy with urban, spiritual 
and jazz influences.
As always, there will be fun activities for the kids including the “Big Splash” fountain along with the great restaurants and shops to visit in the Town Center Park development while the great music fills the summer night. Bring picnics, blankets, and low-back chairs to Town Center Park. Food, beer, and wine will be available for purchase.
No outside alcoholic beverages may be brought into Town Center Park.
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Life is good in Suwanee Festival at Town Center Park
May 27th, 2008 Categories: Diamond Dwellings, Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff
Backyard fun is coming to the Suwanee Town Center Park and for a wonderful cause. On Saturday, June 14th some of Suwanee’s backyard athletes will be competing for the title of “World’s Greatest Backyard Athlete” in an effort to entertain their friends and neighbors while raising money for Project Joy. Project Joy is a non-profit organization that uses “play” to strengthen and heal children whose lives have been deeply impacted by trauma.
Each athlete must raise at least $500 in contributions for Project Joy in order to compete in this “intense” competition including potato sack races, watermelon-seed spitting and other wacky lawn games. In addition to cheering for the front-line competitors, families can enjoy the wonderful creativity of local craftspeople, fun activities for the kids, great music and great food. Spaces are still available for contestants in the World’s Greatest Backyard Athlete competition and contributions can still be made to Project Joy.
Competitors can sign up through June 2. Project Joy contributions can be delivered to the City of Suwanee and made payable to “Life is good Kids Foundation.”
Our own DeWayne Davis will be competing for the title of World’s Greatest Backyard Athlete, so come out to cheer him on in the competition and help him raise money for this very worthy cause.
Many volunteers are needed in order to make this event successful. Please consider helping out!
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Suwanee Town Center Park Hosts Star94 FM Petapalooza
May 12th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff
The park will be filled with pets of all sizes and shapes on Saturday, May 17th beginning at noon as Star 94 FM brings the annual Petapalooza - Pet Party in the Park. Bring your dog and prepare to meet hundreds of other pet owners in the park for a great day of fun. If you don’t have a dog, but love animals, music, food or fun; then you’ll have a great time too. In past years, this event has drawn in people from all over Gwinnett and the surrounding areas for a great afternoon of pet and people watching along with fun activities for kids, pet competitions and demonstrations, great food, great music and the joy of being in the park. Don’t let the dogs have all the fun. Come and enjoy one of Suwanee’s favorite park events with all your friends and family. For more information you can visit Star 94 FM and the City of Suwanee websites.
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Fine Art - Alive, Well and Available in Gwinnett - Find Our Hidden Treasures
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Gwinnett County, Suwanee Fun Stuff
The Gwinnett Center and Gwinnett Arena complex is one of Gwinnett county’s many great lifestyle benefits, providing convenient access to exciting sporting events, world-famous entertainers, inspirational conferences and many different facets of fine arts including music and visual arts. One of the hidden treasures within the Gwinnett Center complex is the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts, which is owned and operated by the Gwinnett Council for the Arts, a non-profit organization supported through the generosity of many private patrons, corporations and foundations.
The Hudgens Center for the Arts is currentjy exhibiting the extraordinary personal collections of Susan and William Rochfort, “Gifts from Africa: Bronzes, Art and Aritifacts.” The opening reception was held last night, Thursday (5/1/08), for an excited crowd of supporters who were treated to a brief explanation, from Susan Rochfort, of the passion which inspired her along with her husband to assemble this amazing collection and then willingly share it with as many people as possible. The reception also included an informative presentation on African culture and its influences on the art of Africa by Dr. Douglas Falen, Asst. Professor of Anthropology at Agnes Scott College. Although this introduction greatly enhanced the experience for those fortunate supporters viewing the exhibit during last night’s reception, the collection itself is amazingly inspirational for everyone who will see it during its eight week stay at the Hudgens Center. The number and diversity of pieces collected by these two passionate individuals will be a treat for hundreds of people throughout Gwinnett county and surrounding areas, including many, many students and young children who will be able to see the exhibit free of charge because of the generosity and passion of Susan Rochfort.
For more information about the “Gifts from Africa: Bronzes, Art and Artifacts” exhibit or other events at Hudgens Center for the Arts visit www.artsgwinnett.org and definitely take advantage of this wonderful treasure right at our back door.
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Music & Fun at Suwanee Town Center Park Starts Now!!!
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Events, Suwanee Fun Stuff
May officially kicks off all the great activities that make Suwanee and especially Town Center Park such a great place to Play Hard, Live Well and Smile More. The fun begins tonight (Friday, 5/2/08) with the 107.5 WJZZ Smooth Jazz in park concert featuring Bob Baldwin’s style of jazzy, hip urban vibe with a strong presence of contemporary and mainstream jazz (www.bobbaldwin.com and www.newurbanjazz.com ). Also featuring from Atlanta, soprano saxophonist , Jeff Sparks. This concert is the first of the 2008 summer Smooth Jazz Concert Series for free jazz at Town Center Park on the first Friday of each month through October. Bring picnics, blankets, and low-back chairs to these free concerts at Town Center Park. Food, beer, and wine will be available for purchase. No outside alcoholic beverages may be brought into Town Center Park.
Look for more information at www.suwanee.com and www.1075wjzz.com ).
In addition to the great concerts in the park, the month of May is filled with other events including the start of the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market at Suwanee Town Center Park every Saturday, “Art on a Limb” all along the Suwanee Greenway trails throughout May, “Petapalooza, Star 94’s “pet party in the park” on May 17th and the Memorial Weekend concert on May 23rd.
Enjoy the summer in Suwanee……..Play Hard, Live Well, Smile More
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George Pierce Park in Suwanee
April 29th, 2008 Categories: Suwanee Fun Stuff
Suwanee, in Gwinnett County, has some of the best family fun anywhere! The fantastic Gwinnett County Park system may be the very best reason to move your family here to Suwanee. This map shows the first class park facilities dotted all across Gwinnett.
George Pierce Park is just one of the many parks and features. It’s extensive facilities include a new senior center which was recently dedicated.
Here’s some details…
Acres: 304
George Pierce park contains large areas of wetlands, but is best known for its extensive recreation and athletic facilities. The park has a playground, 5 soccer fields, a football field, 7 youth baseball and softball fields, 2 adult softball fields, concessions, restroom building, three pavilions, a paved, 0.6-mile walking trail, and a 1.2-mile mulch footpath.
George Pierce Community Recreation Center and the new Prime Timers Pointe Senior Activity Center located at George Pierce Park in Suwanee recently opened. The 16,000-square-foot community center, the fourth community center operated by Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation, features a community room, catering kitchen, three classrooms, a dance/aerobic studio, game room, and outdoor basketball courts.
The attached 9,500-square-foot Prime Timers Point Senior Activity Center includes a large community room with a kitchen, an art studio, a classroom, a computer room for SeniorNet computer training classes, a covered outdoor terrace with shuffleboard courts and a lounge area. Prime Timers Pointe, “Where those in their prime, have the time of their lives,” has additional space for billiards and a reading room. The $6.8 million construction project was funded through the 2001 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). A HUD Community Development Block Grant is contributing almost $1.5 million toward construction costs of the Senior Activity Center.
Other construction improvements coming this year to George Pierce Park include a new 1.75-mile multi-purpose trail that will circle the new Community Recreation Center and Prime Timers Pointe and existing ball fields, and connect to the existing .6-mile trail. Two outdoor basketball courts are being built, and new parking areas added near the playground and pavilion at the lake and near the existing soccer fields.
George Pierce Park expansion information
Parks & Recreation Master Plan Documents
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