Are you ‘zerious’?
April 30 — It’s Cathy from Rough Draft with my weekly newsletter on Dunwoody. Aside from an early glitch that was no fault of organizers and handled well, last weekend’s Lemonade Days was a smash hit, with the rain holding off for the most part.
🫤 This week, we recap several meetings that could have a significant impact on the Dunwoody area, especially if you are obsessed with “fast-casual” food concepts that aren’t spelled correctly. We also say goodbye to Dunwoody’s first mayor, recap a Vietnam War commemoration, and give you a reason to give a Heinz 57 dog a chance.
🪻Enjoy this beautiful spring weather,
Cathy
🐾 The Midtown Mutt Gala returns this Sun.., May 4! Inspired by the Met Gala, enjoy food, music, vendors, and costumed dogs on the red carpet. Free to watch; small fee to enter your pup (register by tomorrow, May 1). Details here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
A fond farewell for Dunwoody’s first mayor
👑 The Dunwoody City Council recognized its former first mayor and all-around great guy (and my former neighbor) Ken Wright, as he and his family have sold their home and are moving on to greener pastures.
Wright, who headed up the grassroots committee “Citizens for Dunwoody” that brought the city to fruition, served as its mayor from 2009 until 2012.
Mayor Lynn Deutsch said Wright had an “unbelievable task” of creating a city “at a time when everything had to be created.”
Wright, who grew up in the Branches subdivision, said he was excited to see the progress that the city has made since his tenure, especially with the development of the Georgetown Gateway Corridor and the expansion of the police department.
👓 Read a throw-back story we did in 2011, when Wright decided not to run for re-election after his first term.
Kim Chong Hak’s American debut at The High!
SPONSORED BY THE HIGH MUSEUM
🏔️ At The High, Kim Chong Hak: Painter of Seoraksan bursts to life with vibrant colors and dynamic landscapes. Experience the energy of Korea’s Mount Seorak through Kim’s expressive brushstrokes—perfect for celebrating the vibrancy of spring!
➞ Don’t miss this breathtaking exhibition. Open now!
Black April remembered at Brook Run Park
🇻🇳 At its first official gathering since it was dedicated last October, a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Black April was held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Brook Run Park April 29.
“Black April,” or Tháng Tư Đen, refers to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, marking the end of the Vietnam War and the South Vietnamese government and is a day of mourning and remembrance for overseas Vietnamese communities, in particular those who fled the country after the war.
The ceremony included speakers U.S. Army Col. (ret) Ton That Tuan, Senior Defense Official and Defense Attache to Vietnam and Al Lipphardt, Commander-in-Chief Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.
The $1.2 million Vietnam Veterans Memorial was constructed using private funds, and is the only one of its kind in the United States.
🪖 The original story about the memorial can be found here.
🐾 The Midtown Mutt Gala returns this Sun.., May 4! Inspired by the Met Gala, enjoy food, music, vendors, and costumed dogs on the red carpet. Free to watch; small fee to enter your pup (register by tomorrow, May 1). Details here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
There’s hope for the ‘saucinators’
🍗 Full disclosure: I have an aversion to targeted typos in food descriptions because I feel weird ordering them in the drive-through (e.g. zalads, chicken fingerz). I also have a problem patronizing restaurants that do the the same – Kountry Kitchen, Kale me Krazy – you get the drift.
For that reason, I’m not familiar with the obsession with Zaxby’s, but am here to report that Dunwoody may be the site of the restaurant’s newest store concept, if everything goes to plan.
The Dunwoody Homeowners Association heard a presentation at its April 27 meeting about Zaxby’s plans to build a store in the Ashford Lane area. The owner’s representative did drop this truth bomb at the meeting: the new location will include milkshakes. You might want to wake the kids.
For those late to the game, Dunwoody isn’t so much down with drive-through lanes, but the current building, a former bank, has one.
🥤 Read about the meeting here.
It’s clear in the city with no chance of dogs or cats
🐾 The Dunwoody City Council at its April 28 meeting introduced a ordinance to ban retail sales of dogs and cats within the city. Since the Petland in the Walmart Shopping Center on Ashford Dunwoody Road closed, there are no retail pet shops with skin in the game, but it prevents another similar establishment from coming into Dunwoody.
Previously, the council passed an ordinance preventing the sales of pets in public areas (like the set-up pictured above), but it doesn’t affect breeders from doing business within the city with people who absolutely have to get a goldendoodle.
A staff memo at the April 28 meeting went hard on the premise that the ordinance will encourage shelter adoptions. With the DeKalb Animal Shelter in Chamblee bursting at the seams, it would be nice.
🏷️ Here is a wrap-up of the city council meeting, which discusses the ordinance.
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