Preparing for 250
Tuesday, June 23 — With July 4 on the horizon, this week we have details on the America 250 Community Puzzle Project through Create Dunwoody. Find out how you can get involved in our story below.
🤝 We also have news on the debut of the Atlanta Beltline Partnership volunteer portal, aimed at connecting volunteer options with those looking to lend a hand.
And, “That 70s Experience” is set for July 25 at Pullman Yards. Expect footage from the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival, vintage shopping, live music, and more.
And now for a few headlines:
🎗️ Tributes from both sides of the aisle are pouring in for longtime Georgia radio host, political commentator, and conservative activist Martha Zoller, who died unexpectedly yesterday. She was 67.
🇺🇸 The Dunwoody Garden Club will dedicate a Blue Star Memorial at Brook Run Park on July 2 as part of the America 250 observance.
💰 “Toy Story 5” opened last weekend with a franchise-record box office haul of $160 million. But did you know the Pixar series has two big Metro Atlanta connections? Read Sammie Purcell’s conversations with Anna Vocino, the voice of Mrs. Potato Head, and animator David Torres.
🎟️ One diner called the first Rough Draft Dinner Club “Good food and great company in a low-pressure environment.” Register today for the next one on July 21.
🕓 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter.
• ‘That 70s Experience’ @ Pullman Yards
• America 250 Community Puzzle Project
• Beltline volunteer portal
AND
• Stories of Atlanta | Lance Russell
Restored footage of Atlanta International Pop Festival to debut at Pullman Yards
🎸 In the summer of 1970, crowds gathered in a field near the Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron, GA to listen to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Seger, the Allman Brothers Band, and more.
This would become the last iteration of the Atlanta International Pop Festival, a rock ‘n’ roll festival founded by the late music promoter Alex Cooley. It was a weekend full of live music, drugs, bracing heat, and hundreds of thousands of hippies and young people embracing counterculture with open arms. And later this summer, people who weren’t there will be able to experience the festival too.
On July 25, footage from the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival will play at an event called “That 70s Experience” at Pullman Yards. From 2-10 p.m., visitors will walk through an installation that takes you back in time, experiencing a world of vintage shopping, roller rinks, and amazing music.
🛼 Read Sammie Purcell’s interview with the director of the footage here.
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Create Dunwoody launches America 250 puzzle project
🧩 Create Dunwoody has launched the America 250 Community Puzzle Project, a citywide initiative placing custom 500-piece puzzles at local businesses and gathering spaces to bring residents together during the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
The project places puzzles at restaurants, shops, office waiting rooms, and other community spaces, inviting residents, families, and visitors to stop in and add pieces during regular business hours, according to a release from the organization.
“As we commemorate 250 years of America, this project reminds us that community is built one conversation at a time,” said Rosemary Watts, executive director of Create Dunwoody. “Whether someone spends five minutes or an hour working on a puzzle, they are participating in something larger – bringing people together, fostering connections and reflecting on what freedom, belonging, and community mean in our daily lives.”
🇺🇸 Read more on the Community Puzzle Project here.
Beltline partnership launches new volunteer portal
🌱 Atlanta Beltline Partnership announced the launch of a new volunteer portal, an online platform designed to connect Atlanta residents with volunteer opportunities along the Atlanta Beltline and simplify tracking of service hours.
The portal, now live, allows volunteers to browse and register for opportunities, complete required training, and monitor cumulative service hours, according to a release from the organization. Volunteer options include trail clean-ups, community events, bike tour guiding, art programming assistance, and advisory board participation.
🚲 Learn more about the portal and how you can join in here.
‘Atlanta’s Forgotten Pioneers’: Stories of Atlanta by Lance RussellVIA SAPORTAREPORT
🪓 It is not hard to imagine how difficult life must have been for America’s early settlers. Most of us today would be ill-equipped at best to walk out into the wilderness and make a home for ourselves.
In the 1800s, however, it would have been expected. Tales abound in American history of the men who walked across the country, and, in the process, built America. What we don’t hear nearly enough of are tales of the women who walked alongside those men.
To one Atlanta woman, that was not acceptable, and, in 1909, she set out to ensure that the stories of the women who settled Atlanta would not be forgotten.
🧭 Learn more in this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
🖋️ Today’s Silver Streak was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
