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Roswell ushers in holidays with tree lighting By CHAMIAN CRUZ chamian@appenmedia.com ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell Town Square transformed into a holiday scene as crowds returned Dec. 4 to ring in the holiday season. The Merry Market Festival consisted of arts and crafts vendors for holiday shopping as well as family-friendly activities along Bulloch Avenue, such as inflatables, photo ops and holiday cartoons. Roswell’s Recreation, Parks, Historic and Cultural Affairs Department hosted the event in collaboration with the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces. Cultural Arts Supervisor Corinne Sutherlin said the city’s Creation Station collected more than 100 letters to Santa throughout the day and into the evening for delivery to the North Pole in the coming days. The city launched the Creation Station in October for National Arts and Humanities Month. It pops up around the community with different events every week. “What we do is try to bring creative ideas and free opportunities to the community, so it can be anything as simple as letters to Santa or making a cool volcano or like earlier, Oompa Loompas,” Sutherlin said. “We post all the places we’re going to be popping up on roswellgov.com/create.” During the event, two raffle winners also took home new bikes from Bike Roswell, a bicycle advocacy organization that aims to make Roswell a more bicyclefriendly community. One of the winners,
See LIGHTING, Page 29
County officials study 2022 spending proposal
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ROSWELL 10731 Alpharetta Hwy, Roswell, GA EAST COBB 4880 Lower Roswell Rd, #135, Marietta, GA
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Alpharetta agrees to extend contract for police presence at COVID test site By PATRICK FOX pat@appenmedia.com
CHAMIAN CRUZ/APPEN MEDIA
Mayor Lori Henry reads “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore before the countdown leading up to the annual tree lighting at Roswell Town Square Dec. 4.
Smoke at Avalon hotel draws first responders
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Festivities scheduled to celebrate holidays
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta signed an agreement to continue providing security and traffic control at the Fulton County COVID-19 testing site on North Point Parkway. The extension, signed at the Dec. 6 City Council meeting, is for six months and includes a payment of $80,000 to compensate the city for Public Safety Department personnel. Fulton County opened the second of its COVID testing stations at the North Point Parkway site in late April 2020. From the start, Alpharetta has provided security and traffic control for the station. Earlier this year, the county issued a payment of $275,000 to the city as reimbursement for the service. Fulton County was among the leaders in rolling out COVID testing sites during the early days of the pandemic. In addition to permanent stations at Alpharetta and at Wolf Creek Amphitheatre in College Park, the Fulton County Health Department partnered with local governments to set up short-term testing sites. The City of Roswell partnered with the
See AGREEMENT, Page 6