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Tempers flare in hearing over Dunwoody Village
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September 2, 2021 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Nature Center hires new executive director BY CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. – The Dunwoody Nature Center has a new executive director. Nancy Longacre, who has spent the last 19 years in the non-profit world, succeeds Michael Cowen, who retired earlier this year. Longacre was most recently the director of development with the Anti-Cruelty Society, a Chicago nonprofit, and for eight years prior to LONGACRE that, the executive director of PAWS Atlanta. She also held several roles at the Georgia Center for Non-Profits from 2004 to 2010. She said the combination of the solid foundation that has been built by her predecessors, along with her appreciation of the mission of the Dunwoody Nature Center, made the job so appealing, “It’s an absolute jewel and a gift to not only the Dunwoody community, but also to the Atlanta metropolitan area,” Longacre said. “The fact that the organization has a strategic plan and a solid mission statement makes it really easy to ensure its success for the near and long-term future.” Longacre, a Roswell resident, began working at the 22-acre park off Roberts Drive on Aug. 14 and hit the ground running with the center’s annual Butterfly Festival, which was stretched into a four-day event in order to adhere to COVID-19 social distance protocols. “We had more than 2,500 people attend the event, and I believe that it was a great success,” she said. “With the 600 monarch butterflies and all the nature around it, it was a wonderful time.” Next on the agenda for Longacre and her staff is the center’s biggest fundraising event, Monarchs & Margaritas, on Sept. 18. Tickets, which are $100 per person, are still available. The event will be held under the stars and feature live music, food stations, and a silent and live auction. For more information about the Dunwoody Nature Center, visit www.dunwoodynaturecenter.org.
CATHY COBBS/APPEN MEDIA
Pop-up thunder showers over the weekend hindered last weekend’s Lemonade Days at Brook Run Park, but those who attended the five-day celebration enjoyed carnival rides, fair food, live music and a petting zoo. The festival, which celebrated its 21st year, is organized by the Dunwoody Preservation Trust.
Lemonade Days makes a comeback BY CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Event organizers made lemonade out of Lemonade Days. Hampered by pop-up thundershowers that forced the cancellation of Thursday’s events and challenged by a surge in COVID-19 cases, organizers were encouraged by steady attendance, community and business support and the relocation of the event to a more appealing location near the front entrance to Brook Run Park. “Despite a lot of factors, we can say that this year’s event was a huge success,” Hope Follmer, Lemonade Days director, said. “We got so many encouraging and amazing comments about the return of one of Dunwoody’s most loved traditions.” The festival, normally held the third week in April, was moved to Aug. 18-21 when it be-
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came apparent that the original date would not work, considering all the factors surrounding the world pandemic. The move to August was a temporary one, but the change in location will remain permanent. The move closer to the North Peachtree entrance to the park generated a lot of positive feedback, according to Dunwoody Preservation Trust President M.J. Thomas. The Trust has sponsored the event for the past two decades. “The guests were so pleased with the new area,” Thomas said. “It just flowed a lot better, and the shade was wonderful. We are so happy that we will be holding it at that location in the park for years to come.” While attendance was down from the previous estimates of 30,000 visitors, organizers say they were pleased with the turnout, which featured 14 sponsor booths, the same num-
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