Life 400 North ~ October 2016

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MEDAL TESTED Rio ‘16 Paralympian returns to Cumming

Tailgating with the pros Inside: The National Park Service celebrates 100 years | A fresh taste, or two, on South Main St. in Alpharetta

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from the

I

Editor

’m super proud of our cover story for this issue. And not necessarily proud about the piece itself (though Kayla Robins did a great job with it), but more so just of the content. McKenzie Coan lived out her dreams in Rio during the 2016 Paralympic Games. She absolutely torched her field, bringing home three gold medals and one silver, all while dealing with the complications from osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease. Hearing her story not only enlightens, but it empowers. It gives you that “anything is possible” feeling, and I can’t thank her enough for giving us the opportunity to share that with our readers. We have some other great stories in this issue, as well. Kelly Whitmire went back to his alma mater to tailgate with a former National Tailgating Champion (you read that right). In honor of the National Park Service celebrating its 100th year of existence, we put together some facts about its presence Georgia and some tips on how to get the most out of it. We also looked into the age-old fad of hard cider and visited a local cider house to see what all the fuss is about. So, as per usual, we are kind of all over the place with our stories, but that’s just the way we like it — diverse, like the people and places along the 400 corridor.

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Micah Green

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TABLE OF CONTENTS OCT//NOV Tailgating with the McBrides

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COVER STORY: McKenzie Coan

12

100 Years of the National Park Service 17 Sports Portraits

20

A Fresh Taste in Alpharetta

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An Apple a Day

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17

Events 29

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10 October • November 2016

CONTRIBUTORS Vince Johnson Publisher

MICAH GREEN

Ryan Garmon Advertising Director

Angie decker Graphic Designer

Kayla Robins Editor

Tracie Pike Production Manager

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Creative Director

www.forsythnews.com/BestOf Isabel Hughes Staff Writer

KELLY WHITMIRE Staff Writer

Brian Paglia Sports Editor

Connor Kelly

cheri bullard

allison althauser

Advertising

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Facebook.com/TheLife400

thru 11.6.16

#bestofforsyth The event 1.25.17

Featuring the cumming-Forsyth Chamber of commerce Excellence in Business Awards

www.ForsythNews.com/TheLife400 Advertising rates and deadlines available upon request.

Contact Ryan Garmon at (770) 205-8960 or rgarmon@forsythnews.com.

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October • November 2016

Vote for us Best Of Forsyth 2017

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Story by Kelly Whitmire

‘TAILGATING just gets in your

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veins.’

October • November 2016

F

ormer college football coach Marino Casem once said that in the South, college football is a religion, and every Saturday is a holy day.

If that’s the case, consider Donnie McBride a zealot.

It’s an idyllic fall day, prefect for football, on Oct. 1 as the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and it’s multitude of fans prepare for the upcoming tilt with rivals the University of Tennessee Volunteers, a game that Tennessee will infamously win on a last second Hail Mary to end the game.

But before all the analysis and Monday morning quarterbacking, before even the game, McBride is joined by family at their tailgate spot at Bulldog Park, an upscale RV community that transforms from a mostly empty lot the majority of the year to gameday central six or seven weekends in the fall.

“Tailgating just gets in your dadgum veins,” McBride said, “or not necessarily tailgating, but the Georgia Bulldogs, just the love for the collegiate football program and supporting them.”

A quick look around McBride’s spot shows that Georgia football and tailgating go hand in hand.

His trailer is not only the same colors as the football team, but decked both inside and out with red “G’s” and bulldogs.

The inside of the trailer is complete with several TVs, a bedroom and a kitchen and living room area that would rival many high-end apartments. The trailer also fits a golf cart and Smart Car in the back.

Outside, the corner lot sports a Georgia “G” in the hedges, a small fence around the trailer and all the food and tents neces-

October • November 2016

sary for tailgating.

“The trailer, I set it up the way I set it up for the year,” McBride said. “We take our tent and stuff down and put it in the trailer when we leave, then when we come back we put it out.”

Others have taken notice of McBride’s work, as he and his wife, Edna, won top honors at the first ever National Collegiate Tailgating Championship in 2012.

“We beat out a bunch of people in here and we beat all of the participating collegiate tailgating,” he said.

The fandom doesn’t stop when McBride, a season-ticket holder, is away from the park. His Gainesville business is named “Bulldawg Collision,” each time he receives a phone call the team’s fight song plays and he has three bulldogs of his own: Maddie, Boss and Glory Glory.

He says the obsession began after his daughter, Autumn, who is now pursuing her second degree from the school, began college. While he was a fan before, he (in his own words) “went crazy.”

“I’ve been tailgating probably since Autumn started UGA,” he said. “We’ve been here probably nine years, because we used to dry-camp … from Friday night to Sunday afternoon we would spend a whole afternoon in the RV, like we do now.”

McBride said his family moved to the state about 15 years ago after living in both Carolinas, but he is quick to point out that while he and his wife are South Carolina natives, they have never been Gamecocks or fair-weather fans.

“We’re Dawg fans and we’re going to be Dawg fans until we’re not breathing anymore.”

He’s even living in the park while looking for a new home in the area after recently closing on his Forsyth County home.

Driving around the park, McBride is stopped constantly by friends trading jokes, talking about the game and even making offers on the red and black Smart Car, before briefly stopping at the massive Big Dawg Barn, a two-story structure filled with food, fans and football memorabilia.

“That is a tailgating facility for three lots and it’s pretty immaculate,” he said.

“Everyone is welcome at every other site.”

In the end, win, lose or last-minute Hail Mary, McBride knows what keeps him coming back. “[It’s] just the enjoyment of it,” he said.

“The fellowship, the meeting people and we have lots of friends here and we would not have them otherwise, because we would have never met. And that’s what we really enjoy is the comradery.”

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October • November 2016

Medal Tested

McKenzie Coan has faced painful adversity her whole life. The 20-year-old Paralympian has, so far, swam right past it.

Story by Kayla Robins Photos by Micah Green It’s 12:47 p.m., we’re at a Wal-Mart in Oakwood, and we’re running late. McKenzie Coan is scheduled to appear at a park in Toccoa at 1 p.m., and we’re trying to make it up there before she has another appearance scheduled at 3 p.m.

Please be there still. Please be there still.

The Wal-Mart stop was to buy an American flag for the photo shoot. Three-by-five?

Four-by-six? She’s only 4-foot-3. The bigger one will look good flanking her and her four medals.

The 20-year-old Loyola University Maryland swimmer, who used to swim on the Cumming Waves at the Cumming Aquatic Center (and whose mom still coaches them), brought home three gold and one silver from Rio this year.

It’s 1:45 p.m. – roughly – we’re a block from Paul Anderson Memorial Park, and we drive past a group of kids, 50 or so of them, kindergarteners or thereabouts, walking away from our destination. Waving kindergarten-sized American flags.

October • November 2016

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McKenzie Coan and the 2016 Paralympic Games • Coan classified as a S7/SB6/SM7 swimmer • Classifications are broken down into three groups based on stroke and impairment. The “S” represents freestyle, butterfly and backstroke. “SB” stands for breaststroke, and “SM” is medley. Numbers range from 1-14, with 1-10 being physical impairments, 11-13 being visually impaired and 14 meaning intellectually impaired. The lower the number, the more severe the impairment • Swimming has been a Paralympic sport since the 1960 Rome Games • Paralympic swimmers competed for 151 medal events “I bet they were just with her,” I point out, unnecessarily, unhelpfully.

Please still be there.

We walk up, and I can’t see her.

But I do see her mom. Teresa Coan is standing by a fountain, talking with a small group of adults. Everyone is dressed in red, white and/or blue. Exhale.

Then, I hear her laugh from a shaded, covered area. I’d only met her once before – about 21 hours earlier – but her laugh, more like a giggle, stuck with me.

Joyful. Excited. Thankful, if a laugh can be that.

Today she’s surrounded by another group of adults and her 6-foot-somet h i n g al m o s t -1 8 year-old brother.

McKenzie Coan is used to looking up at others. Short stature,

after all, is a common effect of osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease.

But now that she is a four-time decorated Team USA swimming Paralympian, she has a generation looking up to her.

“I’m gonna make that team.”

Coan began to hit her stride at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She didn’t medal in London in 2012, but that wasn’t near the beginning of her journey in the water.

“The water was always the one place that I knew I was safe, because like on land and stuff I was at risk for a lot of fractures and breaking my bones and everything.

Not fun stuff to go through as a kid,” she said. She spent five days a week in the water for aquatic therapy as a kid. “My brothers got bored of sitting at the pool, so they decided to join the swim team, and when I saw them I was like, ‘Yah, I know I can do that. And I know I can do it just as well.’ So I started doing that.”

At one of her first Paralympic events she met an athlete. Curtis Lovejoy. “ H e ’s b e e n t o , l i k e , f i v e Paralympic games. He’s got a lot of medals, and he’s just a great guy all around, and I remember he said he trains six days a week. And I remember turning to my mom and looking at her after that, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna train seven days a week, and I’m gonna make that next team.”

And she did.

“Thinking back four years ago in London, my first thought when we got on the plane to go home was, ‘Wow I hope I get to do that again.’

So when I got there and we were doing it again, it was just a huge honor to even be there. It was really, really cool. It’s still pretty indescribable.”

A welcome homecoming

A running joke with the Paralympic Team USA swimmers is that their medals – a hefty number –

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October • November 2016

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are worth just a little bit more than the Olympic medals. The Braille on the back adds just a little bit more gold or silver or bronze.

The beads inside each – 28 in each gold, 20 in each silver, 16 in each bronze – that make each level sound different so the visually impaired athletes can tell which kind they’re holding adds just a little more weight.

A day before the Toccoa trip, Coan explained the difference in each medal to a press conference audience of kids at the Cumming Aquatic Center.

She was not shy in letting the kids hold them or shake them or wear them. She’s seen most of them grow up in her time with the Cumming Waves.

“You want to wear it?” she asked, smile wide as her face. “It’s heavy. There ya go, man.”

Some who gathered to welcome her home have grown taller than her since she last saw them. She didn’t mind sizing up to them, as if she were reuniting with a cousin or high school friend.

They asked her questions like how did she win, and how much does she practice, and what does she eat to prepare for a race.

“She takes teeny tiny Cheerios and dips them in peanut butter, with potato chips,” her mom told the crowd, her team.

“Just wait and see.”

Being born with osteogenesis imperfecta has made her life different, sometimes hard, many times painful, but it has not stopped her from achieving what most can only dream of, marveling at them from behind their TV screen every four years – becoming an Olympian.

“We did not know that [she was born with the disease] until she was 19 days old and her leg broke when I went to burp her. And from that point on it started going,” Teresa Coan said. “It was really hard when she was first diagnosed because I had everybody telling me everything she wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t have her head up, she wouldn’t laugh, she wouldn’t crawl. Had somebody tell me that she could pass away when she was an infant. That was really difficult to hear. But October • November 2016

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“Whenever I was in the water I kind of felt like all

the other kids around me, like

the water was

actually a safe place … where I could be equal to everybody without any boundaries.” -- McKenzie Coan

“I take it very, very seriously because I want

to motivate them to go out and follow their dreams.” -- McKenzie Coan

“I would hold her stiffly and wouldn’t let anybody

you can either put her in a china cabinet or you can let her live.” -- Teresa Coan. touch her. [Her physical therapist] said

I told them they didn’t know what they were talking about and just wait and see.”

It’s 2:15 p.m. – roughly – and Teresa Coan’s baby who wasn’t supposed to do anything is standing, holding an American flag, draped in a 100m freestyle gold, a 400m freestyle gold, a 50m freestyle gold and a 4x100m freestyle silver.

If Teresa Coan had listened to them, her daughter wouldn’t also hold the American Paralympic record for 1500m freestyle.

“She has the will to succeed. And something I told her when she first went on the swim team, she had not swam without a floating device. So she wanted to do it, and I said the only way you can do this, I unzipped down the thing and just dropped her in the water. And she swam. And she made more than one lap by herself. She had never done it before.”

Her work ethic, maybe it came from her parents, maybe from swimming, maybe from a lifetime of fighting through pain, is something she wants to instill in young kids.

“I hope that people can take something from this and realize that if you work hard enough and if you put enough of your mind to something, there’s nothing you can’t achieve,” she said. “And I think that if you have a good work ethic and you keep focused that you can go out there and pursue anything you want to in life. And to never let yourself be limited by circumstance. Because you can overcome anything.”

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October • November 2016

100 YEARS.

The National Park Service is more than a parks system.

It says it has reached some part of almost every American town.They route trails and build playgrounds. They conserve monuments and protect watersheds. They rebuild historic buildings and teach the next generation about their community’s past and about stewardship of the future.

Story by Kayla Robins Photos by Micah Green

The first 100: looking back A lot can happen in 100 years. Multiple generations can be born. Most people’s whole lives will commence and conclude. Entire countries can form and be destroyed. America has certainly grown, morphed, split, come together, mourned, celebrated, in the first century of the National Park Service, which has worked to take a snapshot of American life during any monumental time.

From marking a trail forged decades ago or preserving a historic battlefield, to conserving canyons and massive trees to protecting animals and connecting 50 different states with different goals to the same mindset: future generations will know who was here before them and what they saw, and they will be tasked, as their ancestors, with enabling their children and grandchildren to do the same.

The National Park Service celebrated a birthday on August 25, 100 years after the NPS Organic Act created the National Park System and a “collective expression of who we are as a people and where our values were forged,” the Call to Action says. “The national parks also deliver a message to future generations about the experiences that have made America a symbol of freedom and opportunity for the rest of the world.”

The National Parks Service in Georgia 11 National parks 7,527,855 visitors to

national parks annually $387.1 million in rehabilitation projects stimulated by national park tourism 154,007 hours donated by volunteers 3 National heritage sites 2 National trails managed by NPS

2,086 National Register of Historic Places listings 49 National historic landmarks 11 National natural landmarks 301 archeological sites in national parks 21 threatened and endangered species

* Source: NPS, as of 9/30/15

A second century: looking ahead The NPS centennial, just like the NPS itself, is more than conservation. It is even more than education.

Taking both those goals, 2016 has marked a call to action throughout Georgia and the nation to prepare for the “next century of stewardship and engagement.”

America is nothing like it was in 1916, when a footwar took over the world. Transportation was different.

Technology was different. The work day. Family roles.

What has, on a grand-scale, not changed, is the avail-

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ability of national parks. The deep confines of a mountain protected by miles of conservation land, or the historical sites that remain to this day because of volunteer stewardship.

These natural and historical amenities cannot exist in the growing expansion of our infrastructure and population without purposeful forethought to preserve them.

The 2016 NPS Call to Action aims to prompt physical plans to be carried out, with a focus on connecting people to parks by using, not setting aside, technology, urban life and a diverse community.

October • November 2016

...watch the sunrise

Kennesaw Mountain Sitting to the northwest of Atlanta, the sun rises over the skyline and among the 2,965-acre Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, which is a preservation of a Civil War

October • November 2016

...catch the sunset

Arabia Mountain Opposite of Atlanta from Kennesaw Mountain, down I-20 east, lie granite monadnocks that patrolled Georgia’s rivers and forests for millions of years. The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area protects the surrounding natural wonders, including its 955-foot cratered summit.

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battleground where forces occupied and fought in June and July of 1864. The area’s history continued to be written into the Great Depression, when it was the site of Camp Brumby, a Civilian Conservation Camp, or CCC. President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated CCC’s as part of his New Deal program to help Americans recover from the Depression by employing young men to clear trails, plant trees, give tours and build signs, which are still used today.

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Sports Portraits

Our favorite portraits of some of the area’s most talented athletes.

Evan Cole; South Forsyth High School

Photographs by Micah Green

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October • November 2016

Julian Mingo; South Forsyth High School Maddie Bryant; North Forsyth High School

October • November 2016

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A FRESH TASTE

There are two doors. They sit next to each other on the same block, connected by the same circa-1902 building. Only one thing inside them is the same: the man behind them.

STORY BY KAYLA ROBINS PHOTOS BY MICAH GREEN

On the revitalization of downtown Alpharetta: “Right now it’s like, ‘I’m going to go eat dinner at South Main Kitchen and go home.’ I want it to be like, ‘OK, I’m going to downtown Alpharetta and these are my choices.’ Next thing you know you have people walking around.”

On owning a restaurant: “I just love what I do. I truly have fun in it. It makes me happy.”

On how his chef develops the menu:

On the restaurant industry in Georgia: “People are into their craft. The people who enjoy what they do, they’re serious about their craft. [In south Florida, where I lived before Georgia], it is more show and tell. Here it’s I just want to cook good food, man. It’s not pretentious.”

W

hen Louis Soon has food in front of him, he tries each bite separately first. Red potato. Snow pea.

Buttermilk and charred fennel sauce.

Broccolini. Heirloom tomato. Zucchini.

Fennel slaw on top.

Salmon. No knife needed, even with the sweet, crispy outer crunch. Then he takes it all in.

“I’m always about food. Like, I’ll eat seven times I day if I have to. I knew that I can’t do what these guys do in the back, but food is definitely my passion. I can do without alcohol. I can’t do without food. I

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“I allow my chef and her staff the freedom to be different. But I gotta taste it first. That’s my talent - I can’t necessarily cook like my chef, but I can go to somebody’s restaurant and just taste and go, oh my god, this right here is phenomenal - to know the difference.”

South Main Kitchen 9 S. Main St. Hours: 11 a.m -2:30 p.m., 4:30 - 10 p.m. (Sun. till 9 p.m.)

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go to restaurants every time and I order the entire menu. My friends are like, ‘Louis, stop it.’ I just simply indulge in the menu.

Not to compare, just to enjoy it.”

Soon owns South Main Kitchen and Butcher and Brew on the corner of S. Main Street (figures) and Milton Avenue, arguably two of the most popular eateries in downtown Alpharetta. South Main: the staple (it’s been open for three years).

Butcher and Brew: the new hotspot (it’s been open for five weeks).

Many who are so successful in the restaurant industry have some profound story that put them on that path. Like if he had October • November 2016

grown up knowing he wanted to become a chef or start a restaurant or was inspired by someone’s food.

“I didn’t fall in love with the food more until I learned the craft and how the people go through it. I see the hard work and dedication and respect … [the chefs] put their hardearned sweat to create their dish. I love food more than anything in the world.”

It was 13 years ago that he decided to go to culinary school over becoming a photographer.

Even now, his practice of exploring a dish by individual ingredient before making sure it satisfies as a whole carries over to his style of running South Main and Butcher and Brew. The South Main menu is what Soon describes as kitchen-

The ingredients and vegetables in the salmon at South Main change with the seaon, so the same dish is always unique

“I didn’t fall in love with the food more until I learned the craft and how the people go through it. I see the hard work and dedication and respect … [the chefs] put their hard-earned sweat to create their dish. I love food more than anything in the Louis Soon, owner of South Main Kitchen and Butcher & Brew. world.”

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Louis Soon owns South Main Kitchen and Butcher and Brew in downtown Alpharetta, and while the venues are starkly different they both have a proven appeal.

inspired. “The whole scene is focused around the kitchen. It’s all about the food.”

The dishes at their root may be found on any new-American-Southern-comfortstyle menu at a nice night out in Atlanta, from the sweet potato fries that are probably the only item that was on there at the beginning (per the request of Soon’s business partner), to the top-selling Brussel sprouts and the standard proteins: chicken, fish, shrimp, pork, filet mignon, burger.

Where the difference shines is in the details. In each table, each bench, each bar top being reclaimed and handcrafted. No barcodes, Soon boasts proudly. It shows in the simplicity of the rustic bar. Bourbon, local draft beer, wine, but with standout cocktail names like Drunken Monk, Joan Rivers, Death Avenue Cowboy, and, of course, Smokey and the Bandito.

“It’s simple at the end of the day. But constantly changing.”

The difference comes in the servers who know the menu inside and out — ­ and who listen to your preferences rather than upselling the menu.

“You’re sitting down having dinner with your friends and talking about the dish that you’re eating, [that] is probably what I aspire to. Like that’s my goal. I want four people that I have no idea [who they are], and I’m just sitting there watching them

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and just talking while they’re eating their food, like, what is this, did you taste that, my god that’s amazing, what is this, my god. When I go out with my friends, that’s what I do. We just sit down and we get after it.”

It comes when you walk out the massive wooden door from South Main, take about 15 steps and open the massive metal door into Butcher and Brew.

On the surface, it is a 360-change from South Main. Full-service bar with loud music and TVs playing sports. A simple menu. Boxes on the table containing silverware and paper napkins. Wood and rusticity nixed for metal and modernity.

But the mantra remains the same.

“When I opened South Main, I always knew I wanted this place … I had no idea at the time what I wanted to do, but I wanted to do something completely different. I figured there are three basics: food, service and atmosphere. I’m a stickler about service. About everything, really, but that’s supposedly my forté.”

Soon likes to take care of people.

You’re not going to go to either of his restaurants and feel like the next profit he’s making, the next tip for the server.

“This is my house; I want to make sure they have the best time of their life.

Whether that’s ordering multiple drinks at

the bar or getting food or one beer or just [the complimentary] popcorn and water.

And then hopefully they come back. And then hopefully they tell their friends. And then they tell their friends and their friends. And then I have a full restaurant on a Friday night.”

On the other side of the Alpharetta City Hall, there are the beginning steps of a brand new mixed-use development.

Restaurants. Offices. Retail.

Soon isn’t worried.

If he does his job well, the newcomers won’t be as much competition as a welcome addition to the revitalization of downtown.

“As long as my caliber of food and service and ambiance is up to par, yes, bring on more restaurants. Because eventually I think Alpharetta will become a destination.”

Soon is two doors ahead of the game, and he seems to be playing it well.

“Worry about one person at a time. Take care of them. Make sure they have a good time. Then go to the next person, and focus on them. Then you set the pace.

Look at them directly in front of their face, and then tell them, ‘What do you like?

What can I get for you?’”

October • November 2016

TOP 3 Downtown TAKE 3 Alpharetta

A hors d’oeuvre tour checklist to maximize your time, wallet and appetite.

Hop Alley Brew Pub

Crust Pasta & Pizzeria

Butcher and Brew

1. Beer flight. Choose a sample of four of Hop Alley’s six house-brewed beers, allowing you to explore the most of the menu without filling up.

1. Martini Classico. A tweak to the traditional martini, olives are skewered between, not stuffed with, mozzarella balls.

1. Ice cream sandwich. A hand-sized peanut butter cookie on either side of porter ice cream. It’s really, really good.

2. Bacon in a jar. Quite literally that. Comes with honey and vanilla-whipped peanut butter.

2. Piccolo caprese. Comes with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls and basil shreds and olive oil and balsamic glaze on top of toast.

25 S. Main St. (770) 696-2097 www.hopalleybrew.com

3. Wisconsin cheese curds.

Comes with “beer cheese” and Sriracha ranch sauces. * Pro tip: Try the bacon with every sauce.

131 S. Main St. (770) 777-6789 www.crust-pizzeria.com

3 S. Main St. (678) 585-3344 www.butcherandbrewshop.com

3. Garlic knots. Handmade knots come with garlic butter and marinara sauce.

A top-seller. * Pro tip: Go for a game. There are plenty of TVs to make a family night possible.

2. Snack. Seasoned popcorn is served complimentary and is a great side while perusing the menu (the cocktail list has names like The Don Draper, The Ginger Midget, Revenge Served Cold and even adult milkshakes).

3. Belly up. The point of this venue is community, openness and simplicity. * Pro tip: If you can’t decide or need suggestions, ask. The servers know their stuff.

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October • November 2016

THE LIFE 400 NORTH

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An apple a day ushers in a perfect fall day Story by Isabel Hughes

T

he cool breeze wafting through the orchard carried the scent of fermenting apples, the ground littered with the rotting fruit.

The plumpest, juiciest Rome Beauties rested high in the trees, out of reach of prying hands and snacking apple pickers.

The lower-hanging Golden Delicious, however, remained aplenty, along with the Red Delicious and Stamen Winesap.

Though B.J. Reece Orchards in Ellijay d o es n ’t m a ke i ts ow n hard apple cider, Winesaps are often used to make the alcoholic drink, whose popularity is growing fast.

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While apple and other flavored cider has been a fall staple for decades, hard cider has only recently broken into the mainstream U.S. market.

And though it still makes up a relatively small part of the craft beer market and less than 0.5 percent of the entire U.S. beer market, according to Chicago-based Information Resources Inc., hard cider sales were up 75.4 percent from the previous year, reaching more than $436 million in dollar sales for 2015.

This increasing number leaves cider with just over 1 percent market share, which may be why cideries are popping up across the country and throughout Georgia.

atlanta cideries Though name-brand, bottled ciders such as Angry Orchard or Woodchuck can be bought at most supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores, Atlanta is now seeing cideries pop up – from no cideries in 2015 to two in 2016 and at least one more expected to open in 2017.

A cidery functions similarly to a brewery or winery, with some offering tours for those interested in how cider is made.

While Atlanta only has one fully open with a tasting room, (UrbanTree Cidery), two others are in the works: Treehorn Cider, which is currently building a tasting room, and Atlanta Hard Cider Co., which is expected to open in 2017.

Here’s a look at Urban Tree Cidery: Tim and Maria Resuta, owners and founders of UrbanTree, opened the West midtown cidery in March 2016 after years of toying with various locations for such a venture.

Their story begins in their basement, though.

Continued on pg 28

October • November 2016

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“This was an idea my husband started in our basement five years ago and just grew into this,” Maria Resuta said. “[It started] with a lot of bad batches of cider, and then a lot of good batches of cider and the idea took a journey from we’re going to do this in the mountains; we’ll open up a rural-type cidery in

Dahlonega, and then as we really researched those areas, [we realized] it was a cool place but a little sleepy for us.”

With three kids and work in Atlanta, the couple decided to open UrbanTree in the city, creating the first of its kind there.

And while it took them about a year and a half to find their current

location, Resuta said they’ve been doing well and ultimately hope to expand.

They’re on track and recently received their wholesale distribution license.This allows them to take their cider and sell it to retailers, whereas previously, it was only sold on tap or in bottles and kegs from the cidery.

Tasting room days and hours

Where to find Urban Tree cider • • • •

• Wednesday-Thursday, 5:30-9 p.m.

• Saturday, noon-5 p.m.

• Sunday, 1-5 p.m.

West Egg Café, Midtown Georgia Beer Garden, Edgewood D.B.A Barbeque, Virginia Highlands Hop City Craft Beer and Wine, Westside

*The cidery can also be used as an event space for private parties, by reservation

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October • November 2016

Open till end of October Thursday | 8:00-10:00pm Friday & Saturday | 8:00-Midnight Sunday | 8:00-11:00pm October 31 | 8:00-11:00pm

Open till end of October Friday & Saturday | 7:00-Midnight Sunday | 7:00-11:00pm

Cost: $20-$40

October 31 | 7:00-Midnight

2075 Marietta Hwy. | Canton, GA paranoiahaunt.com

Cost: $30 adults, $15 children

Open till end of October Thursday | 7:00-11:00pm Friday & Saturday | 7:00-Midnight Cost: $13

3565 North Hwy 155 | Stockbridge, GA fearthewoods.com

1950 Alpharetta Hwy. | Alpharetta, GA gahouseonhorrorhill.com

Open till end of October Sunday - Thursday | 7:30-10:30pm

Open till end of October Thursday - Sunday | 7:30-10:00pm October 21-22 | 7:00-Midnight October 28-29 | 7:30-1:00am October 31 | 7:30-11:00pm

Open till end of October

November 4th & 5th | 7:30-10:30pm

Thursday | 8:00-11:00pm

Fridays and Saturdays | 7:00-12:00am

Friday & Saturday | 8:00-1:00am

Cost: $23-$25

Sunday | 8:00-11:00pm

6624 Dawson Blvd. | Norcross, GA fearworld.com

October 31 | 8:00-11:00pm

Cost: $17-$35

Cost: $25

320 Temple Ave. | Newnan, GA 13storieshauntedhouse.com

1320 Blair’s Bridge Rd. | Lithia Springs, GA containmenthauntedhouse.com

October 21, 22, 28, 29 | 7:00-Midnight (Last ticket sold at 10:30pm) Cost: $20 568 Smithonia Rd. | Winterville, GA zombiefarms.com

Ghost Tours Lawrenceville ghost tour This Ghost Tour through Downtown Lawrenceville will take you to the old city jail and points of interest along the square. Tours are led by professional storytellers, hired by Aurora Theatre and they are quite good. Each one has their own personality, a barefoot undertaker, Greek fortune teller, and Madame Macabre, which means every tour offers something a bit different. There is also a haunted cemetery tour at one of the oldest cemeteries in the Southeast, a place where investigators say there is quite a bit of paranormal activity.

Approximatly 1.5 hours long | Cost $15 Adults & $12 Children Reservations required.

Aurora Theatre | Lawrenceville, GA | scarystroll.com

Roswell ghost tour The tour is given by paranormal investigators and showcases paranormal phenomena that are routinely experienced by residents, business owners and even tour attendees. This is not costumed actors telling ghost stories. One of the highlights of the tour is a visit to Founders Cemetery, the burial site of the founder of Roswell, Roswell King. Here, bodies are buried beneath modern streets and houses. Grand Greek revival mansions and humble mill worker’s apartments are some of the haunted sites you’ll see on this mile of easy walking. We are active paranormal investigators who promise to thrill, educate and enlighten with this experience.

Approximatly 2.5 hours long | Cost $15 Adults & $10 Children Reservations required.

Bandstand at Roswell Square | Roswell, GA | roswellghosttour.com

ghosts of Marietta Ghosts of Marietta is lantern-led walk through the historic streets of Marietta, Georgia. Marietta is a gem of the south with a past that is deep in tradition, history and quality of life. As with any community harboring these traits, some residents chose to never leave.

Whether it is the departed spirit of a civil war soldier, or a mysterious resident of one of Marietta’s stately homes or businesses, you will hear the ghost stories behind these mysteries and maybe, if you’re lucky, experience them as well.

Approximatly 1.5 hours long | Cost $17 Adults, $15 Seniors & $12 Children Reservations required.

131 Church Street | Marietta, GA | ghostsofmarietta.com

spooky ghost tour Guests will travel to spaces haunted by those who loved the Fox Theatre and the ground where it sits so much that they never left.

Take a walk in the footsteps of the Confederate soldiers, pay your respects to the woman of the house and hear about Roosevelt and his work keeping the Fox warm in the winter. People have seen these ghosts and felt their presence. Will you? The tour and ghost stories are recommended for children over 10. Children under 6 are not permitted.

Approximatly 45 minutes long | Cost $30 Advanced Tickets required.

Fox Theatre | Atlanta, GA | foxtheatre.com

dahlonega ghost walk Dahlonega, Georgia has a very haunted history, thanks to its gold-mining, Civil War and Trail of Tears past, as well as its geology.

Sightings of Civil War soldiers playing cards in Mount Hope Cemetery, a ghostly little girl in a long white dress who plays in rooms in the Historic District, ghosts who rattle dishes and pans in restaurants on the Public Square, chairs and chess pieces being moved when no one was there…the stories go on and on and are corroborated by town residents.

The 13-location guided tour takes guests on an eerie and intriguing journey full of local tales and legends. The Tour weaves through streets, back alleys, rows of historic buildings, and the historically significant Mount Hope Cemetery. We continuously study Dahlonega’s history and work with paranormal researchers using thermal cameras and other equipment to document sightings.

Cost $15 Adults & $5 Children | Reservations suggested.

131 Church Street | Marietta, GA | dahlonegawalkingtours.com

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October • November 2016

THE LIFE 400 NORTH

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