Happy Birthday! to Duluth Patch

Happy Birthday to Duluth Patch! One year ago on Dec. 23, 2010, . Over the past year, we hope that we have become an integral part of your everyday lives.

Two days later, it snowed. Duluth had its first Christmas Day snowfall in years. It was challenging getting around to cover the news because the metro Atlanta area and the suburbs were pretty much immobilized for a week or so until roads and streets were cleared.

The day after Christmas, I bundled up – it was really cold – and ventured out to take photos of Duluth covered in show. I only avoided frostbite because I had purchased fingerless gloves at Parsons Gifts, which kept my hands warm and my fingers free to use the camera. New friends Fred and Judy Wilson, who live downtown, added to my photos by uploading shots of their snow-covered yard and neighborhood. Judy, who is president of the Duluth Historical Society, was recruited to write a "History Matters" column for Duluth Patch.

PURE Taqueria opened a restaurant on a prominent corner sparking a revitalization of downtown Duluth. Historic Downtown Duluth merchants celebrated the opening of nine new businesses with a “Duluth Is Taking Off” promotion featuring decorated hot air balloon forms posted on walls and in windows of downtown businesses and hung from trees along Main Street. I spent an entire Saturday at Luv for Art painting the Duluth Patch balloon on the deadline day, of course.

"Duluth Downtown" columnist Stacie Stamper keeps Duluth Patch readers up to date about what’s happening in the city’s core. Stamper and her co-op partners at fyi Duluth design center remodeled. The result is a showroom that rivals any Buckhead interior design studio. Greg Lindquist opened the Best of Brews, Gwinnett County’s first “growler” shop selling draft beer to go. Tie Dye 4’s Deborah McCart added a bakery on Main Street that stays open evenings.  

Owned by Bobbie Flowers, Luv for Art, another of the new businesses, offers art supplies and classes. Luv for Art patrons soon will be able to “sip and stroke” since the city council now allows downtown merchants to sell and serve customers beer and wine on a limited basis.

Eddie Owen, founder of the legendary Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, took over management of the Red Clay Theatre and is operating it as an exciting live music venue. Owen, known for discovering and nurturing name acts, is bringing alternative rock and country music...and crowds to downtown Duluth.

City and county officials dedicated the Living Honorarium, a monument honoring active military, living veterans, police, firefighters, and emergency service providers, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The Duluth Fall Festival funded a marker erected to indicate where the Eastern Continental Divide crosses the city. Both are located on the Duluth Town Green.

During the year, the city completed improvements including adding sidewalks to Davenport Road, which won a PEDS award for increasing pedestrian safety and accessibility to downtown Duluth. Improvements to McClure Bridge Road are currently underway, and a roundabout linking it and other key roads in the city is under construction.

When the Gwinnett Board of Education proposed a controversial redistricting to relieve overcrowding in Peachtree Ridge Cluster schools and increase enrollment in Duluth Cluster schools, PTA leaders and parents collaborated on an alternative plan that reduced the impact on Duluth. Mayor Nancy Harris took a strong stand against the redistricting.

This year’s Tree Lighting on the Duluth Town Green was blessed with good weather, and a record crowd attended. It was cold, rainy and windy when Duluth Patch set up a booth to introduce itself to the community at the tree lighting in 2010. Although we handed out candy canes and coloring sheets, we didn’t attract nearly as much attention as Santa arriving in a sleigh pulled by live reindeer. It was so blustery, that our tent nearly blew away.

Longtime Duluth City Councilman Doug Mundrick, who retires in January after 20 years service to the city, was honored with a surprise tribute dinner. New Post 4 Councilman Kelly Kelkenberg will be sworn in at the January council meeting. City Administrator Phil McLemore retires after 15 years at the end of December, and new City Manager Tim Shearer is already on board.

A thorough Duluth Police investigation aided by the Korean community led to the arrest and jailing of three suspects in the city’s first murder of 2011, which occurred near the end of the year.

Groundbreaking is scheduled Jan. 3 for a new active senior citizens center at W.P. Jones Park. The center will also be available for rental during evenings and weekends rental adding to the Duluth community’s resources. The Chattapoochee Dog Park is expected to open in January at Rogers Bridge Park providing a spot for citizens and their dogs to exercise. The city council adopted a tobacco free policy for parks and playgrounds and the Duluth Town Green so fresh air is guaranteed.

It has been an eventful year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as Duluth Patch starts its second year of keeping citizens informed and involved!