Amid April’s awesome events, check this out

April is a great month. One could even argue that it is the greatest month of the year.

April gives us the end of the NCAA basketball tournaments, the beginning of the Major League Baseball season, the Masters, longer days, warmer weather, a free large iced tea with the purchase of chicken strips on the Chick-fil-A cow calendar – the list goes on and on.

Locally, there is a lot of great stuff going on in April too. Hotly contested region match-ups and the start of the region and state playoffs in all high school sports.

Add to this, the Tour de Georgia, preceded by Fayette Family Bike Day, as well as Touch a Truck in Peachtree City and it seems like there’s something going on every day in April.

There’s one big event coming in April that I have yet to mention. It is a huge event and one that many in the community have tried to launch in the past: Fayette Festival of the Arts.

A number of local arts organizations are coming together at the Fayette Family YMCA on Saturday, April 22, and Sunday, April 23, to give area residents two full days of performances and activities at no charge.

Performers will include Men of the Mill, Fayette Coweta Family Theatre, Offshoot Productions, Dance Contempra, Peachtree City School of Dance, Peachtree Wind Ensemble, Southern Nights Chorale, and Peach Pickers Mountain Dulcimer Group.

Fayette Players and Community Theatre will present “The Odd Couple” at 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to that show is $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors but all of the other events at the festival that weekend are free. Phone 404-822-9050 to order your tickets today.

There are several spots still open in the schedule and local arts organizations are encouraged to sign up and strut their stuff.

In addition to performances scheduled for every hour of the festival, there will be a student art show, three moon-walk attractions for kids, as well as canoe rides and archery, food and beverages and dancing under the stars on Saturday night to the music of Genre, from 9:30-11 p.m.

There will also be three artists displaying their work: Linda Foltz, Massive Burn Studios featuring the art of Miles Davis, and the Fayette Art Gallery.

There are spaces available for artists in all media, especially sculpture, and there is also limited booth space for retailers who specialize in the arts (music stores, dance wear, etc.).

The festival is also looking for sponsors. Expenses for the festival are estimated to be close to $2,000 and festival organizers are hoping to break even or make a small profit which would go towards the YMCA Arts and Aquatic Center project.

That is really what this whole event and this column is about. Talk of a theater that all of the local arts organizations can use has been bandied about for years.

I’m going on my eighth year at the paper and talk of a theater in the county has been going on at least as long as I’ve been here, if not for many years before that.

A facility that can be used by all of the local theater companies and dance schools in the county is important and supporting the arts is equally important.

Even if you can’t make a financial donation to the Arts/Aquatic Center, I urge you to plan on attending at least some part of this festival. Show people who may be considering making significant financial donations that there is a love of the arts in Fayette County and that this facility will not go dark with all of these organizations ready to use it.

If you are interested in helping at the event or performing in one of the open slots, phone Andre DeLorenzo at 770-631-1542 or e-mail to artsfestival@comcast.net.

McIntosh vs. Starr's Mill Lacrosse Match

Submitted by borntorun on Wed, 04/05/2006 - 8:13pm.

Mike, unbelievable....not a word in today's paper about last Friday's night McIntosh/Starr's Mill lacrosse match. I saw you there so I know you saw how exciting it was. I do appreciate the pictures on the homepage but where's the article??

This was the first MHS/SMH lacrosse match in history. Over 200 screaming people in the audience witnessing a historic (first ever) and great match. And what does the Citizen report about it? Nothing! Nil! Instead we get track and field results taking up two pages!!

Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in Georgia high schools and Fayette County has a very good program in place not only at the high schools (Whitewater is fielding a team next year word has it) but there are several top club teams also.

So how 'bout some coverage in the local paper?

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McIntosh and Starr's Mill lacrosse

Submitted by Michael Boylan on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 8:03am.

Typically, McIntosh and Starr's Mill athletic news, when it is just those schools, goes in the Friday paper. The schedule goes like this - usually - Fayette, Mercy and Whitewater on Wednesday, Starr's Mill and McIntosh on Friday, along with East Coweta and Northgate, and Sandy Creek, Creekside, and Landmark Christian on Saturday. With sports like soccer and baseball, I post all of their results in Wednesday and Friday.
I am glad you read the paper and look to the web site for news on the local sports teams and I would also like to encourage anyone who was at a game, especially one that I couldn't get to (see the 10 schools above and multiply it by the number of athletic teams in the spring and you'll get an idea of how hard it is to cover everything) to become a citizen journalist and post the scores and highlights on the web.
All you have to do is register a user name and then you can add your story to the web.
I'll try to do a better job of posting things to the web the minute I know them, but I often have to wait for information from coaches and they are a bit hard to reach during spring break.
It was a cool game and I was surprised by the size and the enthusiasm of the crowd. It won't be my last lacrosse game. I promise.

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McIntosh and Starr's Mill Lacrosse

Submitted by borntorun on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 7:56pm.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to explain the Fayette Citizen reporting process. I know you have a hard time covering all of the local sports and you do a good job. If I came across in a negative way, I didn't mean to and I apologize.

My son has only been playing for a short time so I don't know all of the rules but it really is a fun sport to watch. The McIntosh team is really young (20 freshmen and sophomores!) and while they may not be able now to compete against the elite teams like Pace or St. Pius, they more than hold their own against comparable teams. I do think in two years, they will be one of the top five teams in the state.

Glad to see you enjoyed the game and hope to see you at others. I may even take you up on the "citizen journalist" offer.

Thanks again for your explanation.

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The Citzen really dropped the ball (just like Starr's Mill did!)

Submitted by Bob Jensen on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 6:28am.

The first ever SMHS/McIntosh Lacrosse game, a packed Booth field, and it was Senior Day for McIntosh as well....and the Citizen just plain dropped the ball. Granted, it turned out to be a somewhat lopsided game due to all the dropped balls by the Starr's Mills players, but a mention in the paper would have been nice.

Oh well, we had to wait a week for the complete track meet results, maybe next week we'll get a lacrosse writeup.

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ditto

Submitted by Stroke on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 7:46am.

yea Mike, you really dropped the ball on this lacrosse game, and what about the chess team, where's the coverage?

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