Gifts We All Want Holiday Market is back for its second holiday season at The ForumPeachtree Corners. The pop-up will be open through Dec. 30.
Market hours are Mondays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sundays, 12-6 p.m. It’s located next to Sugar Coat Nail Salon and across from La Parilla Mexican Restaurant in The Forum.
“All the community support was appreciated last year,” said Margie Hix, owner of Gifts We All Want. “We look forward to being here to delight the community again with unique, high quality and highly desired gift giving items.”
She noted that this year’s Holiday Market is bigger and better than last year, with 9+ locally owned businesses offering handcrafted and selectively sourced products. Eight of the businesses are owned by women.
“Everyone will have many opportunities to buy ‘Made in the USA’ products while shopping at the market,” Margie added.
Favorites from last year have returned, like the Braves National Championship and college team bourbon barrelhead signs from Konn Kreations and the Makeup Junkie bags from Gifts We All Wantthat was seen on Shark Tank.
Sustainable items, like custom-designed sweatshirts and tees, as well as vegan leather/plastic bags that can be customized, are brought to the market through Right by Earth.
Arts and crafts are well-represented with artworks such as the repurposed glass on painted canvases by Art by Lainey. Other pieces include hand painted ornaments and canvas paintings by Heaven and Nature By HV and hand painted woodwork items by Southern Inspiration.
The aromas of the holidays are found in candles, sachets and home and spa products by Béau Vie,Tyler Candle Company, HydraAromatherapy and more. There are also gourmet food and drink specialties available.
“The Holiday Market is a great place to find items for yourself and for the gifts you have in mind for others,” Margie said. “We’re looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces and meeting new folks, too.”
The Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) donated a check for $3,500 to the Georgia Alliance for Breast Cancer at their October Business After Hours event. The organization was selected by the PCBA Community Outreach Committee and board, who are dedicated to identifying and selecting charities whose mission aligns with supporting the community.
Georgia Alliance for Breast Cancer — formerly It’s the Journey — is a registered 501c3 non-profit that supports Georgia’s breast cancer community by raising funds for breast health and breast cancer programs throughout the state.
Since 2002, the organization’s Georgia 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer has raised over $19 million to fund 554 grants that provide breast cancer education, screening, early detection, support services and continuing care for Georgians. Their mission is to engage with Georgia’s breast cancer community to increase access to care and reduce disparities in cancer outcomes.
“Since [our] donations are made possible through our members and sponsorships, we wanted to award this check at our recent PCBA Business After Hours Speaker’s event, allowing our members the opportunity to celebrate with us and learn how this organization supports our community” said Lisa Proctor, PCBA president. “This check represents the first of three charities we raised money for at our annual charity event, Tailgates and Touchdowns, in August of this year. We will be awarding a check to the Neighborhood Cooperative Ministries in November and Spectrum Autism Support Group in December.”
Supporting the community
“We are so proud of our continued commitment to supporting our community,” Proctor continued. “The PCBA has donated over $162,000 to local deserving charities and awarded 19 scholarships to outstanding graduating high school seniors in our metro Atlanta community since the inception of our community outreach program in 2013.”
photo courtesy of the Peachtree Corners Business Association
Funds for the PCBA Community Outreach program are raised throughout the year from PCBA memberships, sponsorships and an annual charity event. Donations and scholarships are awarded during monthly events so that members have the opportunity to learn more about the selected organizations.
For more information about the Peachtree Corners Business Association, visit peachtreecornersba.com.
Although Debbie Mason, the first First Lady of Peachtree Corners passed away in January 2023 just shy of her 72nd birthday, she left a lasting legacy on the community.
Her obituary summed up her attributes beautifully.
“If Debbie Mason believed in a cause, she could be counted on to work toward it tirelessly. Debbie was known to her family as a full-time mom, part-time Wonder Woman and occasional miracle worker. To her friends and community, she was a professional volunteer, fearless leader and perpetual truthteller.
Before starting her family, she worked as a legal secretary, where she began honing her exceptional organizational skills and trademark charisma, which made her the most formidable fundraiser. PTSA president, Scout den leader, drama club mom, sports team mom, volunteer organizer, teen-driving advocate, recycling and beautification champion — whatever her kids were involved in or called to her heart, she made it a priority.
A consummate ‘mover and shaker,’ there was little in her sphere of influence that didn’t receive a bit of ‘the Debbie Mason touch.’ She and Mike were founders of the Fox Hill Homeowner’s Association, where she worked to build community on the street she called home for 36 years. Hanging holiday decorations, throwing her annual Halloween party and even going door-to-door gathering signatures to have sewers installed in the neighborhood, Debbie spent so much of her time and energy in service of others.”
A loving memorial
At a memorial service in her honor, several members of the community stood around brainstorming a way to truly respect the impact she had on those around her.
“There were a group of us that just kept talking to each other and saying, what else can we do?” said Lynette Howard. “Debbie inspired us. She did so many things for us, and she gave up great things to the city. And the city was something that she just … it was her pride and joy, and she wanted to make sure that everybody was embraced and hugged in this city.”
Ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Mike Mason at the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden dedication, photo courtesy of City of Peachtree Corners
A public garden in Debbie Mason’s name was born from that discussion. And a little less than two years later, a dedication was held on Saturday, October 24 to commemorate the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden.
Her obituary went on to include her love of gardening and the outdoors.
“To nurture was her nature; she loved to look after her home and garden. Visitors often commented on how warm and welcoming the house made them feel and how beautifully decorated it was. She was an artist, viewing the backyard garden as her canvas and the flowers, plants and pots as her paints. Working in the garden restored her soul; it was her special place. She was brilliant, an independent thinker, honest, direct and utterly unique. There will never be another one like her.”
A legacy that will live on
As in life, her kindness, dedication and joy will live on.
“With the opening of this garden today, she will leave an imprint that will be enjoyed by Peachtree Corners citizens for generations to come,” said Dave Huffman during the ceremony.
Debbie inspired those around her to make a positive impact on the city, as seen in the garden project. The Debbie Mason Memorial Garden Committee: Bob Ballagh, Pat Bruschini, Lynette Howard, Dave Huffman, Sarah Roberts, Gay Shook and Robyn Unger worked together to answer questions, prioritize goals and honor Debbie’s legacy.
photo credit: Rico Figliolini
To ensure the garden design and features aligned with Debbie’s passions and the community’s input, the committee thought about things the garden shouldn’t be: hectic, feeling noisy, unkempt, sad, forgotten, without a purpose, ostentatious, gaudy, overdone, devoid of interactive things.
“Did we accomplish it?” Howard asked the crowd during the ceremony.
The thunderous applause proved that Debbie would have approved.
Not long after the incorporation of Peachtree Corners in 2012, city leaders envisioned an arts council that would ensure local arts and culture were given necessary attention. The Peachtree Corners Arts Council, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established in 2016 to bring that vision to life by creating an Arts & Culture Master Plan and Public Art Initiative program for the city.
The council facilitates public art projects, such as a soon-to-be-completed mural on Peachtree Corners Circle by artist Jonathan Bidwell. With another major endeavor, the independently funded Debbie Mason Memorial Garden, also nearing completion, Peachtree Corners Magazine caught up with the organization — now called Peachtree Corners Arts Inc. (PTC Arts) — to learn more about the projects as well as the future of arts and culture in our city.
Debbie Mason Memorial Garden
The Debbie Mason Memorial Garden is an aesthetic and contemplative garden space nestled in an area of the Peachtree Corners Botanical Garden near Town Center. A group of Peachtree Corners residents, with a shared love for the city’s first first lady and an appreciation for all that she has done for the city, formed the Debbie Mason Memorial Committee (DMMC) to raise funds to build the oasis that will delight with flowering color each season.
Blue bird by Jonathan Bidwell
The goal of the DMMC is to preserve Mason’s memory by transforming a space that will offer Peachtree Corners residents a quiet place to reflect, connect and rejuvenate among vibrant colored seasonal plantings and mosaic tiled artwork, according to the PTC Arts website.
Although the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden falls under the umbrella of PTC Arts Inc., it had its own committee in charge of design and fundraising goals.
“When they started getting going, because they were creating an artistic kind of installation in the city and were going to raise the funds for it, they worked with our council for ideas and input on the plan that they ultimately came up with,” said Marcia Catterall, a member of PTC Arts. “They really ran independently with that. Primarily, they used us as the nonprofit vehicle to raise the funds.”
Independent of PTC Arts, DMMC created all of its own publicity and had a committee tasked with handling all of the fundraising.
Building a master plan
Although the objective of PTC Arts Inc. is simple, the execution can be complicated.
“We had our hands in numerous things,” said Catterall. “We’ve created the city’s arts and culture master plan. We created a public art initiative. Our goal was to think about all of the ways that arts and cultural activities could impact the city and then to help facilitate the creation and the installation of arts and culture in the city.”
The initiative, along with the master plan, took up the first several years of the council’s efforts. The master plan was formalized and officially adopted in 2018.
Early mural mock-up from artist Jonathan Bidwell
According to city records, “The resolution requires developers to meet with the Peachtree Corners Arts Council to discuss possibilities for public art on their property. Developers would also be asked to voluntarily set aside one percent of their project costs for public art, either by including public art on their site or contributing money to a public art fund administered by the city.”
“This Public Art Initiative and Vision Map is intended to help city officials, developers and the community at large visualize and implement the city’s public art future. It outlines a vision for public art, offers an inventory of opportunities for public art throughout the city and provides background on the types of projects that should be encouraged and prioritized,” the records continued.
Greyhound courtesy of Jonathan Bidwell
Early efforts of the council included designing activities for the Town Green and facilitating the use of public spaces for a variety of arts and cultural activities.
“One of the things that we helped with initially was designing some of the activities and talking about how to host activities on the Town Green,” said Catterall. “Now that’s all handled separately by the city, but we were sort of the sounding board and created a lot of the ideas and the thoughts about how Town Green was to be used.”
The mural project and what’s ahead
The first big art installation project initiated from beginning to end by the council is a mural on the retaining wall at Peachtree Corners Circle.
“That’s going to be our first big project that we’ve started — soup to nuts — and have run with completely on our own,” said Catterall.
Jonathan Bidwell, a well-known artist out of Asheville, North Carolina is creating the mural, having designed several others in the past.
Artist Jonathan Bidwell (right) with his dog Buster
“He designed, for example, the playful foxes on the Social Fox Brewing Company in downtown Norcross,” she said. “He’ll be covering the big, long retaining wall that will border part of the Botanical Garden Walk around the Town Center area. And it will actually be near the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden.”
Funding for the mural project was covered partly through business donations.
“Part of our arts and culture master plan is to ask businesses, when they either develop or open up a new business, to donate 1% of their project value towards public art on their property or to give that to us,” Catterall said. “So, this is being funded mostly through the donation from QuickTrip’s new development.”
Since the company didn’t have a particular art installation in mind for its property, it allowed the money to go toward an effort elsewhere in the city.
The mural’s background colors were scheduled to be painted by the end of September with the remaining details to be completed by late October, in time for the ribbon cutting for the Debbie Mason Garden. That event is set for 11 a.m. on October 26.
For more information about Peachtree Corners Arts Inc., the mural or the Debbie Mason Memorial Garden, visit ptcarts.org.