Fresh off the Taste of Home Cooking School that the VDT sponsors each year, this weekend is the annual Taste of Valdosta, sponsored by Quota International of Valdosta to benefit the organization’s many charitable efforts.
If you’ve never been to a Taste of Valdosta event before, it’s awesome. For someone like me who likes just a little bit of a lot of things, it’s ideal, but even for those who like a lot of food, it seems to add up pretty quickly.
The really cool thing about the event is that you get to try all sorts of things that you might have always wanted to, or try a restaurant that you haven’t ever eaten at before.
There’s a $5 admission fee and then you buy tokens for 50 cents each from the Quota folks, and each vendor provides you with an item they are sampling for one, two, three or four tokens, depending on what it is. One year I went from eating chocolate cheesecake, my weakness, at one booth to coconut shrimp and crab bisque at others.
Each vendor usually brings a half dozen or so items to choose from, and there are 20 vendors this year, including a number of newcomers, such as Submarina, Red Velvet, Becky’s Cakes, Barberitos, SurEste and the Georgia Pasty Co. I also heard straight from the owner’s lips that even the Smok’n Pig is participating this year.
There aren’t too many events where you can do something for others simply by eating. Support the Quota Club’s event, enjoy a relaxed atmosphere with friends and family, and try a variety of menu items from a variety of restaurants.
They’re serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center Saturday.
For more information, including a full list of vendors, see the ads which have been running in the Times and consider coming out this weekend.
Break Bread Together, Methodist Home for Children and the Partnership Health Center will all benefit from your attendance and you will benefit from your enjoyment!
Business Roundup
A new dentist office is opening in Valdosta. Dr. Larry Black of Quitman Family Dentistry and Dr. Eric Castor of Lakeland Family Dentistry have partnered to open a new facility in Valdosta with a general practice by day and a walk-in after hours clinic evenings and weekends.
Valdosta Family Dentistry is located at the corner of Connell Road and North Ashley Street in the new North Ashley Professional Plaza, Suite 130, Building H. The practice specializes in helping patients who don’t have a regular dentist or who don’t go to the dentist regularly.
Speaking of the North Ashley Professional Plaza, if you’ve been by there lately, they’re moving forward with their plans for the next phase of building. They’re preparing the property for a new road and it looks like construction will start soon.
There is a new store on North Ashley Street called Weekend Fashions. The new shop is between Firehouse Subs and the nail shop near SGMC.
You can read today all about Serendipity in Hahira, the newest business in town specializing in interesting and unique gift and home items.
There is a new store called Ageless Beauty now open in the new North Oak Square, next to SurEste. The shop is still working out some details, but is based on the Sephora stores’ concept where they will offer a number of different lines of cosmetics, many of which they will have exclusively, like they do the Bare Escentuals line.
The Romine furniture store in Quitman is quitting business after 95 years and three generations. They’ve got a couple of weeks left, so if you’re interested, you need to head over there soon.
I understand that there will be at least two, maybe three, new Zaxby’s around the county soon, possibly Lake Park? I’ll keep you posted.
The folks at Quillian Powell Construction Co. are working on a variety of projects around the county and filled me in this week on a few.
The new emergency operations center is progressing well, and they are using some new construction techniques that will make it different than anything we’ve seen here before. Also, the new fire station in Clyattville should be done in a few weeks, ahead of schedule, and they were able to start this week on Phase II of the Judicial Complex, which will be the administrative offices for the county.
Our economy is still moving and growing, and hopefully the folks displaced at Shaw Industries this week will be able to find other employment very soon.
That’s about it for this week, but if there’s anything I missed, please let me know!
Business
Business This Week: A Taste of Valdosta
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Valdosta Shared Office Space
VALDOSTA — Though Valdosta Shared Office Space is not new to Valdosta, it is newly green. The first and only shared office space in Valdosta owned by Gino Fina, just became the first Downtown Valdosta business to work with the Georgia Cities Foundation’s Green Communities Fund to implement environmentally friendly, energy-efficient improvements, reducing energy consumption upwards of 50 percent. -
Downtown businesses to be mobbed this week
A few years ago, when everyone started talking through social media, flash mobs became the new in thing to do. Primarily in the big cities, although VSU did their own a year or two ago, a designated place and time would be set and masses of people would descend on these sites, sometimes dancing, sometimes singing, sometimes acting obnoxiously.
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Keep tails wagging when your budget is lagging
I have a problem. Though I am a tight-wad when it comes to spending my money, I cannot resist the calling to buy adorable toys, collars and, yes, even clothes for my three cuter than all get out fur babies.
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The Valdosta Mall: Revamped and Ready for Business!
VALDOSTA — The Valdosta Mall has made tremendous strides since its rebranding away from Colonial Mall in 2007 and it’s refocus in 2008 when it made a move from serving the community to being a part of the community.
“We had taken for granted our place in the community for a long time,” said Jerry Weller, general manager of the Valdosta Mall. “We don’t do that anymore.” -
Keep your clothes looking fab to avoid looking drab
As I get older, I’m beginning to learn that there are more important things than clothes. Ugh! It pains me to even form that sentence; however, it’s true.
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Business This Week: Happy Mother’s Day!
Today is the one day a year dedicated to celebrating mothers, although we all use their guidance and wisdom every day. But for this one day, their sacrifices, kindness, love, and advice are recognized, hopefully, by the children they raised or helped to raise. It might not even be those born to them, as most mothers don’t limit their love and it flows over onto their children’s friends, family members, and the children they influence in the classroom, in Sunday school and in volunteer activities.
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Downtown will have a new beat this week
The Brown Bag Concert Series produced by Valdosta Main Street will begin again on Monday and last all week.
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Valdosta Regional Airport: Flying Valdosta to the Top
There are 104 publicly owned, public-use airports — nine commercial service and 95 general-aviation airports — in Georgia. Airports are significant to the state’s economic infrastructure and essential to transportation of goods and people. A single airport can support various diversified industries such as technology, manufacturing, distribution, agriculture and tourism.
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Brittany's Budget Diary: Be Green to Save Green
“It’s not easy being green,” once said Kermit the Frog. No offense to Kerm, but it is in fact quite easy being green. I know because I am incredibly green.
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Propex: Global Presence, Local Roots
VALDOSTA — Not every company sets out to build a better community, a better world and a better future. However, not every company is Propex.
Propex is known as a leader in building and rebuilding key infrastructure all over the world. Products made at Propex are used to protect hillsides, highways and waterways from damaging erosion by combining engineered fabrics with natural vegetation rather than broken rock. - More Business Headlines
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