This year marks the 54th year that the Road Race has taken place. The Tucker High School Band Parents are very proud to be sponsoring this event to raise funds for the 2009-2010 Tucker High School Band Program.

6:45 AM – Race packet pickup and race day registration begins in the Tucker High School parking lot (located on the Chamblee-Tucker side of the school).

8:00 AM – 1 Mile Fun Run & Walk Begins, Adults and Children welcome!

8:30 AM – 5K Run Begins

Annual Pancake Breakfast

7AM to 10AM

The Pancake Breakfast, sponsored by the Tucker High School Quarterback Club, is located in the Tucker High School Cafeteria. Tickets are available for $5.00 each. Children 8 and under eat free with each adult ticket between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00AM. In addition, the Tucker High School Cheerleaders will also be offering face painting for the children. Proceeds benefit the Tucker High School Football program.

Arts and Crafts Booths/Food Vendors

9AM to 4PM

In addition to the arts and crafts booths and food vendors, DeKalb County will have several exhibits including a Hook & Ladder Fire Truck, Burn House, Fire Rescue Unit, Famous Firedog “Q”, New Special Transport Unit, Bike Medics,  Animal Adoption opportunities and recycling information.

Touch of Future will be collecting your used electronic products for recycling all day.

DeKalb Medical Center Health Fair

9AM to 4PM

Free basic health assessments for Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose, BMI (Body Mass Index) Testing, basic fitness assessments provided by the Wellness Center staff and free Ankle-Brachial Index test provided by the Atlanta Heart Specialists. In addition a Nutritionist will be available to answer questions and there will be a meet and greet with some of the Dekalb Medical Center Physicians.

Parade on Main Street

10AM to 11AM

Northlake Kiwanis Club Kids Activities

11AM-4PM

Walter Reeves

Noon-2PM

Local celebrity and host of WSB’s Lawn and Garden Show, Walter Reeves will be in the WSB booth,autographing his books and answering your questions about lawn care and gardening in Atlanta.

Musical Entertainment

MAIN STAGE: 11 AM TO 11:45
ELVIS IMPERSONATOR Mark Pitt

ENZO’S STAGE 11:45 TO 12:15
TUCKER MIDDLE JAZZ BAND

MAIN STAGE: 12:15 TO 1 PM
THE WHEELS

ENZO’S STAGE 1PM TO 1:30
ENZO’S SUPERSTAR

MAIN STAGE:1:30 TO 2:15
THE WHEELS

ENZO’S STAGE:2:15 TO 2:45
ENZO’S SUPERSTAR

MAIN STAGE:2:45 TO 4 PM
MOONTOWER

Tucker Cruise-In

5:00PM t0 8:30PM

It is time for the monthly summer Tucker cruise-in again featuring antiques automobiles and special interest cars in addition to motorcycles.  Please see www.tuckercruisein.com for more details.

The original library located on Church Street continues to serve the Tucker community during construction of the new facility by offering a variety of activities for children and adults. Current and future programs include storytime and building blocks for younger children, a robotics presentation and teen video production workshop for older children and book discussions for adults.

View the  schedule of events for the Tucker library.

 

These photos were taken March 18, 2009.

“Tucker Historical Society regrets the cancellation of this year’s garden tour. Tucker Historical Society is currently working on building its membership, an important part of putting on the tour. We will be working on the 2010 tour this summer and we ask all of you in the Tucker community to let us know of “that special garden” you always wanted to see as a possible addition to our tour. If you know of a garden, or you are interested in joining our membership (no dues involved) please send us an email. Tucker Historical Society continues to create history related events for the community. We are a small but great group of folks interested in preserving the history of Tucker. For more information, please send us an email to tuckerhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.”

Rita’s Water Ice in the Burns Corner shopping Center opened today at 12 noon. It was worth the wait. I meet one of the owners, Kim, a local resident and she was delightful. She said they are excited to be open in Tucker and to keep checking with them for special events.

They are offering a free regular water ice to all customers for the entire week of their grand opening. If you have never had Rita’s you are in for a treat and they are most definitely a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Previously posted on March 24, 2009

If corporate web sites are to be believed, the Tucker Rita’s is slated to open sometime within the next week. The following information has been posted on the calendar for March 27:

‘Look for our Grand Opening at the end of March! The Season is Here…We Will Be Opening Soon! Look for Our Grand Opening Banner! Free Italian Ice at Grand Opening and as always…Free Samples!’

The photo posted was taken on March 18, 2009.  The site also states that the Tucker Rita’s will have ‘Outdoor Seating & Free WIFI’.  Hopefully they will open soon and Tucker residents can finally enjoy our own Ice-Custard-Happiness!

Patrons of the Tucker bar were betting money on Texas Hold ‘Em poker games and playing on video poker machines in full public view, police said. The owner was arrested, along with others who were allegedly taking bets or placing them. The bar’s owner was charged with commercial gambling, gambling, and possession of gambling devices. State law prohibits Las Vegas-style casinos with such card games as poker and the commercial gambling charge is a felony.

Link to original article

It was announced on March 3, 2009 that Dekalb County will now allow the use of ’soaker’ hoses for plants. The Department of Watershed Management stressed that “plants” in regards to the new allowance refers to trees, flowers, vines, and shrubs and does not mean lawn grass or turf. Irrigation of personal food gardens remains unrestricted.

Soaker hoses are connected to a typical outdoor faucet and manufactured and sold specifically for delivering water slowly and directly to the soil around the base of individual plants by allowing water to seep from it in a manner that minimizes evaporative losses, pooling, runoff, and wetting of plant foliage.

Each household, business or property owner may use drip irrigation or soaker hoses to water existing landscaping, one hour per day, three days per week, within the hours of 12:00 midnight to 10:00 am as follows: Odd-numbered addresses may water Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays and even-numbered addresses may water Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

Details can be found at Dekalb Watershed.

The Best of Tucker Polls have closed but are unfortunately skewed due to multiple votes by one IP address for one bar/restaurant all within fifteen minutes of each other.  I am currently removing these votes from the database and the OFFICIAL RESULTS will be announced in just a bit.

I mean really? I know I only had the polls track voting by cookies but really? I used cookies instead of another way of tracking so multiple readers using the same IP could each vote but really ? You felt the need to get your bar or restaurant to the top so bad that you would stuff the ballots on a small local poll? Really ?

While this is not in Tucker, it is part of the “30084 & more” that could have a positive effect on all of north-eastern Dekalb County. On a personal note, I have strong ties to the GM Doraville facility. It was the opening of the plant in 1947 that brought my grandfather, a GM employee in New Jersey to Atlanta with his family including his then 16 year old son, my father. My mother retired from the Doraville Assembly plant with 30 years of service as did my uncle and I too worked there for a brief time in the early 80s.

Over time the Doraville plant has produced Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn automobiles. This 165 acre complex has been a part of the local landscape for 60 years. Four companies — News Broad Street Cos. of Orlando, Jacoby Development of Atlanta, the Sembler Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Hines of Houston — are vying for the opportunity to remake the Doraville site, a former dairy farm and residential area.

According to the project website, a decision regarding the developer was to have been announced on November 21, 2008. GM said it will pick a developer before the end of the year.

A Doraville city planner who will work with the redeveloper has been hired and the city’s attorney was also the city attorney in Hapeville, home of the former Ford Motor plant that closed in 2006 and is being now being redeveloped.

The Doraville Plant redevelopment would be the largest brownfield project to date in metro Atlanta, turning an industrial site into a mixed-use destination. Atlantic Station in Midtown is 138 acres and the former Ford plant in Hapeville is 122 acres.

Update – December 1, 2008 – Rita’s has yet to open. I’m sure now that the weather is in the balmy 30s & 40s there is no rush until sometime early next year. Poo.

Oh happy happy day, Rita’s Water Ice is coming to Tucker in the Burns Corners shopping center. If you’ve never had it, Rita’s Water Ice is simply the most refreshing treat you could ever imagine on a hot summer day. Think refreshing, crisp fruit flavors. Think of a icy cool frozen treat made with ice and real fruit. Rita’s Water Ice is much smoother than a snow cone or shaved ice and is made fresh daily. In terms of consistency, Rita’s Water Ice is somewhat of a cross between a slushy and a sorbet.

The logo suggests the name is “Rita’s Ice Custard Happiness” but it is actually “Rita’s Water Ice”. The name is Rita’s and they sell ice and custard and that equals happiness. I was introduced to Rita’s many years ago in Philadelphia where the company originated. My family visited my sister while she was working in Philadelphia and she took us out for the obligatory cheese steaks and then to Rita’s. For the next six months, each week when she flew home to Atlanta, she was accompanied by a Styrofoam cooler packed with Rita’s Watermelon ice and Rita’s lemon ice. Philadelphia is famous for their cheese steaks, pretzels and water ice and has a number of water ice vendors. I did not try any other water ice vendors so … for all I know there may be better but for me, Rita’s Water Ice is a really welcome addition to the neighborhood and I wish them much success.

Rita’s locations have a tradition of giving away free product on Opening day and also on the first day of spring. I hope they have not changed the recipe and I will be there at the new Rita’s in Tucker on opening day consuming watermelon ice, you can bet money on it. I could care less that it is free on opening day because I would gladly pay twice the regular asking price just to experience the flavor of Rita’s again. More than likely I’ll be the one dancing for joy with a really big grin on my face. I only wish my mother was still with us to see it as she loved Rita’s more than me and that is saying a lot.