This Week
in Gwinnett.
together with HSG
The Gus Letter
HEY NEIGHBOR,
Sunday night we ended up back at 9292 in Duluth — me, my wife, and the boys around one of those grill tables.
Here's what I love about that place: they cook for you. Somebody comes over, works the grill, keeps it all moving, and you just get to sit there. Nobody at the table has a job. Nobody's hovering over the meat wondering if it's done yet. Nobody's reaching for their phone.
And the food. My wife and I are still talking about it on the drive home every single time.
But the part I keep coming back to is what all that cooking-for-you actually buys you — about ninety minutes where the four of us were just there. My wife and I finished whole sentences. The boys had our full attention and we had theirs.
I don't think we're short on things to do in this county. I think we're short on tables like that.
So this week I've got you three: one Tuesday at noon that costs you nothing but half a lunch break, two you can sit down at with somebody you love, and a handful more that are happening in the next three weeks.
Let's get into it.
This Coming Week
TUESDAY AT NOON: THE ONE I'D CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR FOR + A DINNER CLUB GIVEAWAY
Last month a lot of you gave up a Thursday lunch break to hear my friend Jim Stern answer one question straight: what is the housing market actually doing in Gwinnett — not nationally, not "the Atlanta metro," here.
We had such great feedback from last month’s webinar and were told it was so helpful and gave answers to questions they’ve had for some time.
The question I got asked the most afterward wasn't about selling at all. It was some version of: okay, but how would a person like me even start buying?
So that's the next one.
A live 30-minute conversation with Jim Stern of HSG
📅 Tuesday, September 22
🕛 12:00 PM sharp
⏱️ 30 minutes, max — you've got a lunch break, not a lunch hour
💻 Online + free
This is built for people who have never done it. Not investors. Not people with a portfolio. People who've wondered what the first step looks like and have never had anybody explain it without trying to sell them something.
No pitch. No pressure. Half an hour.
🎁 And this time there's something in it for showing up
Sign up and actually show up on Tuesday and two things happen:
1. You're entered to win one of three free seats at October's Dinner Club. Three winners. Free entry. That's a full seat at the table — for dinner, the room, the neighbors you haven't met yet.
2. Everybody who attends gets a free download from Jim and HSG. Not a winner-only thing. You show up, it's yours.
📍 3 THINGS TO PUT ON THE CALENDAR NOW
Not this weekend — the weekends after. These are the three biggest county-wide days coming, they're all free to walk into, and they're each in a different corner of Gwinnett. Pick the one closest to you and go.
43rd Annual Duluth Fall Festival
Saturday, September 26 · 9:00 AM–7:00 PM
Sunday, September 27 · 9:00 AM–5:00 PM · FREE
Duluth Festival Center, 3142 Hill Street NW, Duluth, GA 30096
Downtown Duluth's big one. The parade steps off Saturday at 10:00 AM and the streets close at 9:45, so if the parade is why you're coming, be parked by 9:30. Then it's two days of booths, food, entertainment and a petting zoo, with a Donut Dash 5K and worship on the green to open Sunday.
Why I'd send you here: it's free, it's two full days, and Duluth just did its 150th — this town is in a celebrating mood and you can feel it walking around.
Taste of BBQ Festival — Sugar Hill
Saturday, October 3 · 10:00 AM–6:00 PM · FREE to get in
Downtown Sugar Hill
This one used to live in Suwanee and moved up the road to Sugar Hill, and it brings in over eight thousand people. Getting in is free — you buy sample tickets in advance or at the gate, and then you eat your way down the line. There's a vendor market, an artist market and a family fun zone, and it benefits Project Green, a children's non-profit.
Why I'd send you here: free admission means you can show up, walk around, and decide how hungry you are once you're there. That's my favorite kind of festival math.
Lilburn Daze Arts & Crafts Festival
Saturday, October 10 · 9:00 AM–5:00 PM · FREE
Lilburn City Park, 76 Main Street, Lilburn
Fifty-four years. Let that sit for a second — this thing has been happening in Lilburn City Park since before most of us moved here. Free admission, free parking, free shuttle. Crafts, food trucks, a train ride, inflatables, games, and a paw-rade for the dogs.
Why I'd send you here: Lilburn doesn't get enough airtime in this email and that's on me. This is the day to go see why people who live there never leave.
💑 TWO DATE NIGHTS
Short and sweet. Two tables worth booking.
9292 Korean BBQ — Duluth
3360 Satellite Blvd #8, Duluth, GA 30096 · (770) 680-2951
All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, and they grill it for you right at the table. That's the whole trick — you get the smell, the sizzle, all of it, and neither of you has to work. You just sit there and talk.
Dominick's of Historic Norcross — Norcross
95 South Peachtree Street, Norcross, GA 30071 · (770) 449-1611
Family-style Italian in historic downtown Norcross. Every dish comes in two sizes — one for you two, one for the whole table — and the walk down Peachtree Street afterward is half the point.
The "text this to your spouse" section.
⚡ QUICK HITS — STILL ON THIS WEEKEND
Everything I already told you about that hasn't happened yet, in one place.
🧘 Sat, Sept 19 · 6:00 PM · FREE — Wellness Wind Down at everbowl Hamilton Mill, 2740 Braselton Hwy Suite A1, Dacula. Pilates, B12 shots, matcha and açaí, put on by three local businesses together. Free, but you have to sign up. · Sign up here
🎡 Opens tonight, Sept 17 · runs through Sept 27 — The Gwinnett County Fair, 2405 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville. $10 adults, $5 for seniors 65+ and kids 6–11. Gates 5–9 PM weekdays, 11 AM–10 PM Saturday, 1–9 PM Sunday. Free all eleven days for active and retired military, law enforcement and fire — just show ID. · Hours and pricing
🎪 Sat, Sept 19 · 9:00 AM–7:00 PM and Sun, Sept 20 · 12:00–5:00 PM · FREE — Suwanee Fest, Town Center Park, 330 Town Center Avenue. Parade steps off 9:00 AM Saturday down Main Street, so go around if you're just passing through. · Parade route and schedule
🏮 Sat, Sept 19 · 10:00 AM–6:00 PM and Sun, Sept 20 · 10:00 AM–5:00 PM — JapanFest Atlanta, Gas South Convention Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. Taiko drums, martial arts, artisan market, food. · Tickets
🎟️ Friday, Sept 18 is the JapanFest advance-ticket deadline. $20.78 a day in advance, $25.20 at the door. For a family of four that's about eighteen dollars back in your pocket for buying a day early. The venue is also cashless — leave the cash at home.
Between the fair, Suwanee Fest and JapanFest, Sugarloaf Parkway is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting this weekend. Pack snacks for the car.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Two quick things before I let you go.
First — a lot of you keep asking me about housing. Not "should I sell" housing. Real stuff: what's happening with prices in our part of the county, what a first-time buyer is actually walking into right now, what a homeowner should be thinking about this fall. It's more than I can fit in a weekly email without crowding out the funnel cake.
So I'm building a separate segment for it. Gwinnett housing market updates plus practical tips, for homeowners and for the folks who want to be. You'll be able to opt in soon — I'll show you where. If that's not your thing, nothing changes for you. That's kind of the point.
Second — Tuesdays and Thursdays are about to start doing two different jobs. Right now they blur together.
Coming up, each one is going to have its own purpose so you know what you're getting when you see my name in your inbox, and so you're not digging through an email to find the one part you actually wanted.
Same goes for what shows up on the feed. I'll walk you through it before anything changes.
None of this is me getting fancy. It's me trying to make this thing easier to love, so it keeps doing what it's supposed to do — help us all love this county a little better.
Thanks for being here. Gwinnett is better because you're in it.
— Gus
