I cannot tell you how happy I am with all that has been happening in Gwinnett and with those of you on here.

From our first Dinner Club earlier this month, and half of those who showed up to the first already booked for the next in Duluth.

Excited to see a couple dozen of you signed up for today’s webinar!

It just reminds me how much there is a real desire in us all for community, building new friendships, making new connections, and finding value in connecting.

Just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being a part of GwinnettBest! YOU make it worth it.

And if you’re new here, welcome!

And now, everything happening between now and Monday — city by city, like most of you like it.

Let's go.

A live 30-minute conversation with Jim Stern

📅 Today, Thursday, August 20

🕛 12:00 PM sharp

⏱️ 30 minutes, max — you've got a lunch break, not a lunch hour

💻 Online and free

1. A straight answer about Gwinnett.

2. Your own question, answered live.

3. A free download built for GwinnettBest neighbors.

4. 🥣 everbowl gift cards for 5 attendees.

Five people are walking out of a 30-minute Zoom with an everbowl gift card. Showing up is the entire entry system — there's nothing else to do. (everbowl at Hamilton Mill, 2740 Braselton Hwy, Dacula — yes, the same one my 11-year-old made that video about.)

No pitch. No pressure. Half an hour.

👉 Save my seat →

Can't make noon? Sign up anyway — I'll know you wanted in.

Tonight, Thursday, August 20 · 8:00 PM

Also: Fri 8:00 PM · Sat 2:30 and 8:00 PM · Sun 2:30 PM

Lawrenceville Arts Center · 147 East Crogan Street, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Aurora opens Season 31 with the full-scale Annie — orphans, Daddy Warbucks, the dog, all of it. Runs about two and a half hours with an intermission. With matinees Saturday and Sunday, there's a version of this that fits whatever your weekend already looks like.

👉 Showtimes and tickets

Saturday, August 22 · 11:30 AM–12:30 PM · $7

Lawrenceville Arts Center · 147 East Crogan Street, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Aurora's Children's Playhouse opens a brand-new season with a kid-sized Midsummer Night's Dream — fairies, flowers, and mixed-up love, in about 50 minutes. Seven dollars, all ages.

Seven bucks for a real theater experience is the cheapest "let's do something different" I found this week.

👉 Details here

Tonight, Thursday, August 20 · 6:00–9:00 PM

The Grove at Towne Center · 2265 Wisteria Drive, Snellville, GA 30078

Snellville's third-Thursday concert series in the new Grove development. Tonight it's The Happy Hour, an Atlanta trio that plays a little bit of everything. Lawn and patio seating, restaurants right there.

If you still haven't walked through The Grove, this is your excuse. The entire point of that development was to give Snellville a downtown people could actually hang out in — tonight is what that looks like when it works.

👉 Concert details

Monday, August 24 · 11:30 AM and again at 6:00 PM

Snellville City Hall Council Chambers · 2342 Oak Road, Snellville, GA 30078

Two of the three legally required public hearings on the city's 2026 property tax millage rate.

Not fun. Kind of important. This is the on-the-record window where a resident can stand up and say something before council sets the rate — and if you've ever complained about your tax bill, this is the room where that complaint counts.

👉 Hearing details

Saturday, August 22 · 5:00–9:00 PM · Ticketed

Hudgens Center for Art & Learning · 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Building 300, Duluth, GA 30097

The Hudgens' annual fundraiser, and it's built like an evening rather than an event — you move through the galleries and gardens with live music, food, craft beer and wine tastings, live art demos and a silent art auction going the whole time.

The money funds their exhibitions and education programs for the year. So it's a date night that quietly does something.

👉 Tickets and details

Today, Thursday, August 20 · 8:00–9:00 AM · FREE · Adults 18+
And the following 5 Thursdays.

Peachtree Corners Town Green · 5140 Town Center Boulevard, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092

A free, all-levels outdoor workout led by a certified trainer, with access to Fort Pain — the city's 26-obstacle outdoor course. Bring water and a towel. It runs every Thursday.

A city that just… gives away personal training on its town green is a strange and wonderful thing. Take them up on it.

👉 More info

Friday, August 21 · 7:30–10:00 PM · FREE admission

Loganville Town Green · 235 Main Street, Loganville, GA 30052

The city's third-Friday concert series, and this month it's Departure doing Journey. Food vendors on site, beer and wine allowed, picnics welcome. Bring a chair or a blanket.

I'll be honest with you — "Don't Stop Believin'" sung by 400 people on a town green in August is undefeated. It just is.

👉 More info

Friday, August 21 · 4:00–7:00 PM · Free to browse

Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church · 1400 Killian Hill Road, Lilburn, GA 30047

This is a producer-only market — the person selling you the tomatoes is the person who grew them. Friday brings live music from Shambolia plus a Booth for a Cause spotlighting Girl Scout Troop 22207.

Worth knowing now: the season ends next Friday, August 28. Then it's closed until May. So this is one of your last two chances.

👉 Market details