Lemonade Days has been a Dunwoody tradition since 1999. The first event was held as a fundraiser for a campaign to replant trees following the devastating tornado that cut through Dunwoody on April 9, 1998. The Dunwoody Homeowner’s Association, Dunwoody Preservation Trust and Dunwoody Nature Center joined forces to replace trees with the “Replant the Dunwoody Forest” effort.
The 1999 event included a children’s carnival and tours of rebuilt and rehabilitated homes. DPT chose to name the festival Lemonade Days in 2000, evolving from the phrase “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The 2000 event included a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, and games on the lawn of the Cheek-Spruill House.
During the years 2001 through 2003, Lemonade included arts and crafts at the Shops of Dunwoody in addition to home tours and carnival games at the Cheek-Spruill House. In 2004, Lemonade Days moved to Brook Run Park.
Tornados touched down from Alabama to Cobb County, Georgia over three days in April 1998. In Dunwoody, the tornado came across Chamblee Dunwoody Road, moved east along Peeler Road, down Tilly Mill Road, through parts of Kingsley, across Happy Hollow Road and through Fontainebleau Forest, then across Winters Chapel Road into Lockridge Forest. The tornado then struck Peachtree Corners and northern Gwinnett County. (Dunwoody Crier, June 1998, “April 9, 1998: The Storm”)
At DeKalb College, today’s Georgia State University, Dunwoody campus, 80 percent of the trees snapped or were uprooted. The “Replant the Dunwoody Forest” program replaced more than 25,000 trees.
This year’s Lemonade Days Festival will be held April 17-21. What began as a one-day small event has grown into a 5-day festival and Dunwoody signature event, with approximately 20,000 attendees.
The festival includes carnival rides and a variety of…
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