Admission is free to this year’s “OktoberFEAST” featuring even more authentic Munich traditions, delicious German food, seasonal beverages, live entertainment, and family-friendly fun.

“As the name suggests, food will once again be the star of the celebration,” the Sept. 3 announcement said. “Guests can enjoy a variety of Oktoberfest favorites, including warm Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese dip, German sausages, chicken schnitzel, spätzle, and other seasonal specialties.”

Festivalgoers can also sample an expanded selection of seasonal German beers, Oktoberfest-style lagers, and traditional Glühwein.

The Swinging Bavarians are returning to the City Springs stage with lively polkas, traditional Oktoberfest tunes, and crowd favorites that will have guests dancing throughout the weekend. 

Sponsorships for the fall festival and culinary celebration are still available.

The post German food and live music return to City Springs for Oktoberfest appeared first on Rough Draft.

More than seven years after a fire destroyed American Legion Post #207 in Tucker, the community space dedicated to fostering connection among veterans will reopen later this year after an anonymous $150,000 donation. 

A fire devastated Post #207 in March 2019 after a wedding, leaving the community of about 80 veterans in Tucker, Lilburn, and Stone Mountain without a gathering space for Scout meetings, ceremonies, and parties. When Tucker resident and former Marine Scott Brady joined the fundraising effort to rebuild the post in 2022, it was two months away from permanently closing. Brady and fellow Marine veteran Anthony Mathis launched the Save the Seven campaign to raise the $750,000 needed to rebuild the beloved and necessary resource. 

In three months, the two vets were able to raise $260,000 to keep construction going, and over the next several years, the campaign received major contributions, including $75,000 in free landscaping and a $25,000 donation from Home Depot.

Donations slowed in 2025, and as of only a couple months ago, the post was still $150,000 short of being fully rebuilt. That is, until a Tucker resident and veteran made an anonymous donation covering the entirety of the funds still needed. With this donation, Brady told Rough Draft that he’s hoping for the post to be reopened by Veterans’ Day later this year, bringing a much needed resource back to Tucker’s veterans and their families. 

“Saving this post is going to save veterans’ lives because it’s a place they could come, a place they could gather, a place that can provide them purpose,” Brady said. 

Since 1919, American Legion has been an organization dedicated to the mental well-being of veterans. According to a 2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention report, 13.9% of female veterans and 37.8% of male veterans die by suicide.

The new Post #207 will serve as a home base for Tucker’s veterans to embody the American Legion’s mission with a three-pronged approach: rescue veterans in need; restore their minds, bodies, and spirits; and repay the community. 

“We want to provide a place for veterans to come and have a sacred place where they can feel safe and have camaraderie and enjoy that part of being a veteran,” Brady said, “make sure we help those veterans that are in need, and make an impact on the community, with a special focus on the youth.”

Post #207 gives back to the community as a sponsor of the Tucker Youth Soccer Association, the provider of the American Legion School Medal Award scholarship at Tucker High School, and a leader of the Boys State and Girls State mock city council program through American Legion. In the new building, veterans in and around Tucker will again have a place to connect with other service members and grow their community impact. 

The rebuilding of Post #207 has been a long community-driven effort, done in part by donations made by Home Depot, Cowan Supply, Sherwin Williams, Socium Painting, Royal Flush Plumbing, Sears and Smith Landscaping, and Sustainable Design Collaborative of Atlanta.

U.S. veterans and their families can join the American Legion through the organization’s website. More information and updates on Post #207 can be found on Facebook.

The post Anonymous $150k donation secures reopening of Tucker’s American Legion Post 207 appeared first on Rough Draft.

Sometimes people pick their pets, and sometimes the pets pick them.

LifeLine Animal Project is taking that concept into its arsenal of options with its new “Meant to Meet” initiative featuring highly adoptable dogs.

The first event was held on Aug. 30, when three ready-to-adopt couples were offered the opportunity for a personal meet-and-greet with three staff favorites, Anthony Field, Penelope, and Linguista.

The event, inspired by online videos of similar reverse adoption efforts, was designed to give potential pet owners a more personal way to meet shelter dogs and see which connections felt natural, according to LifeLine officials.

“All three dogs were what we call ‘Level 1 animals,’ which means they had no issues, were extremely friendly, good with cats and children,” said LifeLine Senior Public Relations Manager/Spokesperson Tiki Artist. “In this case, we always try to pick animals that we feel would have a good outcome [with potential adopters].”

Anthony Field: A singer of sorts

One of the “Meant to Meet” dogs, Anthony Field, a stray mix who has been in the shelter since last October, probably came by his moniker by accident, but has turned out to live up to his namesake, Artist said.

“The funny thing about his name is that I honestly think we probably just had too many ‘Anthonys’ at the time and decided to call him Anthony Field,” she said. “There is an Australian musician named Anthony Field [an Australian musician, actor, songwriter, and producer, best known as the leader of the children’s group, the Wiggles] so there’s an accidental connection there.”

But Artist said Anthony Field is a singer of sorts.

Our Anthony definitely has a little performer in him,” she said. “When he sees another dog on a walk, he can put on this incredibly dramatic husky screeching performance that will turn heads – but then he settles right back down once they pass.”

Anthony Field, described as “super sweet, very polite on a leash, loves people, is cat-friendly, and knows ‘sit,'” is respectful around food, meaning he takes treats gently and won’t hog the dinner table, according to his notes. 

‘Meant to meet’ took an unexpected twist

According to LifeLine officials, Anthony Field, Penelope and Linguista had very different reactions during the session.

“Some enthusiastically interacted with all three couples, while others took a more independent approach and essentially decided…’Thanks, but I’ll pass,'” they reported.

Although the event did not result in an adoption that day, it created another opportunity: all three participating couples are now planning to foster other shelter animals.

“For a first-time event, we were excited to see people engage with the dogs in such a personal way and come away wanting to stay involved with LifeLine,” Artist said. “It was a fun experiment in letting the dogs take the lead – quite literally – and we’d love to build on what we learned for future events.”

All three dogs, as of Sept. 3, are still available for adoption.

Clear the shelter initiative

The “Meant to Meet event” was part of LifeLine’s larger effort during August to clear the shelter.

An ambitious goal of finding 2,000 homes for its shelter pets fell just short, as 1,431 animals found homes during what LifeLife describes as a challenging month of economy-driven, ever-increasing surrenders.

As of Sept. 3, the DeKalb County facility is housing 511 dogs, 36 over its 474-dog limit. In Fulton County, the total number of dogs stands at 375, with a capacity of 407, according to Artist.

LifeLine is planning other large-scale efforts to find new homes for its dogs with its second Super Adopt-A-Thon on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Union Hill Park. 1590 Little Pine Trail, in Alpharetta.

On that day, the organization will transport 125 dogs – already spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and ready for adoption that day. Adoption fees for the event will be waived.

The post LifeLine Animal Project launches ‘Meant to Meet’ initiative where dogs pick their owners appeared first on Rough Draft.

The Atlanta Regional Commission is sharing its long-term housing plan to address the growing regional affordability crisis.

Housing Forward 2035 sets goals for all 11 member counties of the Atlanta Regional Commission. The three focus areas are: keeping up with population growth, developing low-income housing, and addressing vacant properties.

The ARC has identified over 100,000 vacant or underutilized properties. The target is to create homes on 10% of those parcels.

ARC CEO Anna Roach says data shows what is expected to happen if they don’t make progress on housing affordability.  

“By 2035, 75% of the people making less than $55,000 a year won’t have a housing solution to speak of, 75% of those people,” Roach said. “That is a sobering number. Should be a sobering number to each of us.”

ARC Housing Specialist Kristin Allin shared how the Housing Forward 2035 plan would impact the region at St Luke’s Episcopal on September 2, 2026.

Credit: Atlanta Regional Commission

The plan also focuses on aligning housing with job growth. Atlanta Regional Commission Housing Specialist Kristin Allin said that people shouldn’t commute more than 30 minutes.  

“We want to sustain production, but we want to shift the where,” she said. “Shifting homes toward those job centers, transit areas.”

The goal is to build 367,000 units of housing, with half being affordable to people making 80% of the area median income. That’s around $94,000 a year for a family of four.

The post ‘Housing Forward 2035’ plan tackles Atlanta metro housing affordability crisis appeared first on Rough Draft.

The Atlanta Beltline is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for Northwest Trail – Segment 3B on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 11 a.m. at the Atlanta Technology Center.

The event will mark the start of construction on the nearly one-mile segment that will include a new pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive, according to a press release.

With 16.7 miles of the 22-mile trail now open, the final segment of the 1.2-mile Northwest Trail moves the Beltline closer to its goal of completing its northern corridor by 2030.

Segment 3B will extend from Trabert Avenue near Monday Night Brewing to Tanyard Creek Park,  connecting with the completed Segment 3A, and the existing Northside Trail.

The one-mile section will cross over Northside Drive via a pedestrian bridge before continuing through the Atlanta Technology Center property, a passage under I-75, and along an elevated trail within the Tanyard Creek concrete channel. Once complete, the trail will strengthen connectivity for the Ardmore, Berkeley Park, Brookwood, Collier Hills, and Loring Heights neighborhoods.

The post Atlanta Beltline will break ground on Northwest Trail segment Sept. 10 appeared first on Rough Draft.