Valentine's Weekend in the Classic City

Enjoy a perfect Valentine's weekend getaway in Athens! Take advantage of fabulous rates and the first-class hospitality of this Classic City. Whether or not you have a lot of money to spend, Athens offers great opportunities for you and your sweetheart!

Go Big!

Fall in love all over again in the Classic City as you celebrate Valentine's all weekend! Several weekend romance packages are available which include overnight accommodations in Athens, romantic dinners by candlelight and tickets to amazing concerts at the most unique music venues or great UGA sports. Visit our packages page for complete information and options for the most romantic Valentine's weekend!

Budget-friendly!

On Valentine's Eve, the Melting Point offers an evening of Cool Jazz and Hot Romance. Eat, drink and listen closely as jazz legend Francine Reed performs. Tickets are $25.00 in advance and $30.00 the day of the show.

The Georgia Club hosts a Valentine's Dinner Dance on Sunday, featuring a one-man tribute to Sinatra by Adam Komesar. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Dawgwood Ballrooms. Admission is $40 for members and $44 for guests. Price will increase after February 12!! Call the clubhouse at 770.725.8100 to make reservations.

If you and your partner are looking for something adventurous to do on Valentine's Day, head over to Canopy Studio for a Beginner Partner Trapeze Workshop! Learn basic partnering skills on the dance trapeze in this workshop designed for friends or couples. Wear breathable clothing that will cover the backs of knees and arms. Advance registration and payment required. Send an e-mail to info@canopystudio.com. $40 per couple.

Get Creative!

So you are going to be in Athens on Valentine's weekend, but are on a tight budget. Don't panic- you can still find things to do that are free!

Star-gaze through a 24-inch telescope! The UGA Observatory (atop the Physics and Astronomy building) will be open for public viewing this Friday at 8 p.m. for 60 to 90 minutes. If cloudy, there will be a brief talk on astronomy that is of current interest.

Join the Georgia Museum of Art at the Lyndon House Arts Center for an early Valentine's Celebration on Saturday from 10 a.m. - noon. Use the works of arts you see in the galleries to inspire your own pop-up Valentines. Heart-shaped treats will be provided.

On Valentine's Day, Lay Park hosts the annual Senior Sweetheart Prom in the park's gymnasium. Activities include dancing, music, refreshments and socializing! The Senior Sweetheart Prom is open to citizens 55-years and older.

Don't forget! Our Twitter contest runs until Wednesday at midnight! Retweet my Twitter post to win a certificate for you and a loved one for $50 credit at The National and admission to Tituss Burgess' performance at the Morton Theatre.

RT to Win the Tituss Burgess Dinner Package

Broadway star Tituss Burgess returns to Athens on February 13 to kick-off Morton Theatre's Centennial Celebration with Tituss Burgess...One Night Only! Burgess will grace the stage with Showtunes, Jazz Standards and backstage stories.

One lucky winner and a friend will receive a certificate which includes two admissions to the Tituss Burgess performance plus $50 credit at The National, a downtown Athens restaurant with Meditteranean-inspired food. The winner can pick up the certificate at the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau any time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 11.

The contest only runs until Wednesday, February 10 at midnight so hurry, and start retweeting!

About Tituss Burgess:

Burgess, a graduate of local Cedar Shoals High School and UGA, has appeared in four Broadway musicals. He recently starred as Nicely-Nice Johnson in the new Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls. He originated the role of Sebastian the Crab in Disney's The Little Mermaid, as well as original Broadway cast roles in Jersey Boys and Good Vibrations.

How to participate in the Twitter contest:

Simply retweet my Twitter post about the event. After midnight on Wednesday a random number generator will select the winner.

New to Twitter or our contests? Not sure how to retweet? Click here or here for examples.

For official contest rules, click here.

Athens This Weekend: February 5-7

Featured Event (Friday, February 5): The Classic Center welcomes George Jones, Country Music Hall of Fame vocalist and industry icon! He is known for dozens of hits over the past 40 years, including "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "The Grand Tour" and ever-popular duet with former wife Tammy Wynette, "Golden Ring." Opening for George Jones will be Country duo Wilson Fairchild - sons of Harold and Don Reid of the Statler Brothers. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 5:

• Travel to the UGA Performing Arts Center this Friday to enjoy award-winning pianist Benjamin Moser perform works by Mendelssoh, Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. According to Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), "[Benjamin] is already a master of color, atmosphere and delicate nuance, with technical mastery and youthful exuberance." The show starts at 8 p.m. in the Ramsey Concert Hall.
  

Saturday, February 6:

• The UGA Performing Arts Center presents an extraordinarily brilliant performance this Saturday at 8 p.m. The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quartet captures the writings of great composers with music that will stir your emotions! This group continues to astonish audiences worldwide with its range of expression, total spectrum and conceptual unity. A pre-concert lecture will be given by Thomas Taylor Dickey, a doctoral student in orchestral conducting at UGA.
  


• Come meet Old Man Spruce (a puppet with personality!) during the Arbor Day Celebration at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and discover all the important things trees provide. Learners will gain a better understanding of the importance of trees through tree games, tree identification, "tree cookie" investigation and air quality sampling. A great event for all ages!

Sunday, February 7: Are you ready for some football?! Athens offers multiple venues and parties to watch the Saints vs the Colts play in the Super Bowl XLIV!

• Watch the game and celebrate with giveaways, a raffle, and drink and food specials in Buffalo's Georgia Room. Party starts at 6 p.m.
  


• Come on down to the Melting Point for the big game plus tailgate food, beer specials, and plenty of giveaways and prizes. No cover! Doors open at 5 p.m.

If you are still looking for great Valentine's ideas, treat your sweetheart to a romantic weekend in Athens! Click here to view special packages and offers just in time for Valentine's Day.

Go! Text! Win! a Tailwaggin' Weekend in Athens!

To celebrate Valentine's Day this year, we are giving away a complete Romance Package valued at $550! It is an amazing package and extremely easy to enter.

Simply text "DAWG" to 95495!

The winner will receive a complete Romance Package including:

• Two nights' accommodations at the Foundry Inn Park & Spa
• Two tickets to the Melting Point live music venue
• A $50 Downtown Athens gift certificate
• A $100 Classic Center Theatre gift certificate
• An $80 Five and Ten gift certificate
• Two Classic City Tours vouchers
• More Athens goodies and gifts!

Who can enter? Anyone who loves Athens and is interested in returning for a special weekend!

Are you just going to bug me with lots of texts? You can choose the opt-in to receive future information from Athens about upcoming events and specials. Or you can opt-out. It's up to you.

Will you give my information to anyone else? No. We never give our patron's information to other organizations.

How does this work? It just like sending a regular text message.

1. Open up a text message
2. Type in 95495 as the recipient
3. Type "DAWG" as the text
4. Hit send
5. You are entered!

Click here for official contest rules. Good luck!

Athens This Weekend: January 29-31

Whether you want to learn more about "going green", enjoy unique musical performances or are preparing for an upcoming wedding, Athens offers it all! Check out all of the exciting events happening this weekend in the Classic City.

Featured Event (Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30):

• I am always looking for new ways to save energy and learn more about recycling, and the Green Life Expo is the perfect opportunity for this! Join us at the Classic Center on Friday and Saturday to discover ways you can reduce your carbon footprint, save money, and make small changes that will have a big impact. Bring hard-to-recycle items including home electronics, CDs, DVDs, computer games, alkaline and rechargeable batteries and fluorescent light bulbs. It's two days of information and fun that you don't want to miss!

Saturday, Jan. 30: As always, there are plenty of opportunities to hear musical performances around Athens!

• Nothing is more relaxing and entertaining than watching a musical performance- especially one where musicians perform from the center of the room, level with the audience encircling them! Head to the Rialto Room at Hotel Indigo this Saturday at 9 p.m. for live performances "in the round" by Richard Leigh, Rob Crosby, and James Dean Hicks. $15 per ticket and only $99+tax for a hotel stay/show package!

• UGA Performing Arts Center presents a renowned musical matrimony and an evening of unforgettable Celtic music this Saturday. Known for her flamboyant skill and trademark step dancing, Natalie MacMaster mixes her shows with Celtic, Scottish, Irish, and American bluegrass music. MacMaster's "other half," husband Donnell Leahy, is widely acclaimed for his agility on the fiddle. It is guaranteed to be a fun show for all!

Sunday, Jan. 31: Athens is offering not one, but TWO bridal shows this Sunday. It's a bride's dream-come-true!

• The Classic Center hosts the Georgia Bridal Show which features 50 exhibitors from North Georgia. You can meet face-to-face with wedding professionals and find everything you have been looking for to create the wedding of your dreams including cakes, food, gowns, tuxedos, music and flowers! Doors open at 12:30 p.m. with a fashion show at 3:30 p.m.

• Athens Wedding Professionals presents the Ultimate Bridal Show at the Georgia Center from 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with more than 40 local and Northeast Georgia wedding professionals participating. It is a one-stop shopping event with all of the wedding services you will need!

Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy- Athens Success by Six Program

Did you know that 61 percent of low-income families do not have a single piece of reading material suitable for a child? Or that one-third of Georgia children go to school unprepared to learn?

I did not realize what a vital issue literacy is in Georgia until last August, when I started working with a program called Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. Ferst Foundation is a public non-profit with the mission to "provide books for local communities to prepare all Georgia preschool children for reading and learning success."

Children registered for the Ferst Foundation program receive a free book at his/her home every month until five-years-old. If registered at birth, each child will receive up to 60 free books for his/her own personal library! The children's classic The Little Engine That Could is the first book each child receives, and Look Out Kindergarten, Here I come! is the final "graduation" book that is received when the child turns five.

The local Clarke County partnership with Ferst Foundation, Success By Six/Wee Read, has a similar message: "to ensure that all children in our community receive the early experiences necessary for success in school and in life." This program also provides a newsletter with effective reading techniques, parenting information, local events and activities for children, and a book activity page.

If you have a child under five-years-old, I highly recommend registering your child for Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy.

I have had the honor of volunteering with this truly inspirational program for five months. I am the Account Executive for this account through Creative Consultants, the student-run PR firm at UGA. My team (five other students) and I have planned and executed PR strategies to increase public awareness of the program and recruit registered families. One of our most exciting projects for the semester is to film and edit a promotional video for the program. We hope to release the video on the Ferst Foundation Web site, YouTube and other social media outlets. Please contact me at emilyekittle@gmail.com if your child is enrolled in the program and you would like to volunteer for filming.

Below are photos and testimonials from local Clarke County families registered with the program. I hope the testimonials will encourage you to register your child for Ferst Foundation. Stay tuned for the final production video which will be released in mid-to-late April!

Reading isn't just a pre-bedtime activity in the Dutcher household. They read (and occasionally re-read) a few different books daily. In this photo, Leslie Dutcher reads a current favorite from Ferst Foundation, Pip and Squeak, to her son soon after they arrive home from work and school. Leslie, a primary school teacher, recognizes the importance of early childhood learning and highly recommends this program.

"He is excited to receive the book each month. When I take the book out of the mailbox, and before we even get to the house, he wants me to open the book." -Leslie Dutcher

"Ferst Foundation is a great program and it's really exciting. Tristan receives books that are his own and he has thoroughly enjoyed getting them. It is something that really excites him every month- something to look forward to and make him excited about reading. I tell anybody that has kids to definitely join Ferst Foundation." -Beth Lowery, mother of Tristan (photo).

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Douglas Blackmon to Speak at UGA

The Richard B. Russell Library and partners present two special opportunities to meet and hear Atlanta Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Blackmon this Thursday, January 28. Blackmon is a passionate advocate of history and research as a tool for social justice.

2:00 - 3:00 p.m (Russell Library Auditorium):

Blackmon will discuss his approach to research as a journalist and scholar working to reconstruct a fragmentary history of forced labor of African Americans in years between the Civil War and World War II for his award-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II. He will also entertain questions and ideas from those in attendance. This program will be a great chance for the campus community to compare notes and share ideas with one of the country's preeminent journalists and authors. This program is free, but seating is limited. To reserve a space for the program, please contact Jill Severn at 706.542.5766 or jsevern@uga.edu.

4:30 - 6:30 p.m. (Reading Room- 3rd Floor, Miller Learning Center):

Blackmon will also present a more formal free lecture entitled, A Persistent Past: Reckoning with Racial History in the Era of Obama. No RSVP necessary! Following this program, there will be a light reception and Blackmon will be available to sign copies of his book.

The Miller Learning Center is located on the northeast corner of Baxter Street and South Lumpkin Street. Parking is available in the adjacent Tate Center Parking Deck (entrance via South Lumpkin Street.) University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County City buses stop in front of the Tate Center, which is next to the Miller center. See a map here.