Cheryl reports on The Decatur Minute that Decatur is back on top in the ING Marathon Neighborhood Challenge, which provides cash rewards to the Atlanta neighborhoods with the most cheer along the marathon course.

The city will receive $3,000 hard cash for their first-place, orange-tinted enthusiasm.  Cheryl says the winnings will be used to “jump start” a new walking program called “Walk There Decatur!”.

I really hope this means I can finally begin earning money for walking my dog.   I keep telling him my time is money, but he just keeps nosing the doorknob and staring at me.

City Commissioner Patti Garrett writes in congratulating the city’s Lena Stevens and points to this press release from Governor Sonny Perdue’s office  announcing the recipients of “grant funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program.”

According to the release, 64 communities applied and 57 received grants.  Decatur’s $500,000 grant, which it will share with Dunwoody and Chamblee, is one of the two largest handed out.

What specifically will Decatur use the money for?  Here are the details…

Decatur will partner with the cities of Chamblee and Dunwoody to offer funding to schools, non-profit organizations, authorities and local government agencies. Activities include the installation of energy efficient lighting and HVAC upgrades, and establishing a revolving loan fund for future energy efficiency projects.

It’s less a hunt and more of a candy free-for-all.

From The Decatur Minute…

The annual Decatur Business Association Easter Egg Hunt is on Saturday on the Old Courthouse Square. The bunny arrives at 10:30 am and the hunt begins at 11 am sharp, so bring your basket and join in. The hunt will be over in about 2 minutes- we have never seen children move so fast as when motivated by candy eggs!

Can we do this again in the summer with cherry tomatoes instead of jelly beans?

Photo Courtesy of The Decatur Minute

Admittedly, I don’t know too much about the lives, pressures and influences on a professional chef, but Scott Peacock’s stated reason for leaving Watershed seems unique.

He isn’t taking his talents to a more popular food city or trying out for Iron Chef.  Instead, he’s leaving the Decatur restaurant so he can capture a disappearing folk culture.  From a recent Access Atlanta interview…

But his project, where he crisscrosses his native Alabama talking to its most senior residents about their stories and memories revolving around food, seems pressing. One interview subject passed away before he could record her on film, making Peacock realize what a “narrow window of time” he had to complete the work.

He’s been in talks with Alabama Public Television and the Sundance film festival and has shown early cuts to select viewers.

“It’s starting to catch on. My goal is to have 100 interviews by the end of the year. I have 35 now.”

Now, such a project certainly can’t hurt Peacock’s professional career, either from an inspirational or public image standpoint.  But make no mistake, capturing interviews of the southern foodways is no walk in the park.  It’s a taxing and difficult undertaking, and something you really need to have a passion for to pursue.  These days it seems that documenting folklife is most often reserved for freshly motivated graduate students.

Anyway, best of luck to Peacock on this new chapter.  I’ll be very interested to see the results of his labor.

Use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.  Comments close Monday.

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