Due to forecasts of inclement weather on Saturday the May 3 locations for The Book Worm Book Fest 2025 in downtown Powder Springs has changed to the Powder Springs Public Library and the George E both in the campus at 4181 Powder Springs St Organized by The Book Worm Bookstore in partnership with the City of Powder Springs and Cobb County Public Library the Book Fest is a celebration of literature and is designed to bring together readers of all ages For information on the activities, author events, panel discussions and more scheduled for the all-day Saturday festival, visit www.thebookwormbookfest.com The Book Worm Book Fest 2025 in downtown Powder Springs is a week-long series of special events Monday April 28 through the all-day Festival Saturday on May 3 A highlight of the festival is the One Book One City literary event that encourages members of the Powder Springs community to read before the festival the same book at the same time The selection for this year is Can’t We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe by Denny S The authors will lead the One Book One City Discussion and Book Signing on May 3 at 6 p.m.  at the Thurman Springs Park’s Amphitheater Events are scheduled at various locations for weekdays before the festival on Saturday The Saturday schedule starts 9:30 am with the Character Parade with Dog Man and Elephant and Piggie The festival’s Open is at 10 am followed by a poem reading by Tony Keith Jr the program will include a keynote message and author panels kids’ activities with Cobb Collaborative and more a best-selling author and illustrator of children’s books and self-described “recovering scholar.” McDaniel’s debut novel was named by the Georgia Center for the Book as a Books All Young Georgians Should Read selection The prestigious 2025 Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award went to the metro Atlanta native for Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker The panel discussions include the Mayor’s Reading Club Confirmed authors include: Kelly Young Silverman Unique to The Book Worm Book Fest will be a panel of independent bookstore owners discussing the importance of community bookstores The panel will consist of the owners of Brave + Kind Bookshop A Small Place Bookshop and All Things Inspiration Giftique The weekday events begin with Evening at the Library, One Book One City Book Discussion on Can’t We Be Friends at 6 pm Monday, April 28 at Powder Springs Library “An intimate and powerful portrayal of an unlikely pairing a bond that blossoms and thrives in quiet moments between gal-pals but isn’t enough to save them from their demons Bryce and Knight pen a jaunty ride that captures Ella Fitzgerald’s zeal for life and Marilyn Monroe’s passion for the moment...,” Vanessa Riley “Readers will enjoy Can’t We Be Friends and devour the special bond of a magical two-decades-long friendship of icons.” Powder Springs Library will host the Alice in Wonderland Celebration a tea party with themed crafts and activities Children are encouraged to dress for the party as a favorite character or in theme author of the children’s book Yaya and the Sea is the special presenter for Storytime with the Cobb Library Bookmobile at 4 pm Wednesday and to letting the sea know how much she is loved,” author Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming) said of Yaya and the Sea “I’ve not seen this story told before and am so happy it’s out in the world (How the Boogeyman Became a Poet) at the building beside Book Worm Bookstore at 4460 Marietta St Jazz Music and Marilyn Monroe Film Screening at 7 pm Friday May 2 will feature local musicians at Thurman Springs Park For information on the festival, visit www.thebookwormbookfest.com Powered by I.F. We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time e-mail us at circulation@mdjonline.com or call us at 770-428-9411 The Cobb Public Library distributed the following notice about a venue change for the Book Worm Book Fest: For information on the activities, author events, panel discussions and more scheduled for the all-day Saturday festival, visit www.thebookwormbookfest.com and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Here are the 52 new businesses issued licenses by Cobb County on the week ending Friday These are only licenses for businesses in unincorporated Cobb County The following are scores for the past week for restaurants and other food service facilities in Cobb County from the Georgia Department of Public Health gasoline prices in Georgia showed little movement over the past week Prices rose one cent to an average cost of $2.92 per gallon for regular… The National Weather Service forecasts sunny skies here in Cobb County on Monday Tonight it is expected to be mostly clear,… The Cobb County Courier’s Cat of the Day selected from the Cobb Animal Services Shelter website is a female tabby/white domestic short hair The following information on this potential family… [This is an evergreen article about the history of Powder Springs We periodically update and republish these articles as we find additional information] The Courier makes heavy use of the Georgia Historic Newspapers database and website housed at the University of Georgia when we publish articles about the history of Cobb County and its cities (see the explanation of the Georgia Historic Newspaper site at the bottom of this article) While looking for Christmas-themed material, we ran into an interesting reference to Powder Springs, published 45 years before that area was officially incorporated, and only six years after Cobb County was created At that time Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia followed by a screenshot of the way the ad looked in the newspaper: The subscriber would inform his friends and the public generally that he has become the proprietor of the above establishment and will devote his attention to the comfort and accommodation of such as may honor him with their patronage He pledges himself that no effort of his shall be spared in making this one of the most desirable houses of public entertainment in this section of the country His table shall at all times be supplied with every variety within his reach and his bar shall be filled with the choicest liquors His stable shall be well supplied with provender The Powder Springs are situated eleven miles southwest of Marietta in a high and beautiful section of the country and no person has ever visited these springs for health and thoroughly tested their luxurious water but will candidly acknowledge its virtue 22-3tw&2un The Southern Recorder will please give the above three weekly and two monthly insertions Georgia Historic Newspapers is part of the GALILEO project and is housed at the University of Georgia The project team finds and scans copies of Georgia newspapers and now includes newspapers from the 18th century through the present [Correction: an earlier version of this article read “from the 17th Century.” The earliest newspaper is from 1765 in the 18th Century] They digitize the papers into PDF copies and run Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on them so that they are searchable and available in text format (although the text renderings are not perfect) presenter (photo courtesy of Cobb County) Porsha Winfrey the coordinator of Cobb County’s Drug Treatment Court Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInATLANTA (Atlanta News First) - Two people were hospitalized after a trench collapsed in Powder Springs The collapse occurred near 5001 Hill Road SW at a construction site across from West Oak Trace Officials said one person was able to get out of the trench on their own Firefighters used a collapse truck to get the second person out of the trench Both appeared alert and conscious but were taken to Kennestone Hospital to be treated for compartmentalization syndrome Cobb County officials say this is done when one area of the body is crushed or immobile and the treatment will combat that syndrome “It’s pretty serious out here these blue-collar men and women they are putting their life on the line for a lot of us,” said Thai Williams a residential building inspector who lives across from the construction site Williams said part of her job is visiting residential construction sites daily “Digging these trenches for these sewer lines 15 feet and as deep as 15 plus feet,” Williams said According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics injuries within construction increased slightly from 2022 to 2023 Williams said inspectors insure safety protocols are followed by the workers “I see these guys they practice a lot of safety rules but sometimes things happen that’s a scary thing its very serious,” Williams said Check back with Atlanta News First for updates One City is a citywide literary event that encourages members of the Powder Springs community to read the same book at the same time This is a joint venture between the City of Powder Springs we hope to help bring the community closer together and to make reading a lifelong pursuit 1952: Ella Fitzgerald is a renowned jazz singer whose only roadblock to longevity is society’s attitude toward women and race Marilyn Monroe’s star is rising despite ongoing battles with movie studio bigwigs and boyfriends she wants only the best—and the best is the brilliant Ella Fitzgerald But Ella isn’t a singing teacher and declines—then the two women meet careful to honor the true history surrounding the women and their friendship and honed to pay a gorgeous tribute to two extraordinary Book clubs and fans of history will love discussing this novel and the impact these two women had on each other.” (Booklist) Both of the authors will be there to give us insights about his book and then we will open up questions to the audience for discussion They will also be available to sign copies of their books.  please reach out to the Powder Springs Public Library (770-439-3600) or the Book Worm Bookstore (770-439-2029) award-winning author of three novels: The Other Princess and a freelance writer who has written for Harper’s Bazaar and USA Today She is a member of the Historical Novel Society USA Today and international bestselling author Eliza is an avid history buff and her love of history began as a young girl when she traipsed the halls of Versailles She also writes women's contemporary fiction under the pseudonym Her books have been translated into multiple languages her title A Day of Fire has been optioned for film Knight lives in the sunshine state with her husband The cliche “you learn something new every day” applies doubly to me because I spend a little time every day just trying to learn new facts about the county: its history cities … any new information I can find out while browsing through Sarah Blackwell Gober Temple’s book The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County in Georgia I learned something new about Powder Springs Powder Springs, in its current incarnation, began with its incorporation in September of 1883 in a chapter entitled “Development of Towns,” lists two previous incorporations of Powder Springs one in 1838 (under the name “Springville at Powder Springs” and a second in 1859 (incorporated as just “Powder Springs”) Temple did not mention the incorporation in 1883 which is clearly documented in Georgia’s records There is also no mention of why the same basic area required incorporation three separate times Usually when faced with something like this, I dig into the Georgia Historic Newspapers digital archives I was interested in mentions of Powder Springs surrounding the first incorporation Temple mentioned So I set the boundaries of my search from 1830 to 1839 The first reference to “Powder Springs” I could find is from 1836 when the April 26 edition of the Georgia Constitutionalist in Augusta ran a list of postmaster appointments listed Powder Springs as a town getting a new post office This would have been two years before the first incorporation Temple mentioned in her book but it would not be unusual for an unincorporated place to have a post office In June 1837, the Columbus Sentinel ran a real estate article listing several properties in Cobb County “The Powder Springs is in high repute for those mineral and healing virtues situated in a most valuable section of the country and is now a first rate country village for business,” wrote the reporter On November 27, 1838, the Federal Union ran the following advertisement from a hotel in Powder Springs: To those who Seek Health and Comfort.POWDER SPRINGS HOTEL The subscriber would inform his friends and the public generally that he has become the proprietor of the above establishment and will devote his attention to the comfort and accommodation of such as may honor him with their patronage He pledges himself that no effort shall be spared in making this one of the most desirable houses of public entertainment in this section of the country and his Bar shall be filled with the choicest liquors His Stable shall be well supplied with provender The Powder Springs is situated eleven miles southwest of Marietta in a high and beautiful section of country and no person has ever visited these springs for health and thoroughly tested their luxurious water Finally, Temple’s claim about the 1838 incorporation was verified in the January 8, 1839, issue of the Macon, Georgia Telegraph among a long list of laws passed by the Georgia legislature the previous year I’ll explore the second incorporation listed in Temple’s book Join the Office of Sustainability at the Welcome to South Cobb Family, Food & Music Festival, taking place April 19, 2025 at Thurman Springs Park in Powder Springs The theme of this year's Welcome to South Cobb event is Hope and the Office of Sustainability will have a booth with a special sustainability-related activity Click here for more information and we hope to see you there Photos provided by Cobb County Public Library] the annual festival aims to promote community connection through a shared love of books The highlight of the week is the all-day festival on Saturday The day begins with a Character Parade at 9:30 a.m. featuring popular children’s book characters Dog Man and Elephant and Piggie followed by a poem reading by poet Tony Keith Jr Programming will run throughout the day until 5:30 p.m. This year’s keynote speaker is Breanna J. McDaniel a best-selling children’s author and illustrator was named a Georgia Center for the Book “Books All Young Georgians Should Read” selection Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker earned her the 2025 Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award One of the festival’s cornerstone events is the “One Book, One City” program, which encourages Powder Springs residents to read the same book ahead of the festival. This year’s selection is Can’t We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe by Denny S The authors will host a discussion and book signing at 6 p.m on Saturday at the Thurman Springs Amphitheater and activities coordinated by Cobb Collaborative Author panels will include discussions on children’s as well as the Mayor’s Reading Club and a special session on the role of independent bookstores Confirmed author panelists include Kelly Young Silverman The independent bookstore panel will include owners from Brave + Kind Bookshop The lead-up to the main festival day includes events hosted throughout the week: More information, including the full schedule and author lineup, is available at www.thebookwormbookfest.com [The Cobb County Courier has a policy of withholding or redacting the name of suspects unless and until the person is convicted in a court of law or enters a plea of guilty All suspects are innocent until proven guilty and the internet has no effective way of removing reports of arrest if the person is exonerated We do make exceptions in high-profile cases or charges against public officials where exoneration is likely to be as widely publicized as the initial arrest] According to a public information release from Sgt. Eric Smith of the Cobb County Police Department, a 64-year-old Powder Springs man was charged with aggravated assault and felony murder for an incident that took place on February 15, 2025, at around 3:33 AM on Katie Emma Drive in Powder Springs officers located a victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds The Major Crimes Unit responded to the incident location and assumed the investigation the suspect was arrested and is in custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department Major Crimes Unit at 770-499-3945 The Crimes Against Persons Division of the Cobb County Police Department is part of the Major Crimes Unit and is broken down into several specialized units It has a unit that does crime analysis to identify evidence to help link cases and identify suspects The division also houses the Crime Scene Unit which according to the division’s website “is responsible for documenting and processing crime scenes to locate evidence and to present evidence in criminal proceedings Crime scene technicians are responsible for processing evidence utilizing a variety of procedures for fingerprint The commander of the Major Crimes Unit is Capt and the Crimes Against Persons Unit is commanded by Lt The City of Powder Springs distributed the following announcement stating its intent to opt out of the homestead exemption provided under Georgia House Bill 581: Statement on Notice of Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption The Mayor and Council of the City of Powder Springs intend to opt out of the statewide adjusted base year ad valorem homestead exemption for the City of Powder Springs.  City officials recently submitted a legal advertisement announcing their intention to “opt out” of the HB 581 homestead exemption This ad involves a statewide referendum approved by voters in the November 2024 election that implements a statewide adjusted base year ad valorem homestead exemption While the homestead exemption automatically applies to all local governments and school districts these jurisdictions may opt out of the homestead exemption for their jurisdiction by following specific procedures by March 1 Powder Springs and Cobb County both have a flat homestead assessment freeze which provides a generally greater taxpayer benefit than the homestead exemption offered by HB 581 All concerned citizens are invited to attend any or all of three public hearings on this matter at the Patricia C Vaughn Cultural Arts Center at 4181 Atlanta St. Additional hearings on this matter will be held Wednesday The City of Powder Springs was incorporated in September of 1883 The area before incorporation had been known as Gunpowder Springs possibly because of the dark sand in the water Powder Springs is the sixth largest city in Cobb County The U.S. Census Bureau gives the following quick facts about the City of Powder Springs: A multi-building development expected to help reawaken a historic downtown area in West Cobb is ready for its closeup After breaking ground in summer 2022, Atlanta-based developer Novare Group, Batson-Cook Development Co., and PointOne Holdings have delivered a public-private development deal in Powder Springs now christened Springside a Cobb County city of roughly 17,000 residents is located about 25 miles northwest of Midtown and is known for its historic downtown shops and architecture—and for being a pitstop off the Silver Comet Trail The Springside project aims to add living options and foot traffic to a town center that city officials are working to make more vibrant across the street from Thurman Springs Park Its grand opening will likely come next month the eight-building project counts a mix of two-story carriage houses and apartment structures standing three or four stories No retail or commercial space was included.   one-bathroom unit in a studio-esque 428 square feet two-bathroom apartments start at $1,812 for between 1,188 and 1,296 square feet Amenities at the Humphreys & Partners Architects-designed apartments include a pet park and a pool with a sun-shelf and tanning ledge described as being resort-quality vibrant spaces that blend seamlessly with the charm of downtown Powder Springs,” said Novare president and CEO Jim Borders in a project announcement Powder Springs’ new town center will eventually cover 6.6 acres downtown, consuming land within walking distance of Marietta Street shops and restaurants, a future trail connection to the 61-mile Silver Comet, and the aforementioned, $4.1-million Thurman Springs Park Swing up to the gallery for a closer look at how this section of downtown has come together Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram   • Cobb County news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta) Donald Trump talked about his experience with faith and fatherhood at the National Faith Advisory Board summit Trump recounted his upbringing in New York saying that he at times enjoyed religious ceremonies but broadly sidestepped questions of his own faith Trump praised conservative Christians as a key part of his administration and said that a revamped office of faith would have a direct line into the Oval Office He also promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment which bars 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates but Christians aren’t known for being very solid voters,” Trump said to the crowd honestly religion is under threat,” he warned © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins first published in the Courier in May of 2024] Trains played a very important part in Cobb County’s history and the county still has active lines of the two largest freight haulers: CSX and Norfolk Southern Before the rise of the airlines and the automobile rail was also the dominant means of long-distance passenger travel Railroad news was prominent in newspapers in the 19th and early 20th centuries Even mundane things like arrival and departure schedules and the opening of new rail stations were front-page news train wrecks would be the top front-page headlines Here’s the text of the lead article (the Courier did not correct typos and grammar in the original): Speeding through the sheeted rain and blinding lightning at 40 miles an hour 38,” at 7:54 o’clock Friday night crashed into twenty runaway freight cars a mile from here serious injury for several of the train crew miraculous escape from a terrible fate for scores of passengers and total destruction for the entire passenger train followed It is certain now that no human agency could have prevented the accident after the cars broke loose the lifeless body of brave Engineer Hudgins was dug from the upturned engine cab with one hand grasping it still—showing that he had given his life grandly in an effort to save others for to his last efforts belongs the credit for saving scores of passengers A long freight had drawn up at Powder Springs to take the siding for the passenger train An angle cock to an air brake broke suddenly; then a drawhead pulled out Kelly had set the brakes on the caboose and five cars though Conductor Kelly was madly setting brakes on other cars and the runaways came to a stop half a mile away at the bottom of the hill the headlight flashed around a curve and the train leaped on the runaway freight cars Five cars of the limited and several freight cars were totally destroyed together with a large amount of baggage belonging to the passengers Many passengers walked through the driving storm to Powder Springs to take an incoming Southern train while others waited for the wrecking train The injured were brought to Atlanta and carried to Grady Hospital After working all night and Saturday morning the wrecking crew sent out from Atlanta has managed to clear up most of the wreckage and Seaboard officials at Powder Springs expect that trains will be passing over their own rail by Saturday afternoon which dealt death to Engineer Charles Hudgins is lying on its side at the foot of the bank and the same is true of some of the wrecked passenger cars the scene of the wreck was visited by curious crowds of people from Powder Springs and the center of attraction was the ponderous locomotive under which the engineer died Seaboard trains were sent over the tracks of the Southern and it was said that Seaboard freight trains would be held in Atlanta until the wreckage was sufficiently cleared to use the Seaboard tracks Georgia Historic Newspapers is a part of the GALILEO project and is housed at the University of Georgia It’s an amazing resource for anyone with an interest in the history of Georgia and its regions According to the “About” page on its website: The Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), a part of Georgia’s Virtual Library GALILEO and is based at the University of Georgia Libraries and other cultural heritage institutions to digitize historical newspapers from around the state The archive is free and open for public use and includes over two million Georgia newspaper pages between 1763 and 2021 Newspaper titles are regularly digitized and added to the archive. If you are interested in including a particular title, you can visit our participation page. A majority of the newspapers on this site were digitized from the microfilm produced by the Georgia Newspaper Project (GNP). For more information about the microfilm available through the GNP, please visit their website Read Today’s Top Story: March’s interest-rate slide prompts jump in pending home sales Community amenities include a co-working lounge The Springside multifamily community in the new town center of Powder Springs has opened BCDC and PointOne Holdings and offers studio one- and two-bedroom apartments across from Thurman Springs Park.  Novare Group and BCDC recently opened another apartment community All units at Springside have 9-foot ceilings vinyl-plank flooring and stainless-steel appliances while community amenities include a co-working lounge Some apartments have private garages.  “We’re excited to partner again with PointOne Holdings and BCDC to deliver a dynamic community in collaboration with city leadership,” Novare Group President and CEO Jim Borders said in a press release vibrant spaces that blend seamlessly with the charm of downtown Powder Springs and we’ve accomplished exactly that.”  “The town center development is ideally located near the Powder Springs trailhead of the Silver Comet Trail,” BCDC President and CEO Litt Glover said “This project enhances the community by combining modern living spaces with convenient access to outdoor recreation.” Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.