Business This Week: Spring into Art

By Kay Harris
The Valdosta Daily Times

April 12, 2008 12:51 am

— The annual Spring into Art exhibit kicks off tomorrow night from 6 to 9 p.m. with a lovely reception for the artists for $45 a person. After Monday, those who wish to view the outstanding works of art may visit the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts through late May during open gallery hours Tuesday through Saturdays.
The exhibit is in its 21st year and is an outstanding showcase for local and regional artists. Valdosta may be far more well known for sports, but is really gaining a reputation in the arts world as a progressive and supportive arts colony.
Between the strong program at Valdosta State University, the artists’ groups in downtown Valdosta and the Art After Dark monthly events, plus the many local initiatives sponsored by the Arts Center, we are blessed to have a rich cultural environment here.
The Spring into Art exhibit helps to celebrate all that is wonderful about our artists, with more than 239 artists competing in the juried show. And unlike many other shows of its kind, the Arts Center ensures that all the works that are entered are displayed.
The reception tomorrow evening is an excellent opportunity to help support the center and its programs, but even if you can’t make it then, you have more than a month to get to the Arts Center to view the hundreds of pieces and immerse yourself in these beautiful and creative artistic expressions.

Business Roundup
Remerton Square has two new tenants. Chrismill Homes has a storefront there now and Anthony & Co. salon has opened a second location there. The retail center on Baytree Road has quite a few restaurants and stores in it now.
There is a new development fixing to come our way on Inner Perimeter Road. The space next to FMB bank, currently under construction, now belongs to an investment group reportedly owned at least partially by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. It will be the Lake Laurie Towne Center, but no stores have been announced for it, or for the new North Oak Plaza yet either.
I’ve had several more questions about the hot dog restaurant, Mad Dogs, as well as the new Catfish Restaurant on Bemiss Road. I was chastised for not being clearer in my directions, so I apologize as I forgot there are technically two Harveys on Bemiss. So, Mad Dogs is in front of the new Harveys, across the street from the McDonalds, Wendys, etc., and the Catfish Restaurant is in the space that was an Indian-cuisine restaurant for years called the Siam and then briefly the Humdingers restaurant, and now it’s the Catfish Restaurant. It’s close to Cat Creek Road, if that helps.
Farther down Bemiss, in front of the Highlands subdivision near the new Taco Bell, a new Ellianos is slated to be built.
The new strip center on Northside Drive and the new one on Norman Drive are moving along, and there is some building going on by the entrance to Lowndes High School, but there are no signs up to indicate what they’re doing. If you know, please give me a call.
And the folks that are building the new Smok’n Pig restaurant on Old Highway 41 N. near N. Valdosta Road are excited as the walls went up this week. The restaurant, which will be owned by the folks that own the Ole Times buffets in town (not O’Neals, my apologies), will be open by July, just in time for some holiday barbecue.
That’s it for this week, but I’m sure there will be more next week, and if there’s something that I’ve missed, please let me know!