From Milton High to Broadway

Top of Mind

Jake James just won high school theater's biggest prize. On Broadway.

When we covered the Shuler Hensley Awards in June, Milton High's Jake James had just been named Georgia's Best Leading Actor for his turn as Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants, the production that took the state's top prize. It turns out Georgia was the warm-up.

On June 22, at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway, James won Best Performance by an Actor at the Jimmy Awards, the National High School Musical Theatre Awards and the most prestigious stage in high school theater. The ceremony, hosted by SNL alum Bowen Yang, crowned James from a field of the best young performers in the country, and he marked the moment by performing a song from Water for Elephants on a Broadway stage. If you caught the Milton Theatre Company's staging earlier this year, you saw a national-champion performance before the nation did.

The Eagle connections didn't stop there: the night also featured a performance by Broadway's McKenzie Kurtz, herself a Milton High alum and a member of the school's Wall of Fame. Watch Jake's Jimmy Awards performance →

Source: City of Milton

Council Watch

Milton's money, your Monday: the July 6 council cheat sheet

City Council meets Monday at 6 p.m., and the agenda is heavier than a summer Monday has any right to be. The headliner: the first public discussion of Milton's Fiscal Year 2027 budget, which will govern city spending from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. Staff will walk Council through the budget timeline, new operating initiatives, capital requests, and pay-as-you-go program updates, then take direction. A quick correction from Thursday's issue: we said the budget was up for adoption Monday. It isn't. Monday starts the conversation; more budget sessions, public input opportunities, and the millage-rate vote come over the next few months.

Also on the agenda: a vote to extend Milton's data-center moratorium through July 21. Council enacted the 30-day pause on data-center applications June 15, and this short extension buys time to legally notice a public hearing on a longer one at the July 20 meeting. The city's planners will also present progress on the 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update, the every-five-years rewrite of Milton's guiding vision, which heads to state and regional review before Council votes on final adoption in October.

And one more sleeper item with a ballot attached: Council will consider the intergovernmental framework for distributing TSPLOST III revenues, the potential third round of the 0.75-cent transportation sales tax. If it moves forward, Fulton County voters will decide it this November. The first two rounds paid for much of what's reshaping Milton's roads right now, including the Morris Road widening we covered Thursday.

Smaller but very Milton: alcohol licenses for the new owners of the New York Butcher Shoppe & Wine Bar in Crabapple and the Extra Mile Chevron on Arnold Mill, plus an agreement letting Basil Family Farm teach agriculture, gardening, and nature programs out of city facilities. Attend in person at City Hall or watch live on YouTube.

Source: City of Milton

Around Town

Red, white, and a brand-new Uncle Sam

Friday morning at Broadwell Pavilion, Milton threw its annual Red, White, and YOU! celebration, and the town showed up in force: strollers wrapped in bunting, kids on decorated Power Wheels, and a neighborhood walking parade behind Broadwell Road with awards for the most patriotic child, best-decorated wagon, and most coordinated family. New water attractions and a water slide earned their keep in the July heat, the Milton Fire Corps grilled hot dogs, and King of Pops and Kona Ice handled dessert.

The best detail of the day: Larry Johnson, who has played Uncle Sam at this event for more than 20 years, debuted a new costume in honor of America's upcoming 250th birthday. "This is a cool neighborhood walking parade that we let the kids participate in," said Emily Salerno, the city's community outreach manager. Consider next year's stroller theme officially on the clock.

Source: Appen Media / Milton Herald

The Drive

Two summer road projects just crossed the finish line

Mayfield at Bethany is open again. Just over the Milton line, Alpharetta has reopened the roundabout at Mayfield and Bethany roads, right on schedule. Detours for through-traffic are lifted and normal travel has resumed, welcome news for anyone whose school run, Crabapple loop, or downtown Alpharetta shortcut threads that intersection.

Hopewell and Thompson are as good as new. The full-depth reclamations we first covered in June, when crews ground both roads down to dirt to rebuild them from the base up, are essentially complete. Hopewell between Birmingham and Hamby and Thompson from just south of Tabbystone Pass to Hopewell are riding on fresh, smooth asphalt, with only final striping left. Summer is prime resurfacing season while school is out, and the city says similar work lands on other Milton roads in 2027.

Sources: City of Alpharetta, City of Milton

Milton Homes

A $5 million kind of week

Twenty new listings hit the Milton market this past week, and the top of the market made an entrance. Two arrivals landed just under $5 million: a new-construction nine-bedroom on Traditions Drive and a 22,000-square-foot estate on 4.5 acres on Tullgean Drive. A third, on Pruitt Road, offers something rarer than square footage: 48 acres of Milton land in one piece.

All 411 active listings, searchable by school zone, neighborhood, and price band, are on our Milton Homes directory, alongside July's full market report. Have a question about a listing or the market? Our featured realtor, Amber Kuhn of At Home Property Group, is one click away on every page.

Coming Soon

Best of Milton: nine days out

Nominations for The Roundabout's first-ever Best of Milton open July 14. Twenty-nine categories, reader-nominated and reader-voted, from best pizza to best place to take out-of-town guests. Start lobbying your group chats now; the ballot lands in your inbox a week from Tuesday.

The Week Ahead

Mon, July 6 · City Council, 6 p.m. — FY2027 budget kickoff, the data-center moratorium extension, and the Comp Plan update, all covered above. In person at City Hall or on YouTube.

Wed, July 8 · Junior Ranger Academy — the first of four Wednesday-morning sessions this month ($20, ages vary; register under the Outdoor Recreation tab at miltonga.gov/registration).

Sat, July 11 · Movie on the Green at Crabapple Market.

All month · Parks & Rec Scavenger Hunt — snap photos matching the challenges around Milton's parks and email your proof to parksandrec@miltonga.gov by July 31. Everyone who plays wins something. Form at miltonga.gov/ScavengerHunt.

Planning practices? Legacy Park stays closed. The athletic complex off Cox Road is shut for the summer while crews roughly double the parking and replace the septic system. The city expects it back open by September, in time for fall ball.

See the full Milton events calendar →

One More Thing

The heat advisory that parked over the holiday finally lifted Saturday night. To everyone who kept the fireworks inside the 10-a.m.-to-midnight window and away from the horse farms: the horses, the dogs, and your neighbors thank you. Back Tuesday.