THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 · Issue No. 65 · 9 min read
Crabapple Road closes 10 a.m. Friday, a day before the fest
Four free lots, a shuttle every 20 minutes and storms likely Saturday. Plus 46 of you on plate cameras.
A Milton resident who has sold more than $80 million in homes. Amber has guided buyers and sellers through more than $80 million in sales since 2018, pairing nearly two decades in corporate talent acquisition with relationship-first real estate. Bolst North Atlanta, top 2% nationally, and a repeat Atlanta Home Magazine All-Star.
404.441.7582 · amberkuhn@athomepg.com Sponsored · Amber Kuhn, At Home Property Group |
|
In this issue Crabapple Fest weekend. Crabapple Road closes at 10 a.m. Friday. The detours, the four free lots, the SAT at Milton High and Saturday’s storm chances. Your answers. 46 of you on who should decide Milton’s plate camera rules. And. A one-point flag football win over last year’s state champion; the Sheriff’s report on the Sept. 26 fatal crash at the county line; 16 homes planned on Thompson Road; Monday’s tax vote; and Mozart in Milton next Saturday. |
Top of Mind
the one thing to know this morning
 |
Crabapple Fest fills downtown Saturday from 10 to 5, and the road closes a day early. At 10 a.m. Friday, Crabapple Road shuts to through traffic from the Heritage Walk roundabout to the intersection where Mayfield Road, Broadwell Road and Birmingham Highway meet. Lecoma Trace closes too, between Heritage Walk and the south end of the Crabapple Market Green. Both should reopen around 10 p.m. Saturday, the city says.
Getting around. The city’s suggested detours: Heritage Walk (watch for people crossing on foot), Broadwell Road toward Rucker Road, and Birmingham Highway toward Dorris and New Providence roads. Expect heavier traffic even on roads that stay open, the city says.
Parking. The fest has four free lots, all on Birmingham Highway: Milton High, Milton Community Church, Crabapple Crossing Elementary and Northwestern Middle. A free shuttle loops the lots and the festival about every 20 minutes from 10 to 5. For accessible parking, the city’s fest page names the Crabapple Government Center on Broadwell Road and the Shell station where Broadwell, Crabapple and Birmingham meet; City Hall, 678-242-2500, can answer questions. Neighborhood streets are off limits, and the city says cars parked there can be towed at the owner’s expense.
Taking the SAT? Milton High is a test site Saturday morning and also a fest parking lot. The city’s advice: map the drive ahead of time and leave early.
On stage. The fest has a stage for the first time, near the Heritage Walk roundabout: The Hits Squad at 10 a.m., Pick-up Line at 12:30 and Audio Vault at 3. The KidZone, behind the Green, has three carnival rides, two obstacle courses, a toddler area and a bounce-and-slide inflatable.
Good to know. More than 100 antique, craft and art vendors are expected. There is no ATM at the fest, but many vendors take cards, Venmo or Zelle, the city says. Leashed dogs are welcome.
The weather. Saturday’s forecast: showers and thunderstorms likely, a 74 percent chance, with a high of 84.
Reader poll · One tap Rain is in Saturday’s forecast. Still going to Crabapple Fest? The fest runs rain or shine, 10 to 5 Saturday.
Tap once and you’ll see how everyone else voted. Results Sunday. |
| |
|
The Scoreboard
every game, both schools, the night it finishes
One point, the other way. Milton’s girls flag football team beat Blessed Trinity 14-13 Wednesday night at Blessed Trinity. The same Titans beat Milton 21-20 in double overtime for last December’s Division 4 state title. The Eagles then beat Langston Hughes 7-0.
Friday night · two region games · 7:30 | ||||||
| ||||||
Milton and Cambridge are each 1-0 in their regions. Lanier comes in 2-3 and 0-1 in the region; Sprayberry is 2-3 and 1-0. Friday night: a 31 percent chance of storms, per the weather service. | ||||||
Milton and Cambridge records from our results; Lanier and Sprayberry from MaxPreps. Rankings: MaxPreps, Sept. 27. | ||||||
Since Tuesday’s issue. Softball: Milton beat Gainesville 14-2 and Cambridge beat Chattahoochee 16-0, both at home Tuesday, and Cambridge also took Monday’s second game at Northview, 15-0, for a sweep. Volleyball: Milton won at Lanier 3-1, and Cambridge beat Mt. Bethel Christian 2-1, then lost 2-0 to Harrison, both at home.
Wall of Fame. Milton inducts three people Saturday, Oct. 24, at 11 a.m. at Bell Memorial Park. Tim Cagle played Hopewell Baseball growing up and came back to coach and lead it. Jordynn Dudley, a Cambridge High graduate, starred at Florida State and now plays professionally for Gotham FC. Scott Stachowski, a former Hopewell Baseball coach and president, spent 15 years on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, 10 as chair.
Home tonight. Cambridge softball hosts St. Pius X at 5:30, Milton volleyball hosts Chamblee at 5:30 and Milton softball hosts Riverwood at 6:30. Heading to Milton High on Friday? Crabapple Road is closed through downtown from 10 a.m. that day for Crabapple Fest setup. Every schedule and score →
You Told Us
Tuesday we asked who should decide how long Milton keeps the data from its license plate cameras. Of the 46 of you who answered, more than half picked a public Council vote. It isn’t a scientific poll, just the readers who tapped.
Who should decide Milton’s plate data rules? | ||||
City Council, in a public vote
| ||||
State law, one rule for all of Georgia
| ||||
The police chief and city manager
| ||||
Not sure
| ||||
46 readers, one tap each, Tuesday and Wednesday. |
Milton’s move from 30 days to a year was authorized by the chief and the city manager, the department told us, and it chose a year because leads on a vehicle can surface late.
Still waiting. Flock has not answered the question we sent Monday: whether it required approval from an elected official or the Council before turning on Milton’s one-year setting, and whether it got it. The department’s answers to our Sept. 26 written questions are due Friday. We will print both when they arrive.
The Arnold Mill Road Crash
At about 5:23 a.m. on Sept. 26, a northbound pickup crossing the Little River bridge on Arnold Mill Road, at the Cherokee County line, hit a southbound SUV head-on, according to the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office crash report. The report says the pickup was on the wrong side of the road. The SUV’s driver was taken to a hospital with injuries the Sheriff’s Office called not life-threatening. The Sheriff’s Office asked Milton police to help with traffic, and the road reopened at about 7:48 a.m.
The pickup’s driver, Benjamin Carmona, 24, of Roswell, died at the scene, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said. The office said impairment and not wearing a seat belt appear to be factors, and the case remains under investigation.
Tuesday’s Blotter first reported the death. We also asked Milton police for their records of the call; they have not arrived yet.
Council Watch
what the city decided, and what it is about to
Vensur Estates. The Planning Commission held its public hearing Wednesday night on the preliminary plat, the developer’s detailed map of proposed lots and roads, for Vensur Estates: 16 homes on 28.46 acres at 15020 Thompson Road, across from Dover Road. The commission doesn’t approve or reject a plat; it sends recommendations to the city’s community development director. Three people spoke. A neighbor across Thompson Road called the plan too dense for a tree-lined road and asked that the two lots along it not be built. A North Valley resident whose pond is fed by streams from the property worried about more silt, and the owner of the land to the north and east said the existing pond’s dam, with trees growing on it, is at risk of failing. The commission voted 6-0 to ask the director to take special care with drainage and the pond, to confirm Thompson Road’s grade can handle the added traffic, and to look at saving specimen trees.
The city says the neighborhood is allowed by right, meaning the land’s AG-1 agricultural zoning already permits it without a rezoning, and staff found the plat meets the city’s codes. Its lots run from 1 acre to 5.8 acres along a new road; ten of the 16 are 1.3 acres or smaller. The plat, in the city’s meeting packet (PDF, 5 MB), notes that no open space, civic space or amenity space is proposed.
The Agenda
public meetings this week and next
|
Monday · in four days Council’s tax-rate vote falls on the voter registration deadline. |
Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall and is due to vote on the city’s property tax rate. Because the city’s published notice listed the current rate, 4.193 mills, Council can keep it or go lower; going higher would mean a new notice and more hearings. Staff also showed Council a lower option on Sept. 21, 4.129 mills. For a home appraised at $950,000, the lower rate would cut the city bill by about $24 a year, before exemptions. (A mill is $1 in tax per $1,000 of assessed value, and a home’s assessed value is 40 percent of its appraisal.) Monday’s agenda had not been posted as of Wednesday afternoon.
Monday is also the final day to register before the Nov. 3 election. Fulton County accepts registrations until the close of business, and early voting runs Oct. 13 to Oct. 30.
| |
|
- →Mon, Oct 5 · 6:00 PM: City Council Regular Meeting · City Hall
- →Tue, Oct 6 · 6:00 PM: Design Review Board Meeting · City Hall
- →Wed, Oct 7 · 4:30 PM: Development Authority: a tour of Deerfield properties, then a 5:30 meeting at City Hall (agenda)
- →Thu, Oct 8 · 6:00 PM: Greenprint Steering Group Meeting · City Hall, Milton Room
Date change. The Development Authority’s Deerfield tour and meeting are Wednesday, Oct. 7. Tuesday’s issue listed Thursday, Oct. 8, the date the board named on Sept. 22.
Milton Weekend
the two or three things worth planning around
The forecast. Today: mostly sunny, high of 88. Friday: 89, with a 31 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms at night. Saturday: showers and thunderstorms likely, 74 percent, high of 84. Sunday: rain showers likely, 72 percent, high of 74.
Friday, October 2
- →6:00 PM · Live Music at Six Bridges · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
Saturday, October 3
- →10:00 AM · Crabapple Fest, until 5, rain or shine · Downtown Crabapple (free)
- →10:00 AM · Kids Market on the Green at Crabapple Market · The Green at Crabapple Market (free)
- →3:00 PM · Live Music at Six Bridges · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
Sunday, October 4
- →3:00 PM · Live Music at Six Bridges · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
- →4:00 PM · Blessing of the Animals · Birmingham United Methodist Church · pets on a leash or in a carrier
Next Saturday: Mozart in Milton. Music Milton opens its second season Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Birmingham United Methodist Church, with Laura Ardan, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s retired principal clarinetist, the Vega Quartet and pianist William Ransom, Music Milton’s artistic director. On the program: Mozart’s G Minor Piano Quartet and his Clarinet Quintet. Tickets are $40, $10 for students, on Music Milton’s site.
