Take Note!

   Atlanta has Chastain Park. Gwinnett County has Lilburn Park. No, it's not as big and not as famous. But this Friday, Music on Main will give a sneak preview of just how close we can come.
   The Lilburn Business Association is sponsoring Music on Main, an evening of food, fun and festivity. 
   A candlelight dinner catered by Rib Ranch will commence at 7:30 p.m. Magician Mark Irish's prestidigitation will lead in to the barbershop harmony of Georgia Connection. Then the audience can swing and sway to the tunes of Lori O'Brien and the Take Note Big Band. Selections will include big band favorites, pop music, show tunes and patriotic melodies leading up to a grand finale with Lori's patriotic Power Point presentation on a giant screen - plus a few other surprises.
   Lilburn Park will be roped off for the evening and filled with tables and chairs courtesy of Mountain Park Methodist Church. Table linens and candles from the Lilburn Women's Club will make it even more elegant than Chastain! Table seating is $25 per person. For those who wish to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, tickets are $15. (More info: 770-923-0659)
   August 8th was chosen for two reasons, according to Jimi Taylor of Taylor Made Gifts.
   "It's the last weekend families can get together for something fun before the rigid schedules of school and football season begin. But also, starting the week after Lilburn Daze in October, the city will begin construction of an amphitheater, which will open in the spring of 2004. This will give people a sample of what we have to look forward to."
   But there's more to the event than just having fun. All proceeds will go to the Dream House in Lilburn, the first house of its kind in the United States.
Founded by Laura Moore, a Lilburn resident and pediatric nurse, it will serve as a halfway house for medically fragile children as they are mainstreamed from the hospital back into their community.
   "Hundreds of medially fragile children are living in Georgia," said Moore. "After suffering an illness, accident, abuse or neglect, they are abandoned by their families or removed from their home and placed in state custody. The Dream House will save these children from an institutional existence, provide education for adoptive families, increase community awareness about the plight of these children and create partnership opportunities to help provide the quality of life these children deserve."
   Moore also noted the cost factor to the community. "An abandoned child on a respirator can cost up to $2,500 per day living in a hospital, but in a home like the Dream House, the expense can be cut to less than $400 per day."
   If you can't come to hear the Take Note band at Music on Main, I hope you at least take note of the Dream House. Someday, the entire country will. (Info: 770-717-7410) 

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