What's Up Dunwoody

10/08/2026

Podcast 344 - Ashford Lane Has Become Dunwoody's Event Space - Autry Graham & Bari Holmes

Ashford Lane wants Dunwoody to come hang out, and they're spending real money to make it happen. Free movies on the lawn, fall festivals, watch parties, a stage for local nonprofits, and great restaurants steps away.

Autry Graham runs marketing for Ashford Lane, and Bari Holmes, a Dunwoody High grad, plans their events. We got into why they keep throwing free events for families, their "Costco hot dog" theory, and why Dunwoody would rather be invited than sold to. We also talked about S'more the Merrier in December and what's coming in 2027. And yes, Dunwoody Idol is coming back!

Next up is the free Fall Festival. It was scheduled for this Saturday, but it's moved to Saturday, October 17, from 4 to 7. Pumpkin painting, carnival games and a stilt walker, then grab dinner on a patio. Bring the kids. The best part is that it is completely free, and surrounded by amazing restaurants. See you out there!

10/08/2026

Dunwoody High School Cross Country needs your help. Every little bit helps!

Support Dunwoody High School Cross Country 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️Your donation helps our athletes train, race, and represent Dunwoody with pride. Funds raised go toward…

10/06/2026

Seacrest Stadium at Dunwoody High School will officially be ready for games next August.

Steven Fortenberry, president of the Dunwoody High School Community Association, said the organization has reached its fundraising goal of $1.5 million to supplement a sizable, unspecified donation from media personality and alum Ryan Seacrest and his family.

The money will enable the school to add 2,000 seats, new bathrooms, a concession stand and a press box.

“We’ve been wanting to do this for 20 years,” said Fortenberry, a 1984 graduate of the school and a finance teacher there for 27 years until he retired last year. “This will bring the community together. Kids can walk to games.”

He said about 800 households donated money, several in excess of $15,000.

“It was very much a grassroots effort,” Fortenberry said. “We think it will also be a great recruiting tool for the high school.”

Seacrest, host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “American Idol” and the ABC New Year’s special, as well as a syndicated radio show, graduated from Dunwoody High School in 1993.

Read more about the new stadium:https://bit.ly/4y7pVZE

🖋️ : Rodney Ho
📸 : Bring it Home Campaign for Dunwoody High School Community Association | Getty Images

10/05/2026

🎉 WE DID IT, DUNWOODY! 🎉

Together, we’ve reached our $1.5 MILLION community fundraising goal for Seacrest Stadium at Dunwoody High School!

More than 800 donations, representing thousands of supporters, brought us to this incredible milestone. To every donor, volunteer, family, business, alumni member, and neighbor who helped us Bring It Home—THANK YOU!

We are especially grateful to the Seacrest family, whose initial pledge and donation made this effort possible, and for their longstanding support of Dunwoody and Dunwoody High School.

This is a community achievement—and a lasting investment in our students, our school, and generations of Wildcats to come.

You helped us BRING IT HOME! ❤️💙

10/04/2026

Podcast 343 - Wildcat5e Robotics Opens St. Luke's Pumpkin Patch This Week - Lars D**e & Izzy Grant

If you've driven down Mount Vernon Road in October, you've seen the giant pumpkin patch in front of St. Luke's. Every one of those pumpkins helps pay for Dunwoody High's robotics team.

My nephew Lars D**e and his friend Izzy Grant are both on Wildcat5e, and they walked me through what the team actually does. We got into the brand new game that drops every January, what six weeks of "lock-in time" looks like, why no two robots look alike, and how close they came to Worlds in Houston. Then we talked about where the money comes from, and spoiler, it's mostly pumpkins. We also got into the Dunwoody High School Marching Band and this year's halftime show.

The patch opens October 6th, so plan your pumpkin run now. These kids have earned it.

09/30/2026

Podcast 342 - Aritzia at Perimeter Mall, Ashford Lane, and School of Rock Dunwoody - Mark Galvin

I asked Mark Galvin, "If a family came to Dunwoody to visit, where's the number one place they should go?" His immediate answer was Ashford Lane, which I love, but I didn't expect it. His next answer was Perimeter Mall, where Aritzia just opened, and Mark swears malls are back.

Then we dove deep into a bunch of random topics, like who actually fills Dunwoody's hotels, how Discover Dunwoody helps bring conferences to town and why, and why they're packing up the office and moving to High Street. We talked about what Create Dunwoody is really for and who decides what public art goes up around the city. We also got into a few new business openings. School of Rock just opened in Williamsburg, and Mark had a stat about who's signing up for lessons that neither of us saw coming.

Mark, with Discover Dunwoody, knows more about what's going on in Dunwoody than just about anybody, and he brought a whole list of fall events, so grab a pen.

09/25/2026

Podcast 341 - Free PR and Marketing Tips Every Dunwoody Business Can Use - Dori Mendel - Totally PR

I've been doing What's Up Dunwoody since 2018, and I had never once sat down with a PR pro and asked what I'm doing wrong. So I did it on the show. Dori Mendel has spent more than 20 years helping companies tell their story, and she launched Totally PR in Dunwoody seven years ago. A sign she bought at a Dunwoody boutique that first week still hangs behind her desk: "Don't be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try."

Her approach starts with one question. Where do you want to end up? Instead of throwing spaghetti at the wall, Dori builds the plan backward from the goal, then lets the data decide what to do more of and what to drop. She's big on keeping one consistent tone of voice, so people recognize you whether they meet you at a Dunwoody event, land on your website or open your email. She also reminded me that every buying decision is an emotional one. People do business with people they trust.

She made the case for authenticity over polish, for promoting your wins instead of sitting on them (like the time Atlanta Magazine featured What's Up Dunwoody in its 2019 Best of Atlanta issue, which I never told anyone about), and for using what's already around you, like client testimonials and your own team. Content ideas are everywhere. Most people think we have a short attention span, but Dori put it better: "I think we have a short consideration span." If you run a small business around Dunwoody, there's a lot in here you can use this week, no big budget required.

09/23/2026

There's a 1.3 million square foot mixed-use district taking shape in Dunwoody, and it started as an empty office building.

Campus 244 sits on Ashford-Dunwoody Road just off I-285, about a block from MARTA's Dunwoody station, on the edge of Dunwoody near Brookhaven. The site was originally the headquarters of Gold Kist, a poultry company that vacated the 1970s office building nearly a decade before redevelopment began. Today, the 380,000-square-foot office building is almost fully leased, and the district is also home to the 145-key Element by Marriott Atlanta Perimeter Center hotel and two of the most talked-about new restaurants around the perimeter: Stäge Kitchen & Bar and CT Cantina & Taqueria. Plans were just filed for a major next phase: about 350 apartments, 150 more hotel rooms, 30,000 square feet of new food and beverage space, and 200,000 more square feet of office. At full buildout, targeted for 2030, Campus 244 will span 1.3 million square feet. If you're trying to find it, you could always use GPS, but the entrance sits right next to the Element by Marriott off Perimeter Center Parkway.

09/22/2026

Chamblee just broke ground on Fish Bolt Park, a $4.6 million wetland project going in at 1900 Chamblee Tucker Road, right next to the Chamblee MARTA station. The site used to be a MARTA stormwater detention pond before the city acquired it back in 2016. Once built, the space will work as a constructed wetland, a shallow marsh system that filters and treats stormwater naturally, according to project engineers Kimley-Horn. Plans include an observation deck, a nature play area, ADA-accessible paths, and a mural wall, with completion expected by summer 2027.

Chamblee is the fastest-growing city in DeKalb County, and its population has tripled since 2010, a mix of annexation and a wave of new development along Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Projects like Chamblee Park (700+ homes near I-285), SLX Atlanta (311 units), LUMEN Chamblee (318 units), and City Heights (243 units) have added well over 1,500 new apartments to that same stretch of downtown in just the last few years. Fish Bolt Park is landing right in the middle of that growth.

09/22/2026

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