One of the best things about WPN are the friendships made within our community. Our monthly Happy Hours are a great place to meet new people, see old friends and eat delicious food in a fun and casual atmosphere. Held on the third Friday of every month at a WPN household, neighbors bring an appetizer to share and their drink of choice to catch up with neighbors. We are very grateful to have such wonderfully active members and would like to extend a hearty Thank You to each and every host!

We meet every month at a different person's house to discuss a book of their choice. The next meeting will be January 26th at 3 pm at Leanne Fey’s house, 1496 Spring Street. We will be reading It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke. As always, we are accepting new members and anyone can just show up at the meeting.

This edition of Meet Your Neighbor is a special one. While our new Ward 3 representative, Travis Lindley, doesn’t officially live in WPN, he is an important part of our neighborhood. The city elections recently wrapped up and we have a new Mayor and a new City Council Representative. Williams Parks is Smyrna’s oldest neighborhood and we are proud of our history and strong community involvement. 

The late October day was overcast, but the rain held off, and WPN neighbors joined together at the Davis' lawn for our annual, highly competitive chili contest. Thirteen neighborhood chefs entered the contest and all the chilies were gratefully enjoyed by the attendees. A three judge panel took on the challenging job of sampling all and selecting the top three chilies. The judges were Smyrna Fire Chief Roy Acree, Mike Hickman, owner of Bountiful Baskets catering, and Rob Morneweck, owner of Grateful Bread. To show our appreciation, each judge received a gift bag containing, among other things, lots of antacid.

We have some truly fascinating folks here in Williams Park and for this edition of Meet Your Neighbor, I caught up with Robert Laverock. Robert has lived with his family on Bernard Way since March of this year (living across Atlanta Road before that), and recently competed in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. So pour a tumbler of your best Macallan and join me as I learn more about Robert and his incredible accomplishment.

Williams Park is truly heartbroken over the loss of James ‘Leon’ McElveen. Leon passed away on July 30, 2019. He was born on February 27, 1956 in Griffin, Georgia. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture. He enjoyed spending time with his family and friends and working with many organizations close to his heart, including the Atlanta Civil War Round Table, the Boy Scouts of America, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and the Atlanta History Center.

Due to weather radar predictions, the annual Bryan Pool Party was postponed a day to Sunday, but that didn’t stop the Williams Park Neighbors from coming out and having a good time! Despite the questionable projections, the weather was perfect day-of and over 70 adults and their families enjoyed a day of bubbles, corn hole, the tree swing, the swimming pool, and of course, all the food!

We meet every month at a different person's house to discuss a book of their choice. Read more to see the books that we read for Septembers meeting and what we thought of them.

One of the best things about WPN are the friendships made within our community. Our monthly Happy Hours are a great place to meet new people, see old friends and eat delicious food in a fun and casual atmosphere. It is a testimony to our neighborhood that we have been hosting these shindigs every month without fail ever since 2006! Held on the third Friday of every month at a WPN household, neighbors bring an appetizer to share and their drink of choice to catch up with neighbors. We are very grateful to have such wonderfully active members and would like to extend a hearty Thank You to each and every host!

Jason York, who lives on Spring Street, is a fifth grade teacher at Smyrna Elementary School, and was voted by his colleagues to receive the Teacher of the Year Award. Jason has taught at Smyrna Elementary since it opened six years ago; he previously taught in Cobb County schools for almost 18 years. Jason’s love of teaching is evident. He talks openly about his passion for being an educator (those lightbulb moments!), and says he couldn’t imagine any other career choice that would make him as happy and fulfilled.

We have some truly fascinating folks here in Williams Park and for this edition of “Meet Your Neighbor,” I had the privilege of getting to know Eli Fine and his wife, Laura. They warmly welcomed me into their home on Spring Villa Lane where they have lived for about two years. They will soon be a family of three, as they are expecting a little girl in January. Join me as a I discover more about how Eli is creating safer and more accessible pharmaceutical drug testing with robotics. I guarantee you’ll learn something.