Tomato sandwiches and immigrants in Dahlonega

Last night we went by a local church to pick up our Tomato Sandwich Supper meals and then went to Hancock Park to listen to live music and eat. The Tomato Sandwich Supper is an annual fundraiser for the Community Helping Place. See 18th Annual Tomato Sandwich Supper - Jul 17, 2025 - Dahlonega-Lumpkin Chamber of Commerce - Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce and Community Helping Place (communityhelpingplace.org).

Not expecting to find a place to sit, we were surprised to find an empty table in the back of the park despite a "full house" in the outdoor park. Most of the participants had thought ahead and brought their own lawn chairs - of course, it was a spur of the moment decision for us. The late afternoon sky was cloudy mitigating the summer heat and a slight breeze further moderated the temperatures and "shooed" the bugs away. We began to devour the white bread, mayo, tomato, lettuce and crispy-bacon sandwiches as we enjoyed the music from Dahlonega home-grown star, Kurt Thomas (https://www.kurtthomasmusic.com/).

Total strangers strolled over and shared our six-person picnic table. And later another couple filled out the remaining seats. All three couples were strangers and indeed were immigrants (God forbid!) to the Dahlonega area but in some crazy way, we found the fewer than six degrees of separation that connected us. One was from Canada and the rest from somewhere in the South, but none were "Nuggets" (born in Dahlonega). Prior to this evening none of us knew the others or anything about the others. One couple lived in the mountains near us and, like us, had a Great Pyrenees dog - the other couple had lived and worked in a small town in South Carolina where I spent my summer vacations with my parents and later worked on a special project for several years. We had a thoroughly enjoyable, lively and entertaining conversation with strangers who became acquaintances.

I will not say this only happens in Dahlonega - however, it did happen in Dahlonega in a City Park on a Thursday evening in July where most of us were helping to raise money for the local charitable organization which does wonderful things for this community. Just thought you ought to know what you missed last night but could be a part of in the future!

www.walnutcovecreekfarm.com