Guild to hold annual festival

DALTON, Ga. — The Creative Arts Guild holds Festival 2018, a free outdoor fine arts and artisan crafts market, on Saturday, Sept. 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 520 W. Waugh St. in Dalton. The Guild hosts A Taste of Dalton: Festival 2018 Preview Party on Friday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. The cost for the preview party is $55 per person. That event includes art previewing and purchasing, a live jazz band, local cuisine and wine and craft beer. For more information, call 706-278-0168 or visit www.creativeartsguild.org.

College reps to visit CCHS Wednesday

MOULTRIE, Ga. —  Representatives of colleges and universities will visit Colquitt County High School on Wednesday as part of the Probe College Fair Tour. The representatives will be set up 9-11 a.m. to talk with students about their plans for further education after graduation. With 63 fairs and three counselor workshops over the course of 11 weeks this year, there will be a fair for every region of Georgia — and the fairs are absolutely free for students and parents to attend, according to a press release from organizers. Colleges from 25 different states – as well as Rome, Italy and Manchester, UK – will be represented during the tour. More than 200 colleges will visit the state between September and November, while more than 400 guidance counselors will attend workshops.

Tropical storm may bring rain 

VALDOSTA. Ga/ — A system was expected to develop into a tropical storm heading into the Gulf of Mexico with heavy rains forecast for South Georgia early in the week, but forecasters didn’t expect it to bring dangerous weather to the region “The system (as of Sunday) is tracking well to the south but could bring some easterly moisture into our area,” said Don van Dyke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office The system was expected to reach tropical storm strength Monday evening, when it will be issued the name “Gordon,” the center said. Tropical storm watches were issued along the central Gulf coast Sunday. “It’s not a big issue for Georgia but more so for the Florida Panhandle,” said Dave Bowers, senior meteorologist for the private forecasting firm AccuWeather. Feeder bands of storms from Gordon are expected to bring as much as two to four inches of rain in isolated areas in southwest Georgia, he said, raising the possibility of flash flooding. Van Dyke expected one-half to three-quarters of an inch of rain for the general area. Storm chances from Valdosta started at 60 percent Monday before gradually settling to around 40 percent by the weekend, according to the weather service forecast.  Later in the week, after Gordon has passed, a high-pressure ridge over Virginia and the Carolinas will have more impact on South Georgia weather, bringing “muggy” easterly moisture, Bowers said. Temperatures over the region will start off with highs in the upper 80s early in the week, rising to the lower 90s later as the storm chances ease off, according to the weather service forecast. Lows are expected in the low 70s. Neither forecaster expected widespread severe weather around the Lowndes County area, though both said isolated storms are possible.