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December 5, 2022
Consumer Stories

Local light display serves as holiday tradition for many CSRA families

Every November and December, Mark Jackson loves to see families spending time together and enjoying a festive holiday experience. Jackson, the managing partner of Lights of the South located at 633 Louisville Road in Grovetown, said that’s his favorite part of running the seasonal business, which opened for the 2022 season on Friday, Nov. 18 and will close on Friday, Dec. 30. He has co-owned the business for six or seven years, but he said it’s been around for nearly 20 years. “I like seeing people in the holiday spirit,”

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Story and photos by Josh Heath December 5, 2022 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Local foundation awards nonprofit grants, calls on business community for help

The Community Foundation for the CSRA has announced that more than $616,000 will be awarded to local non-profit organizations, thanks to help from individual donors and community partners, such as the Masters Tournament. But there are numerous opportunities for businesses to provide funding for nonprofits, according to Shell Berry. Berry, President and CEO of the Community Foundation, said she would love to find businesses willing to fund organizations that didn’t receive money from the Community Grants Fund this year. “We’d love for more to participate; all the organizations have been

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Josh Heath December 5, 2022 No Comments
B2B Stories

Scammers now use text messages to snare the unaware

Several months ago, I received an alarming text message: $699 had been charged to my PayPal account for a Pixel 6 phone! It was alarming for several reasons: I had purchased a Pixel 6 phone earlier in the year, and I only use PayPal to receive payments and knew I only had about $3 in the account. The text provided a phone number to call, purportedly to PayPal, if I questioned the purchase. I called, but after several minutes of the person at the other insisting I go online to

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Gary Kauffman December 5, 2022 No Comments
Digital Marketing

Free Access: Add a social media influencer to your digital marketing

Last week, we talked about six trends in digital marketing we expect to see in 2023. This week, we will dive into influencer marketing. If you recall a couple of months ago, we shared about one of our clients, Callie Richards of HotPinkandGlitter.com, in our intro to online influencer’s article (read it here). Callie has grown from 500,000 TikTok followers to more than 620,000 in the past three months. The Rise of Social Influencers Social influencers realize huge gains in popularity and effectiveness. Influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful

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Richard Brashear December 5, 2022 No Comments
B2B Stories

Trucking company expands with purchase of longtime dealership

Matthews Motors, a truck and trailer service company in Augusta, has acquired Venture Auto Sales of Augusta. The acquisition joins two long-standing and successful family-owned businesses in the CSRA. With the acquisition, Matthews will have a complete portfolio of sales of light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks to go along with its reputation for providing quality service for all makes and models. Matthews will keep all of Venture’s employees to expand its pre-owned automotive division. Matthews Motors has been in business since 1991, but has been steadily expanding its services. Earlier

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Gary Kauffman December 5, 2022 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Columbia County farm owner to offer goat yoga class this weekend

Jeanette Norris loves kids, whether they have two legs or four. Norris, a pediatrician and owner of a 10-acre farm off Columbia Road in Grovetown, will offer her first goat yoga class on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Peaceful Warrior Apothecary, 324 South Belair Road, Martinez. The one-hour outdoor class, which will include six to eight of her friendliest goats, is called Pet-A-Goat Yoga. “It’s a regular yoga class with goats jumping around,” she said. “Our goats are very friendly, and people love to pet them.” Norris bought the farm

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Story and photos by Josh Heath December 5, 2022 No Comments