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The town of Macon, Georgia, is hosting “The Pinkest Party on Earth” next week, and you’re invited. Kick off the spring season in the historic town known as “The Cherry Blossom Capital of the World.” With more than 350,000 Yoshino Cherry Trees in bloom, Macon has more than earned its nickname. This year, Macon’s 40th annual International Cherry Blossom Festival, which takes place March 18 through 27, will be an event to remember....

The world is collectively shocked and grieving over the news that Kobe Bryant, Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Sunday. Social media timelines are filled with messages of disbelief and despair and last night’s Grammy Awards show was full of touching tributes. The show took place in Staples Arena, the very place Bryant played all of his 20 years in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers....

A North Carolina couple became the first couple to get married at the iconic Frying Pan Tower over the weekend. Surrounded by 10 of their closest friends and family members, Ben and Audrey Black said “I do” atop the old lighthouse 32 miles off the coast of Wilmington on Saturday. All 12 of them arrived via helicopter. “It was everything I’ve ever wanted, ever dreamed of,” Audrey told WWAY. “It was perfect....

Rob Clement thought he had his professional situation figured out. Though he didn’t go to culinary school, the Florida native had decades of experience in restaurants and had snagged his latest in a series of impressive jobs cooking at prominent spots in Charlotte, North Carolina. He felt lucky, though he did find himself lamenting the fact that his schedule wasn’t terribly conducive to life with his wife and two young children....

If a chemical analysis of my earliest meals had been done, I’m certain there would have been traces of shrimp stock, okra, and filé powder in my mother’s milk. In my hometown, New Orleans, we don’t believe that a child should be denied the sacrament of gumbo simply because he or she does not yet have teeth. My 2-year-old son does have almost a full set of teeth, but he spent many of his formative months in Madagascar—his mother’s home country....

Our first look at the movie reboot of The Waltons is here! As we first reported back in May, a new TV movie called The Waltons’ Homecoming will mark the 50th anniversary of The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the film that introduced the tight-knit Walton family to audiences in 1971. The CW’s first made-for-TV movie stars Bellamy Young, Logan Shroyer, Ben Lawson, Marcelle LeBlanc, and Richard Thomas (the original John Boy) as the narrator....

The country music industry came together to publicly mourn the loss of Naomi Judd at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sunday. Daughters Ashley and Wynonna were amongst those who honored the late legend in the memorial event, Naomi Judd: A River of Time Celebration, which aired live on CMT. “This isn’t easy. I don’t know why we’re doing this in public. It sucks,” a teary Wynonna told the audience. “But we’re doing it, aren’t we?...

To Kill a Mockingbird is returning to the big screen! Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic movie by bringing it back to select theaters this fall. The film, based on the Harper Lee classic, will be shown in hundreds of locations across the country on November 13 and November 16. Viewers will also be treated to exclusive behind-the-scenes insights and background information about the making of the movie....

A true Virginian knows there is nothing better than a Genuine Smithfield ham. It’s the star of every holiday meal, whether it’s stuffed into a biscuit, served in thin slices on a platter, or accompanying jumbo-lump crab meat, nothing, not even the Thanksgiving turkey takes precedence, at least in my very biased, Virginia-raised opinion. What Is Smithfield Ham? If you aren’t familiar with Smithfield ham, you should be. It’s a type of country ham that by law can only come from one place on earth: Smithfield, Virginia....

My barbecue travels in January took me down to the Tampa-St. Pete area, where I checked out a couple of old-school Florida joints and some more recent arrivals, too. One of the oldest in the area is Big John’s Alabama Barbecue, which opened in 1968. Its barbecue lineage is right there in its name, for founder John A. Stephens was born in Eufaula, Alabama, in 1922 and moved down to Tampa in 1958, where he became an ordained minister and started the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens....

Well it’s official, Arch Manning is a Longhorn. Arch, one of the top prospects of the 2023 class of recruits, signed his National Letter of Intent with the University of Texas today. The school made the announcement on Twitter with a graphic and the words, “Welcome Home, Arch Manning.” The 17-year-old senior at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans is the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the nephew of Eli and Peyton Manning....

Sweet tea flows as frequently as the water does down South and is a regular fixture at the Southern table. It doesn’t matter what the meal is, be it brunch, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack. Sweet tea is so much a part of our meals that it may be hard to think back to the first time you ever had it. A TikTok video making the rounds may help you take a trip down memory lane....

Spoons at the ready, y’all! Blue Bell is serving up a decadent and totally Texan ice cream flavor that you won’t want to miss. Introducing: Chocolate Sheet Cake ice cream. Blue Bell’s newest flavor boasts classic chocolate ice cream, chocolate sheet cake pieces, chopped pecans, and a chocolate icing swirl. Yum. “A sheet cake is simple, but so delicious,” Sara Schramm, marketing brand manager for Blue Bell. “It is the perfect cake to combine with our Milk Chocolate Ice Cream....

Violets are purple. Purple heart is purple. Concord grapes are purple. Beautyberry is purple. ‘Jackmanii’ clematis is purple. Purple coneflower is not purple, and it’s frustrating. There is simply nothing purple about the flowers of Echinacea purpurea, one of our most popular native plants. Its blossom (above) consists of a spiny, orange cone with drooping pink petals. You might detect the slightest spritz of purple in there if you photograph the flowers in the shade and you adjust the tint in your photo program, but nobody ever stuck one of these coneflowers in a mound of ‘Provence’ lavender and concluded both plants were purple....

Curly cuts aren’t one-size fits all. Thank goodness gracious we’ve moved beyond the brushed-out curls of our youth, typically characterized by triangle-like silhouettes and frizz for days. If only we knew then what we know now. Fast-forward to 2018 and we’re seeing the resurgence of one of the most epic curly cuts of our generation. You might remember it from a 1987 film about a sultry summer vacay at a Catskills resort that bestowed on the masses the much beloved line: Nobody puts Baby in the corner....

In recent times, Dolly Parton has come to the rescue on many occasions with her uplifting messages, a new Christmas music album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, and, you know, saving the world by partially funding the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. Now, she’s about to save our palates: As Columbus, Ohio, based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams announced in a somewhat mysterious press release, “After teasing out an illustration of Dolly Parton in an Instagram mosaic this week, Jeni’s confirmed the collab with the Queen of Country in a caption today....

Robert Lee Parton, the father of Dolly Parton, never learned to read, but that didn’t stop him from inspiring the most successful children’s book program the world has ever seen. In 1995, as a tribute to him, she founded Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a nonprofit designed to give free books each month to children from birth to age 5. “It was started out of love in my heart for my dad, who was unable to read and write,” she told me in a recent conversation....

With a recent holiday album and new Christmas special on Netflix later this month, Dolly joins host Sid Evans to talk about how the cooking she grew up with has that ​certain special something​. Get to Know Dolly Parton Dolly Parton is an entertainment icon, a beloved performer, and an inspiration in every sense of the word. As a prolific singer and songwriter, she’s responsible for some of the biggest country and pop hits of all time, like “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “9 to 5....

“The space looked like it hadn’t been touched in years,” recalls designer Jeremy Clark of his first tour through this 1980s condo in Nashville’s West End. His client, Linda Hummell, was ready to downsize, and something about this spot felt right. “When I walked in, I knew it could be great. It had good bones, like the beautiful high ceiling in the living room and traditional moldings,” Hummell says. The home was once a special place, previously belonging to Betty Ann Hadley, sister of legendary designer Albert Hadley—who had decorated the two-bedroom, two-bath space in his iconic style....

For three years after her beloved dog Dynamite was stolen from her store in Midway, Georgia, Candice Sauls never once gave up hope. “I have my life put in him. My heart, my soul, everything is put in him,” Sauls told WJCL. “I was going to look for him ’til I knew he wasn’t going to be physically able to live anymore. It didn’t matter.” She did all she could to bring the playful pitbull she bottle-fed as a puppy and who she describes as “one of her children” home....