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Dunwoody creates colorful support for restaurants
City leaders created The Picnic Table Project, with hopes of increasing outdoor dining.
DUNWOODY, Ga. - In a world that, frankly, feels pretty drab these days, the city of Dunwoody is adding color in the most unexpected of places.
To help beef up business at local restaurants, city leaders created The Picnic Table Project. The goal is to expand outdoor dining options — and to do it in a stylish way.
“It is really hard for restaurants with limited indoor seating — and customers that are concerned — to accommodate all their guests,” explains Mayor Lynn Deutsch. “And so we have passed an ordinance that allows restaurants to expand their outdoor seating, and then we are providing extra seating in these picnic tables.”
The tables were donated by Home Depot and placed outside local establishments. Now, they’re being painted by artists and non-profit groups, including the Dunwoody Nature Center, the Atlanta Lions Club, and Stage Door Players.
“They reflect so much of what Dunwoody is about,” says the mayor. “They’re really individual works of art.”
Erez Inbal, owner of Crema Espresso Gourmet, says his customers are loving the added seating.
“We have a lot of walkers, doing all kinds of exercise, and they come and get their coffee and they have a nice table,” Inbal says. “They can come and sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.”
Mayor Lynn Deutsch says she hopes the picnic tables will long outlast the pandemic, becoming something of a monument to the way the city handled this unprecedented time.
“It’s we’re given lemons in Dunwoody, we try hard to make lemonade.”
For more information on The Picnic Table Project and a list of participating locations, click here.