Cumming Announces City Center Logo Designs, Buy-A-Brick Program

CUMMING, GA — City of Cumming leaders have presented the official logo designs of the Cumming City Center, as well as a community Buy-A-Brick Program, which will allow the public to purchase personalized bricks that will be incorporated into two prominent areas of the city center.

City Center Background

The Cumming City Center is the vision of Mayor Troy Brumbalow, who heavily promoted the idea of creating the center during his 2017 mayoral campaign in order to bring back some small-town charm that had been lost in downtown Cumming over the years while establishing a new community gathering place. He immediately went to work to make the project a reality after he was sworn into office in January 2018.

Ground was broken on the project in August 2019, and since then crews have been conducting site work in anticipation of vertical construction, which will begin later this summer. The Cumming City Center is expected to open to the public in fall of 2021.

Situated on 75 acres located between Canton Highway (Hwy. 20) and Sawnee Drive, west of downtown Cumming and behind Forsyth Central High School, the Cumming City Center development will offer a “main-street Americana” feel. Features will include approximately 117,000 square feet of retail space, a new Cumming Police and Municipal Court building, an amphitheater adjacent to a small lake, two water fountains, ample green space including several “pocket parks,” a miniature golf course, and an extensive trail and boardwalk system meandering above the Kelly Mill Branch stream, its tributaries and wetlands. Across Canton Highway, another 10 acres will also be donated to the city for development of additional walking trails.

Logo Creation

In creation of the city center’s main logo, city officials and staff wanted a design that would capture the main-street Americana feel of the development while also incorporating modern elements for a classic yet unique and bold look.

“Working with graphic designers from Beeferman Design, our city team went through a fairly lengthy design process,” Brumbalow said. “The designers took our team’s initial design thoughts and ideas, and from there they created about a dozen different looks for us to review over the course of several weeks before making the final decision.

“I think we landed on a logo design that conveys all the feelings that we wanted to express, not only in just the logo, but with the Cumming City Center itself. It harkens back to a simpler time, but also just looks really sharp and cool.”

“The logo is going to fit in beautifully with the entire aesthetic of the city center,” added Jennifer Archer, city center property manager. “I think it’s something that our community can be proud of and that visitors to the city center will remember.”

The official logo will be featured prominently throughout the city center in areas such as the main entrance, the amphitheater, on some building exteriors as wall murals, and in all formal communications mediums such as letterhead, envelopes and staff business cards.

City staff also adopted a less formal “merchandise logo” which can be used in future creation of promotional items such as t-shirts and mugs after the center has opened. The merchandise logo is encapsulated inside a hexagon shape. It features a representation of Sawnee Mountain and utilizes a more modern font style than the official logo.

Buy-A-Brick Program

The community is invited to be a part of the historic development of the Cumming City Center through participation in the Buy-A-Brick Program. The City of Cumming has partnered with Bricks R Us, a nationally-known organization which specializes in engraved brick fundraising programs, to manage the endeavor.

The Cumming City Center Buy-A-Brick Program is open to any individual, family, business or group interested in leaving a permanent marker at the city center. All purchased bricks will be placed on walkways around the plaza fountain and the park fountain, two locations of prominence on city center grounds.

“Creation of the city center is such an historic event for the City of Cumming that we wanted to give anyone in our community who is interested an opportunity to leave their mark - in a very literal and tangible way - on the city center,” Brumbalow said.

Bricks can be purchased at a rate of $50 for one, 4-inch by 8-inch standard brick, and multiple bricks can be purchased by a single source. The cost includes personalization of up to three lines with up to 18 characters per line (characters include all letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces). The City of Cumming reserves the right to review and edit all text for appropriateness without notice to the purchaser.

“This is a great opportunity for so many different types of commemoration. Families can honor loved ones who are still here with us or who have already passed on; businesses, churches, and civic groups can get involved; even organizations like individual school sports teams, bands or clubs could take part. We really hope to have a great representation of our entire community involved with the brick program,” Brumbalow added.

Bricks can be purchased online. Credit card payment can be made directly through the secure website. Information provided will be used solely for the purpose of brick purchase; no information provided through the site will ever be sold or otherwise provided to any parties outside the City of Cumming and Bricks R Us.

Those without internet access or who wish to use an alternate payment method can pick up a hard copy order form at Cumming City Hall (100 Main Street, Cumming, GA 30040) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday; or request a PDF copy by emailing Jennifer Archer, City Center Property Manager, at jarcher@cityofcumming.net. Forms must be returned with a check or money order (made payable to The City of Cumming, GA) in person or mailed to: Cumming City Hall, Attn: Jennifer Archer, 100 Main Street, Cumming, GA 30040.

All orders and payments must be received by Nov. 22. Fewer than 2,800 engraved bricks are available. For more information, contact Jennifer Archer at jarcher@cityofcumming.net.