than food. My husband is a great
cook but I’m not much of a cook, so I
realized this was something I could
bring to a party that would be
enjoyable and impressive, but didn’t
require me to do a lot of cooking,”
she said.
began making boards for parties
where she needed to bring something
and, before long, friends were asking
her to make boards for their events.
Soon, Simmons found herself in the
charc business.
was at that party and wanted one for
her Christmas party, too,” Simmons
said. “It grew from there, but the
biggest one I’ve done was last
February for a Marietta garden club.
The table was 7.5 feet long, so I put
parchment paper down and covered
the whole width of the table. The
people at the party the whole time
were walking around and grabbing a
little here and there and it just made
it more social. And I think seeing all
of that food the way it was laid out
gave a little wow factor.”
Simmons said she also loves
getting creative with the party’s
theme, such as building a football
out of salami and cheese for a Super
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boards for a party where there were
at least 100 people and, the next day,
someone else ordered from me who
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Bowl board, using lots of colorful
pomegranates for her holiday board,
and even cutting brie into hearts for
a Valentine’s board.
Marietta resident Katelyn
Ledford Young also started her own
charcuterie board business, Gem City
Grazing, after finding that her boards
at parties were a hit.
“Gem City Grazing came about
because I found that my easy, go-to
party contribution of bringing the
charcuterie board was becoming
highly requested,” she said. “My
simple stacking of meats and cheeses
turned into hours on Instagram and
Pinterest, trying to figure out how to
challenge myself to make every one
At Dogwood ForestTM, we know that the environment you live in
significantly impacts the quality of life that you live. That’s why our
communities were created with elements that have been clinically
proven to have positive outcomes for seniors, including:
• elegantly decorated interiors
• caring, optimistic professional staff
• life enrichment & holistic wellness programs
• salon services
• delicious therapeutic diet
• memory care, respite care &
post-operative care services.
So after that party, Simmons
“Last Christmas, I made a few
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