Some upcoming public events in Newton County include:

• Covington/Newton County Chamber of Commerce will present its Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration virtually March 25 at 4 p.m. to celebrate its honorees for 2020.

Awards to be given include the prestigious R.O. Arnold Award for community service and achievement; as well as awards for Spirit of Excellence, Small Business of the Year, Deal of the Year, and Hope of the Community.

The event is set for and can be accessed free on YouTube by visiting www.youtube.com/newtonchamber. For more information, email amcdaniel@newtonchamber.com. 

• An Easter Egg Hunt for ages 1 to 10 is set for March 27 at 11 a.m. at Wolverine Football Field at 8134 Geiger St. NW. 

Newton County Parks & Recreation will host the event. Prize eggs will be given in each age group.

For more information, visit www.newtonrecreation.com.

• The Newton County Board of Commissioners will host a groundbreaking ceremony for a new SPLOST-funded skate park March 29 at 2 p.m. at Denny Dobbs Park at 6244 Ga. Highway 212 in Covington.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/784438338874313/.

• Snapping Shoals EMC’s offices will be closed April 2 in observance of Good Friday. 

Those experiencing an outage can report it with the mySSEMC app, on the website ssemc.com, or by calling 678-814-4961. 

Service issues can be reported at 770-786-3484. Please do not use social media to report outages or service issues.

• A paper shredding event free for Newton County residents is set for April 19 from 9 a.m. to noon (or until the shred truck is full) at the Newton County Library parking lot at 7116 Floyd St. in Covington.

Keep Newton Beautiful will host the event. Each person is limited to five standard-sized moving boxes. 

Because of COVID-19, all participants are asked to remain inside their vehicles and have volunteers remove cardboard boxes with paper from their car trunks or truck beds.

For more information, visit keepnewtonbeautiful.org.

• April 30 is the deadline for applications for Snapping Shoals EMC’s SSEMC Leadership Experience. 

Each applicant must be a high school sophomore or junior and be at least 16 years old by June 16. 

Three students chosen will receive a $2,000 scholarship when they begin college. 

Snapping Shoals has chosen to host its own leadership program in 2021 in place of the annual Washington Youth Tour, which was canceled due to COVID-19. 

The winners will tour SSEMC and learn more about the co-op in a one-day program held at its headquarters at 14750 Brown Bridge Road in Covington. 

Participants also will hear presentations from SSEMC employees about the history of the co-op and its day-to-day operations. 

Visit the Our Community page at https://www.ssemc.com/Community.aspx for more details and to download an application.