By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 5, 2026 | Gwinnett’s first Porchfest had a perfect day for people to mingle, listen to music and enjoy themselves at no admission charge on Saturday in Norcross.
Mayor Craig Newton says that there was “A great turnout with the community coming together to enjoy all the bands and other groups there. It was a good thing for Norcross, and the downtown restaurants and shops were busy. We really appreciate all the hard work that goes in planning this first event of its type. It should be even better next year.”
The month of May returns with a certain pleasure for many Georgians: it’s Vidalia onion time. Oboy! Are they tasty! Years ago, asking people for their favorite way to enjoy the bulb, we always got a chuckle from the recipe from the late Harold Humphries (of Humphries Concrete): “Take a Vidalia, and peel off the outer ring and toss aside. Cut the Vidalia in quarter inch slices. This goes well with about anything.”
Saturday’s 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby saw the first time a female trainer won the race. Cherie DeVaux, 44, won the race with Golden Tempo. She has been a trainer since 2018, and was born at one of the horseracing meccas, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., so it’s natural for her. No wonder she’s a winner!
About 1959, in Frankfurt, Germany, several of those of us in the military attended a horse race at the Galopprennbahn Niederrad, where races take place 5-6 times a year. One of the guys bet a Trifecta combination, won a potful of money, and took the whole group of about 10 of us out to a Chinese restaurant near the Bahnhof.
That long-ago event came to mind when we saw the payout for the Kentucky Derby Trifecta. You bet three horse’s number in the race and if the race ends in the order you picked, you hit the jackpot. At the Kentucky Derby, the Trifecta winner was 19-1-22 (horses Golden Tempo, Renegade and Ocelli.) What makes for a high Trifecta payout is for one horse of the three to have long odds of winning. The third place horse, Ocelli, went to post at 70-l. The payout for a 50 cent bet: $5,625.39! Someone made out like a bandit!
Garrison Keillor tells us that Sunday was the birthdate of the man who wrote, “A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise”—Niccolò Machiavelli, born in Florence (1469). He had an early career in politics when Italy wasn’t a unified country, but rather a collection of allied city-states. He wrote The Prince in 1513 as an instruction manual on obtaining and holding onto power. In his treatise, he wrote that morality was irrelevant when it came to running a state. He didn’t advocate evil for its own sake, and believed rulers should stick to the good whenever possible. But he also said they should be willing to perform evil acts when it became necessary to hold onto their power and maintain the security of the state.
Hmmmm. Seems like we have heard of leaders like that!
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