Atlantans

Fascinated by majorette routines, Baton Bob got his start twirling a broom handle as a kid. As an adult, he began twirling in public as a way to combat depression. "I started going to this park in exercise gear, with my MP3 player and my baton, to twirl my spirit out of this funk. I had the idea of adding costumes to make people laugh. Once I started doing that and set up a website, I started getting responses from fans and seeing the differences I was making in their day."

One of the first things my mom had me do when I graduated from college was get registered to vote and sign up to work the election polls. I remember always going with her to vote. She made sure all her children—all nine of us—were exposed to the process.

No rescue is the same when it comes to bees: They can be anywhere you can imagine, from 30 feet up in a tree to the tarmac of the airport. I think it’s amazing that people call me to rescue bees in the first place. Even though they are terrified, people don’t want to hurt the bees because they know they are good for the environment.

Today, I am a senior refugee referral specialist. Until 2006, I was a case manager, and case managers do everything: come to the rent appointment, help them buy food, help them apply for food stamps, social security card, take them to the health center, to their appointment for the doctor, looking for a job. I cannot tell you how many times I was there at the airport [meeting refugees]. From 1990 to 2000, I only had Saturdays and Sundays not at the airport. Every Friday night, I was in the airport. They called me Mr. Midnight.

"We work with the animals, but our backgrounds also include plumbing, electrical, chemistry, water quality. You get to tinker a lot—we can fix anything with duct tape and a zip tie."

The plum tree is a small tree, about 15 feet tall. I’ve never really done anything to or for it. I didn’t know much about gardening or how to prune or fertilize a tree. My modus operandi was just to stick it in the ground, and that was it. But this little tree just grew and grew, and it has been the most incredibly bountiful tree, very quickly, bearing more fruit than anyone could ever possibly eat. Baskets and baskets of plums.

"It’s part museum, part roadside family attraction. Walk in the door, and there isn’t a quiet place—there’s somebody talking, music, movies, audio of bigfoot talking and screaming," says David Bakara of Expedition: Bigfoot! The Sasquatch Museum. "You have no idea what’s coming around the next corner."

Atlantan Normer Adams on cat rescue and conquering fears (and starlings)

Propelled by a late-stage cancer diagnosis, veteran radio host Silas “Si-Man” Alexander plots his most meaningful production yet.

"I discovered that Atlanta had all of these hidden forests and pockets of nature—over 90 hidden forests that were all a short drive from my house. I started compiling them into a book, Hiking Atlanta’s Hidden Forests: Intown and Out."