BAKERY'S GRILLED CHICKEN HAWAIIAN SANDWICH

STATE NAMES TIFTON SANDWICH AS ONE OF '100 PLATES LOCALS LOVE'

A sandwich at Mi-Lady Bakery, a fixture in Downtown Tifton since the 1950s, has been named one of the "100 Plates Locals Love" by Georgia Department of Economic Development's Tourism Division.

The Grilled Chicken Hawaiian Sandwich, featured in the state's new culinary guide, "Georgia Eats," has grilled chicken, all-natural Metro Deli grilled ham, sliced jalapeños, banana peppers, fresh sliced tomatoes, pepperjack cheese, and is topped with Wisham Jellies' Mango Pepper Jelly on a toasted, three-generation-old family French bread recipe made in house.

"It's Georgia's outstanding local restaurants that truly showcase the state's rich flavors that locals and visitors love," said Kevin Langston, deputy tourism commissioner at the Ga. Department of Economic Development.

"Each dish on our list of '100 Plates that Locals Love' epitomize Georgia's culinary scene with locally made and grown ingredients. These are the best of the best in Georgia, and we can't wait to share them with our visitors."

The Grilled Chicken Hawaiian Sandwich was the brainchild of two friends who wanted to showcase their talents in Tifton. Eric Wisham and Kyle Rhodes began experimenting with different flavor profiles and finally created what they thought was a good fit.

"Eric Wisham, founder of Wisham Jellies (also in Tifton), has a unique product in his pepper jellies. I wanted to use them because of the amazing flavor and to help promote a product that's made locally. I convinced him that we needed to develop a sandwich utilizing the jellies and see how the public reacted. Their response was overwhelming at first, but truly rewarding in the end," said Kyle Rhodes of Mi-Lady Bakery.

"We were truly blown away at how everyone reacted to the sandwich. We have since incorporated other Wisham Jellies flavors into our bakery and breakfast menus. The two seem togo together quite well and have become very popular menu items," Rhodes said.

Both Mi-Lady Bakery and Wisham Jellies and Marketplace are featured stops on "Georgia Grown Trail: 41," which the state says is dedicated to the "promotion, preservation and development of regional agri-tourism" in a 10-county area: Tift, Turner, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Dooly, Houston, Lowndes, Monroe and Peach.

DISTRICT 155 INCLUDES NORTHERN TIFT COUNTY

HUDGINS, PIRKLE IN GA. HOUSE 

RUNOFF ELECTION AUG. 11

GEORGIA'S JOBLESS RATE DROPS; LOWEST IN 7 YEARS

VIDEO:  State announces unemployment rate on Thursday

The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June was 6.1 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 6.3 percent in May. The rate was 7.3 percent in June 2014.

"The rate dropped to its lowest point in seven years as the number of unemployed Georgians fell by 8,421

 and our employers continued to create jobs," said state Labor  Commissioner Mark Butler. 

 The number of jobs in Georgia increased by 2,300, or 0.1  percent, in June to 4,254,000. The gains came in government,  mostly at the local level, 3,900; trade, transportation and  warehousing, 3,600; manufacturing, 1,100; education and health  services, 700; and other services, 300. 

 But those gains were somewhat offset by losses in leisure and  hospitality, professional and business services, information  services and construction. In the previous three  years, Georgia gained an average of 8,300 jobs in June.

"As we look at the over-the-year picture, our employers created 106,000 jobs since June of last year," said Butler. "Our job growth rate of 2.6 percent remains higher than the national rate of 2.1 percent ,and Georgia continues to be a national leader in job creation."