Barbara Prosser sees a bright red chassis in the automotive learning amphitheater of the Effingham College and Career Academy and envisions a Model A Roadster emblazoned with the school emblem. “It can be used for parades or to advertise out…
When travel is as easy as jumping in a car and driving a few hours to try someplace new, how do you get people to put your town on their must-see list? How do you draw the tourists who will…
One of the newer residents of Gainesville lounges quietly near the intersection of Academy and Green streets. Her name is Lucile. She weighs 2,200 pounds, is 14 feet long and nearly 8 feet high. Believed to be the world’s largest…
“Up” is the operative word in Columbus, and not just because of the new zip line that will whisk brave souls across the Chattahoochee later this year. A desolate area on a bluff overlooking the river is ripe for revitalization…
In a year that saw World War I break out, the Panama Canal open and the first Tarzan of the Apes book published, 135 commissioners of roads and revenues in Georgia laid the groundwork for an organization that is indispensable…
Every citizen knows the conventional wisdom that has defined our state since Reconstruction: There is Atlanta, and then there is the rest of Georgia. Increasingly, though, the other, smaller cities are thrumming with innovation and a renewed sense of camaraderie,…
In a resounding demonstration of Columbia County’s drawing power, Thunder over Augusta, the annual Armed Forces Day celebration, crossed county lines to relocate to Evans Towne Center Park in 2012. Last year the park also began hosting “Drive for Show,…
In this slice of middle Georgia where Flannery O’Connor wrote “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the narrative 60 years later is “A Good Company is Hard to Find.” Baldwin County and Milledgeville are struggling to bring in new…
Athens-Clarke County is brimming with so much vitality that it is experiencing what Mayor Nancy Denson calls “the reverse broken window syndrome.” “If you’re on a street where there are a few broken windows, next thing you know, you…
Workforce education and development starting practically at birth characterize Carroll County, whose holistic approach helped make it the only county in the state invited to join the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 18-month-long Pathways to Prosperity project. The project…
The new $200-million Caterpillar manufacturing facility near Athens has set in motion economic development opportunities that could spread like the wings of a butterfly throughout Northeast Georgia. The 265-acre property in Bogart straddles Clarke and Oconee counties, and nearby…
Fresh blood is revitalizing Newton County. From the $1.3-billion deal with Baxter International, which will produce plasma-based treatments at a new manufacturing facility in Covington, to the tourism generated by the locally filmed television show The Vampire Diaries, the…
Finding Georgia’s jobs of the future isn’t as simple as downloading an app. At least not yet. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says the state is seeing a resurgence in programming jobs, with the future particularly bright in smartphone…
After landing a massive Lowe’s regional distribution center, Floyd County officials decided a more felicitous name should describe its location: North Floyd Industrial Park became Prosperity Park. “I think it’s completely indicative of the hopes of that park,” says…
Fly-by-night operators stapling “We buy used cars for $400” signs to a DeKalb County utility pole were surprised when a man drove up and told them to stop. “There was some intense discussion,” recalls Emory Morsberger. “They said, ‘Who…
When Clementi Holder became a Girl Scout in 1930, she learned how to gather twigs and build a fire in the woods. “Of course, you can’t do that now,” says Holder, 91, of Athens. “The laws are different.” Nevertheless,…
Beckoned by the iconic “Follow Me” statue that stands before the entrance to the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center, more than one million visitors have gone through the front doors and back in time to learn the stories…
Although it is situated companionably be-tween Atlanta and Athens, Walton County has an autonomous streak that would have made its namesake proud. More than 200 years after George Walton signed the Declaration of Independence, the county’s new branding, “Stretch…
Metro Atlanta economic development specialists are encouraged by continuing expansion among existing companies and see prospects for 2012 poised for takeoff – and not just at the airport, where the long-awaited new international terminal is opening in May. “We’ve…
On a Friday night in late October, Lady Ante-bellum performed for a crowd of more than 4,000 from a new pavilion named after the country music trio. The concert, part of the dedication of the Evans Towne Center Park,…
Georgia marble from Pickens County has been used to beautify buildings such as the U.S. Capitol, customize countertops, mark graves and – in a pulverized form – keep chewing gum from sticking to its wrapper. But the “Marble Capital…
Just as the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers flow together to form the mighty Coosa, school spirit courses throughout Floyd County and converges on Rome. This emphasis on education carries significant economic impact to the region, complements its top-flight medical…
From the Golden Isles of Georgia to the red carpet at the 2011 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, Morgan Brian has been recognized as the best female high school soccer player in the nation. Never mind that Brian hails…
Metro Atlanta residents who get an itch to head for the hills have been increasingly drawn to Gilmer County. “We’re a long weekend destination for a lot of people,” says Paige Green, president of the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce.…
Metro Atlanta economic developers didn’t waste time wringing their hands when growth stalled and businesses floundered. They continued to press ahead. As a transitional year, 2010 finished stronger than anticipated, and that momentum has carried into 2011. “We were…
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