Published: October 21, 2009 11:49 am      

Sparse crowds at city events

Saturday should have been one of those days we look back fondly on and say, “That was the day that launched this great fall event, The Liberty Tree Festival, to the next level.”

Local government, the Downtown Dalton Development Authority and the Dalton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau invested time and money into the event. There was a great barbecue contest with participants from as far as South Louisiana and as close as Dalton. There was a sweet tea contest sponsored by Southern-focused magazine “Y'ALL” out of Oxford, Miss., free inflatables for the kids, a movie night and fire works. There was a former governor of Georgia and a sitting United States congressman, both came to speak to the voters of Dalton and Whitfield County about the future of Georgia. Both are running for governor and may be going head to head next year at this time for your vote.

It would be nice to write an editorial that said thank you to all the Grow Greater Dalton and Archway participants for taking time out of your busy lives to spend it supporting a growing Dalton/Whitfield event. It would be nice to submit a lot of your photos to Dalton magazine for the holiday issue showing support from all the community, especially from these groups who have committed to our growth and voiced an opinion on what we need to do.

It would be great to hold this event up as an early success and sign that Dalton and Whitfield have things to do and community events we support. It would be even better to talk about how impressed these potential next governors were and how they can't wait to get back up here to campaign and help Grow Greater Dalton. It would be great to say all that, but sadly we can not.

To the residents and leaders of Greater Dalton who found a few hours in the day to support the event and the community, great job. All we can say to the majority of you, where were you? Where is the community spirit and this zeal to grow that was shown at the Archway meeting? Are you really in and committed or just when it is convenient? It was an embarrassing day for Greater Dalton. What else can be said but, no excuse!



The Daily Citizen