The Georgia Tourism Department returned to Butts County on November 20th, 2017 to present their findings about our community, its tourism offerings and attractions that bring visitors to the community each year. Back in May, the team, made up of members from the Department of Economic Development, Department of Community Affairs, the National Parks Service, the Georgia Trails Summit and others, spent two full days in Butts County visiting our parks, lakes, rivers, heritage sites, communities, trails and other locations to fully assess everything that we have and they have compiled a report that highlights what we’re doing right and what we can improve upon to draw more visitors to Butts County.

The last full year’s report compiled by the state showed that Butts County received over $600,000.00 from tourists visiting Butts County in a year, including Jackson Lake, the Ocmulgee River, Dauset Trails Nature Center, Indian Springs State Park, the Village at Indian Springs and other locations. This impact on Butts County is significant.

The event, which unveiled their findings and offered many new ideas to explore was held on November 20th, 2017 at 6:00 PM at the Jackson United Methodist Church. Facilitated by Partners for Smart Growth and the Butts County Tourism Board, and sponsored by Dauset Trails and the Daughtry Foundation, guests were treated to excellent food from Third Street Station and a 90 minute presentation by five team members from the original tourism team that visited earlier this year. All guests were presented with a comprehensive 114 page report of findings and recommendations by the state team.

From me personally, it was great to see this turnout from the local community…and especially seeing the owners of our newest businesses there to learn about how they can contribute to this new focus on growing and developing our tourist trade…I hope this gives them encouragement that we are going to support efforts that steer more business in their direction.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this effort and I’m looking forward to seeing where this next road takes us.

Michael