Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Our community welcomed an exciting new venue with the inaugural concert held at the Villages Amphitheater on Sept. 28. Our own Judge Paschal English was the guest emcee for Dennis Edwards and the Temptation Review who played to an enthusiastic full house. However, the enduring star of the evening was the new facility.

The Villages Amphitheater adds another jewel to the crown of Mainstreet Fayetteville. The individuals, companies, and organizations that played such a major role in bringing this dream to fruition were recognized Saturday night; however, it is important that these civic-minded contributors be thanked and recognized for the entire community.

The idea for a local community amphitheater originated with the Fayetteville Mainstreet Board under the able leadership of Robert Sprayberry and including board members Gary Baumgardner, Lane Brown, Scott Burrell, Patsy Gullet, and Al Hovey-King. After winning the support of City Council, the Downtown Development Authority was brought on board under the longtime chairmanship of Al Hovey-King with board members Sam Burch, Mike Faulkner, Ron Hannah, Sarah Murphy, Jamie Wyatt, and Herbie Youngs.

Once the decision was made to go forward, a team of dedicated professionals was assembled, drawing from the wealth of talented people in our community. Leading the project for the city on a daily basis was Joe Morton, city manager, and our dynamic Mainstreet director, Nancy Price.

This facility is envisioned as one that may be utilized by a wide segment of our people. Thus, we worked closely with the school board and administration from the very beginning. Mickey Littlefield, the Board of Education, and Dr. John DeCotis, superintendent, offered joint use of the Fayette County High School parking area when not in use by the school system.

This forward-thinking decision saved many thousands of dollars for the project and negated the need to pave green space. In return the school system will have access, with no capital costs, to a first-class facility that will offer unlimited opportunities to our students.

This exemplifies what we all should know: with open minds and cooperation we indeed can accomplish much together. The Fayette County High School Band Boosters graciously served as ushers and greeters.

Our construction partners were all well-known, involved business people, again from our own community, led by the design-build contractor Leslie Contracting with CEO Wayne Leslie and President Cam Williams.

Engineering services were provided by Integrated Science and Engineering led by President Dan Davis and project engineer Jason Walls. Eagle Real Estate is the overall developer of the Villages Project. Don Cobb of Cobb and Associates was the architect.

Davin Winkle and Brad Parrott of Oliver and Winkle P.C. provided all the legal work. Ron Simpson of RCS Productions and longtime producer of our Mainstreet concerts was the on-site technical consultant. The City Cafe provided concession services, including a selection of their delicious deserts.

Fayetteville is fortunate to have so many individuals and companies that give freely, not only of their time, but also in very tangible ways. Capital building sponsors included Cooper Lighting, who provided all the site lighting. Andy's Nursery did the beautiful landscaping work. Brent Scarbrough and Co. did the grading and site preparation work. Leslie Contracting donated the flagpole. Waste Management is donating decorative refuse containers and McRae Communications has provided extensive advertising and public relations aid. Coca Cola donated refrigeration units for the concessions facility.

Another special group of companies provided sponsorship of the opening concert. These include Fox 97.1, Kroger, AT&T Broadband, Holiday Inn Suites and Holiday Inn, and Coca-Cola, who always seems to be there for metro Atlanta.

As a city we would like to offer our thanks and gratitude to these selfless and outstanding individuals and companies. They are a large part of what makes Fayetteville such a nice place to live. As we see these folks out in the community it would be nice to offer them a sincere thank-you for their tireless efforts.

We eagerly await the next jewel in the crown. The historically accurate restoration of the Holiday-Dorsey-Fife house is about complete. This facility will house a museum featuring the heritage of our area and historic collections.

Ken Steele

Mayor

Fayetteville