Business View Civil Municipal - Sept 2023

60 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 9 Then there’s Ron Paulk who invented a machine that inverts peanuts and thus revolutionized harvesting peanuts in southern Georgia. These efforts also led to the founding of Colony Bank, whose corporate headquarters are proudly in downtown Fitzgerald. Tourism and arts Young says Fitzgerald has a very strong and active tourism, arts, and cultural department. This includes a historic, renovated cinema downtown that plays first-run movies. “It also hosts concerts and on-stage theatrical performances and so forth,” Young adds. “We have an art studio that does classes for children, youth, and adults. Also, our Carnegie Center hosts numerous events as well that are arts and tourism-related. We do have tours that take place that show our architectural designs of houses and buildings. We also have a cemetery tour PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Southern Veneer www.southernveneerproducts.com n Croy Engineering www.croyengineering.com that is available. We have a great museum that is available for the public to enjoy.” That would be the Blue and Gray Museum on Johnston Street. It’s dedicated to preserving the history of the Fitzgerald’s founding. Housed in a former railway station, it once served the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Atlantic rail line. At its core is a hall of honor that is dedicated to education about the leaders, both Union and Confederate alike, who established Fitzgerald as a community of brotherhood for the men of both the North and the South, 30 years after the War Between the States. The museum also has a display honoring Raymond Davis, America’s most highly decorated member of the United States Marine Corps. A four-star general, Davis served in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Young lauded the museum as the jewel in Fitzgerald’s crown. “People travel to see our museum,” she says, “which has a lot of history in it. It has a little amphitheater inside to watch a video on how Fitzgerald was created. We do have a lot of events. You can check out our calendar, and it’s always full. We also have the Wild Chicken Festival (honoring a longtime symbol of the city), and we partner with the Jaycees for this. It happens annually. Of course, we do have a Fourth of July event. We just finished a Juneteenth event.” “The list goes on and on, and it’s never-ending with things to do in Fitzgerald,” she concludes.