First Friday: Getting to know more about DDA, Visit Dublin

Those attending the First Friday Means Business received a sneak preview of upcoming events that will be happening in downtown Dublin and with Visit Dublin GA.

Jennifer Jarvis, Dublin-Laurens Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, moderated a panel composed of Nichole Padgett, Dublin Downtown Development Authority MainStreet director, Glenda Berry, Theatre Dublin director, Jason Keyton, director of business development, and Miriam Lewis, executive director of Visit Dublin GA.

Jarvis said it was fun to hear the panels’ excitement.

Padgett went through a long list of events, starting with the upcoming Chili-Cookoff and Fall Festival at the Market on Madison on Saturday, Oct. 17. They currently have 18 teams.
“If you have not been to this event, you are missing out,” Padgett said. “We have so much fun.”

Berry said they will have some Halloween-themed movies throughout October. They will also have the Eagles Tribute Band on Oct. 16.
“They are fantastic,” Berry said.

Lewis brought up a new Christmas event. They have noticed that the visitor numbers around Dublin decrease in December.

“We wanted to find ways to get creative to bring people in,” Lewis said. “One of the ways is we met with the Chamber back in the summer and we had this crazy idea.”

They wanted to have a community-wide Christmas light decorating contest and plan to call it Merry Bright Lights in Dublin, Ga. This will be for everyone in the city and county.

“We are very excited,” Lewis said. “We want to create a map for people to use to be able to drive around Dublin. People can take their kids out for dinner and then check the map and see what is close to them to go look and vote on.”

Berry was excited to be able to announce an early Christmas present with the DCT’s production of “Elf Jr. The Musical,” to be held at Theatre Dublin on Nov. 20-22.

“We have 40 cast members who are all 18 and under,” said Berry before calling up Sawyer Morton, who will be playing Buddy the Elf. “I hope everyone will come and support our young people. They are going to do a wonderful job.”

Berry pointed out that the 22^nd annual The Nutcracker will be coming up also, along with, “lots and lots of Christmas movies.”
“We are going to have a lot of fun things going on at Theatre Dublin and we want you and your family to come out and enjoy them,” Berry said.

Padgett said Dec. 4 will be the annual Jingle & Mingle, which will include a visit from Santa Claus and a tree lighting.

“We want to light up downtown a little more,” she said. “We are going to have some snow. We’ll have carriage rides downtown.”

On Dec. 19, they will have breakfast with Santa. Then, to ring in the new year, they will hold the annual Shamrock Drop on Dec. 31.

Padgett knows people want to know who they need to contact for their venues such as the Carnegie Library, or information about the Farmers Market or Jackson Plaza.

“They can call me,” she said.

Berry is an advocate and ambassador for performing arts. Three years ago, she was at a similar event when she talked with Jennifer Bryant who said her son Caleb may be interested in performing on stage for Dublin Community Theatre (DCT).

“If your child or relative has always wanted to be on stage, or maybe even backstage, reach out to us,” Berry said. “Dublin Community Theatre is truly a community theater. It really comes from connecting people who have never been on stage. It’s a wonderful way of helping to make this community come to life.”

Lewis said Visit Dublin GA operates under the Georgia Department of Economic Development Tourism Division. They are very active with five social media pages, 10 websites and they are constantly serving outside the community on panels statewide and meeting with hundreds of guests and taking brochures.

“We are having conversation with them about why they need to come back to Dublin and homing in on what interests them and trying to bring them back,” Lewis said. “We wear many hats.”

Visit Dublin GA employees have been at many events and programs in the city.

“We work alongside our partners,” Lewis said. “We love going out into our community to hand out information or give out stickers and anything that has Dublin on it so that it keeps Dublin on their minds.”

Keyton, who recently began his new role in the Fred Roberts Hotel, would like people to come to see him first before they think about starting a business in the downtown area.

“I have a network of people who can actually help you before you start that process,” he said. “The worst thing you can do is come to me in the middle of your project and it is too late for help. Information must be taken down before the beginning of the project. Don’t be afraid to come to me even if it is six months to a year before anything happens.”

There is a lot going on downtown.

“You have seen that it has changed a lot,” Keyton said. “We want to keep that momentum going.”

Keyton said it is very important to partner with other people or organizations.

“Dublin is a very strong community,” he said. “We might not have a specific event that we have done together, but everything is always promoting one another. We’ve had the Crawfish Festival, which is a collaboration between the DDA, the city of Dublin, investors and Visit Dublin GA. When our theater has events, our restaurants are busy and they benefit from people coming into town and spending tax dollars. A lot of (the DDA’s) money comes from hotel-motel tax. The more things we can bring into town, the more things we can do and the more things we can partner on.”

He pointed out that they partner together with the DCT shows, music events, the DDA’s Chili-Cookoff and Fall Festival, Farmers Market and with things Visit Dublin does at the interstate.

“We really work well together, no matter what the situation is,” Keyton said.

The event, which was held on Oct. 2, was sponsored by Addington Place.

“We have a big misconception of what we are,” said administrator Brandon Thomas. “We try to provide an experience. We must educate people about what we are so they won’t be scared of assisted living. The experience you get on a cruise ship is the same experience you get at Addington Place.”