LaFayette plans to keep up positive momentum in 2020
In 2019, the city of LaFayette continued to grow community events, make much needed updates to its infrastructure and pave city roads, and the city plans to continue this momentum into the New Year.
Community events
The city continued to expand community events in 2019. LaFayette hosted the Third Annual Honeybee Festival, which proved to be another big success as a reported 50,000 plus attended the festival on Saturday, June 1.
The city even added a Honeybee Eve on Friday, May 31, making the event a twoday celebration. Honeybee Eve included the Honeybee Steak Competition and Little Miss Honeybee Pageant, as well as a live performance from The Beaters at the Ross Abney Complex.
The Honeybee Festival expanded on the importance of honeybee education and awareness, increased vendors and included three US101 headliners on the Mountain View Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram stage, with live performances from country music stars Travis Denning, William Michael Morgan and Rodney Atkins.
The Third Annual Honeybee BBQ Competition was another big success. The BBQ contest grew to 30 competition teams in 2019 and was our first KCBS sanctioned event. This included a pro competition and a backyard competition.
The 2020 city of LaFayette Honeybee Festival will be Saturday, June 13. The city plans to continue expanding the Honeybee Festival as a major two-day event.
The city of LaFayette celebrated the beginning of the fall season with the Second Annual Autumn Rocks Day on Saturday, Sept. 21, in LaFayette.
Autumn Rocks Day included a golf tournament, introduction to caving, the annual LaFayette Airport Fly-In, heritage festivities at the Marsh House, hayrides, live music, inflatables for kids, a 5K and one-mile Fun Run and a tailgate party at the LaFayette Golf Course.
The tailgate party proved to be a hit as college football was featured on a large, outdoor multi-sided television display as the Georgia Bulldogs took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Combining the annual Fly-In with Autumn Rocks Day was a success, and the city will continue with the merging of these events for the 2020 fall season.
The Free Dog Park opened during the summer and is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and located at Ross Abney Complex at 101 First St.
Junior Council
The mayor, council and city administration value the ideas and opinions of our community’s youth.
In early fall of 2019, Councilman Chris Davis developed the idea of implementing a Junior Council with students from LaFayette High School.
The Junior Council will specialize in program and facility enhancements to assets like our LaFayette Recreation Department. The Junior Council attended the Nov. 14 city council meeting, where the students expressed the desire to see improvements to the recreation center.
The administration wants to continue to engage with the Junior Council on ideas related to the Honeybee Festival and improvements citywide.
Thriving Communities
LaFayette was one of three cities accepted last February into Thriving Communities, a regional “placemaking” program designed to spur community development through planning, management and design of public spaces.
The City of LaFayette hosted “From Marsh to Mars” on April 13. The event was organized by LaFayette, Georgia A Thriving Community.
LaFayette Thrive is a town coming together to drive economic and cultural growth through community engagement and a collective vision for the future. Citizens were asked to write or draw what they would like to see for the future of LaFayette at the Community Dreamers Tent.
The “Johnny Cash Now Tribute” event in LaFayette proved a success as more than 620 tickets were sold for the Aug. 10 concert honoring Cash.
Reliving a historical moment in our community to see what the future could possibly hold was the goal of the Johnny Cash Now event at Ross Abney Complex.
The event was organized by the LaFayette, GA Downtown Development Authority and the LaFayette, Georgia Thriving Community group.
Community leaders and volunteers wanted to explore the possibilities of utilizing the Ross Abney Complex for future community events.
The LaFayette Thriving Communities team, in coordination with the community feedback they received during their community experiments, created the “Queen Bee Hive” project. A mobile stage that will be used to bring vacant spaces to life with music, education, and art all year long. This project is funded in partnership by the Lyndhurst Foundation and will launch in 2020.
Improving infrastructure
Main Street in LaFayette is part of the state’s U.S. 27 Business Corridor repaving project where new water and sewer utilities are being installed that will replace the existing 70-year-old utilities.
A segment of U.S. 27 Business will be repaved thanks to State Sen. Jeff Mullis. Sen. Mullis secured a commitment from the Georgia Department of Transportation, or GDOT, to completely rehabilitate the segment of Ga. 1/U.S. 27 Business Corridor.
Upon completion of the water and sewer replacement, GDOT will repave U.S. 27/ North Main Street. GDOT will grind up the asphalt and concrete from Culberson Avenue to Rhyne Road and replace the surface with new asphalt to improve the long-term maintenance of this section of Main Street as part of this project.
The North Main Street water and sewer relocation is projected to last up to one year, as the city expects to have the water and sewer projects completed by fall 2020.
Crews will work Mondays through Fridays, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as occasionally working on weekends and holidays.
Street paving
The city of LaFayette Public Works began paving several city streets during September and plan to continue these projects in 2020.
The 2019 paving schedule included street paving on Magnolia Street, Henderson Street, Glenn Street, Pine Street, Thompson Street, Chattanooga Street, Cavender Street, McLemore Street, Chestnut Street, Glenn Street and Whispering Pines Lane, as well as Lakeview Drive.
Public Works also paved Lakeview Drive leading to Queen City Lake.
Public Works plans to pave more roads in 2020 once plans are finalized by the paving committee.
“We appreciate all of the support that the community has shown in making LaFayette a great place to live. We couldn’t accomplish these important infrastructure projects without SPLOST and TSPLOST,” Mayor Andy Arnold said.