We have lived in Griffin for over seventeen years, and I must give this place a lot of credit. It has come a long way since 2009! Check out the inGriffin link, and you will see the efforts our town has made to make it better for our residents and attractive for tourists.

For America’s 250^th anniversary (and Spalding County’s 175^th), Griffin and Spalding County pulled out all the stops and put on a heck of a celebration. Following a full day of downtown events, there was a live band and food trucks at the downtown park.

It was too hot for me to attend the daytime events, but we arrived in time to catch the last set of music and stake out our spot for the featured event: a drone show. A drone show in our little town? I still couldn’t believe I would actually get to see one here in Griffin, Georgia, population less than 24,000.

Ever since the amazing Sky Elements appeared on America’s Got Talent, drone shows have been the hot new trend. Still, I’m guessing that most people have yet to see one in person, especially the residents of Griffin. Me neither, and I couldn’t wait!

As I planned the evening out for my husband and our friends joining us, I imagined the entire county would be showing up for this event. Where would I find parking? The traffic heading into downtown will be horrendous! Not wanting to put them through the hassle of driving around looking for a parking place, I thought I would get as close as I could, drop them off, and then head out in search for a place to park.

Plan in place, we drove into town, and made our turn onto Broad Street, headed for the first lot on my mental list. What? No traffic? And look! Parking places!! Everywhere! My heart skipped a beat with excitement! I got bold and drove all the way down to the far end of the lot, which was just across the street from the festivities and the best viewing area for the show. I figured if the first row was full, I would just drive down the next aisle. But there were spaces available! Where was everybody???

We grabbed our chairs, crossed the street, and set up in the small parking lot adjacent to the recently renovated Town Hall building overlooking the park. We had an elevated view looking down over the park and a perfect vantage point for the drone show. What a cool scene! People were enjoying the band performing classic rock and R&B hits, and there were several food trucks. The adjacent streets were blocked off, so people could mingle and set up chairs to watch the show. At one end, a couple of fire trucks had pulled out of their station to block off the street. One had its ladder raised with a HUGE American flag hanging down from it and lit up.

A short time later, I gazed out over the scene, and then I saw the drones hovering on the horizon. Let the show begin! The crowd cheered for every new design they formed, and it was an awesome sight! Kudos to the drone pilots, especially for Fly, Janet Fly, honoring Janet Harmon Bragg, born in Griffin in 1907, and the first African American woman to earn a commercial pilot’s license.

What a beautiful, joyful show for our little town! I felt a sense of pride and community spirit at a time when those feelings had been lost during these crazy, divisive times in our country.

Note: I had planned on writing about a couple of spring trips; however, both were canceled (long story). But stay tuned; more travel tales coming soon!