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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 27. 2022
Jasper DDA looking to add events in 2022
Group hopes to
The newly reorganized Jasper Downtown Development
Association is determined to move forward with exciting
new plans for the city in 2022 under the direction of Chair
man Jack Dunn. The chairman thanked DDA members for
their efforts in "what we 're trying to do."
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
During their first meeting
of the new year, members of
the Jasper Downtown Devel
opment Authority discussed
their initiatives for 2022, in
cluding new plans for a
monthly event to be held on
the second Saturday of each
month.
The Tuesday, Jan. 11th
meeting began with a swear
ing-in ceremony for two
DDA members with Jasper
Mayor Steve Lawrence offi
ciating. Those members were
Parish Lowrie, who has been
reappointed to the DDA, and
Kirk Raffield, who is new to
the board.
According to DDA Chair
Jack Dunn, plans for the Sec
ond Saturday events, which
would run from May through
August, might include rent
ing a stage for musical per
formances. Dunn and
Raffield recently met with
Zelinda Hardy of Cherokee
County who specializes in or
ganizing such events and has
helped with some of these
same type events in Canton.
Dunn said the price of renting
a stage would be approxi
mately $2,400, and the cost
of hiring bands would vary
between $3,000 and $6,000.
Vendors would be invited to
each event and charged a pro
posed $30 fee to sell their
wares.
After some discussion,
Raffield made a motion to
table discussion for the Sec
ond Saturday events until a
later meeting. His reasons
were for purely "housekeep
ing purposes," citing that the
DDA has only recently been
reorganized and the extra
time would allow the "setting
up of by-laws and getting
rides and regulations in
place." The motion carried
with no opposition.
The DDA also discussed
an upcoming work
session/retreat, which Dunn
said would take place in the
very near future. He is hop
ing to invite Tara Bradshaw,
an economic development
specialist with the Georgia
Department of Community
Affairs, to attend the session
to lend her expertise. Dunn
then opened the floor for dis
cussion among members as
to what they wished to ac
complish at the work session,
to which Parish Lowrie
replied, "I hope we can de
fine our scope and purpose."
As to when to hold the
work session, authority mem
bers decided on the dates of
February 23rd through the
25th.
Dunn then called upon the
various committee members
for their reports.
Amy Leake reported that
Instagram and Facebook ac
counts had been launched
and were "up and running,"
to which fellow social media
committee member Dave
Gamer added that their Face-
book account already had
"over 100 followers." Repre
senting the by-law commit
tee, Parish Lowrie said the
by-laws had not been
amended "in quite some
time" and that "they badly
needed to be updated."
Leake and Marty Calla
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At the DDA meeting, Jasper Mayor Steve Lawrence presided over swearing-in ceremonies for Parish Lowrie who has
been reappointed to the downtown development board.
Kirk Raffield, who was recently named Jasper’s mayorpro-tem, was also sworn-in as a new DDA board member by
Mayor Lawrence.
han, members of the Busi
ness Development Commit
tee, both commented on the
progress of their committee.
Callahan said he hoped the
upcoming work session
would help to determine
"What's to be our role."
Leake said that they recently
had a "great meeting" with
Mayor Lawrence and was
looking forward to "getting
the ball rolling." She added
that they had received some
input from the community re
sulting in a number of good
suggestions.
Dunn updated the mem
bers about a recent meeting
he had with Brittany Pittman
of Appalachian Regional De
velopment. He said the meet
ing "gave us an opportunity
to discuss what we can do in
the future," and added that
according to Pittman,"
There's more money avail
able to us."
Dunn reported on his con
sultations with the Jasper
Merchants Association about
changing the date of the an
nual downtown Christmas
parade. This year's parade
was described as extremely
successful with a large num
ber of participants and spec
tators. However, parade
sponsors believe the event
would have been even more
successful had it not coin
cided this year, as it has in
previous years, with the
Southeastern Conference
Football Championship
game. This year's game,
which pitted the eventual Na
tional Champion Georgia
Bulldogs against the Ala
bama Crimson Tide, natu
rally proved to be of great
interest to many local resi
dents.
Plans are to move forward
with changing the parade
date from the first Saturday
to the first Sunday in Decem
ber. Dunn noted this date
would not conflict with other
popular area holiday parades.
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11
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