Team Praises Tourism Effort In County, Offers Recommendations

The state resource team studying tourism and its potential in Oconee County offered much praise of the county in the report it delivered last week at Oconee Veterans Park.

“You all have some really gorgeous things in your community,” team leader Cindy Eidson said. “Everything was so incredible.”

But the team also had criticism, including of the decision by the county to tear down the old jail behind the Courthouse in Watkinsville.

And the team offered a wide range of suggestions for things that should be done, from promoting tours of area farms and businesses, to making better use of the schoolhouse at Heritage Park, to creating an art display at the Welcome Center.

The Cultural Affairs Citizen Advisory Board is holding a called meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Welcome Center, 21 North Main Street, Watkinsville, to initiate discussion of the report and consider how to respond to those recommendations.

For more on the story, including a video of the meeting at which the report was released and a link to an electronic version of the final report itself, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Cover of report.