Shelby Carson, born and raised in Americus, shared her favorite thing about the City. “Definitely downtown and the history that you can see. The Windsor is the best example of that.”

She noted a favorite event. “I love the Hot Glass Craft Beer Festival. It’s probably the most fun thing that they’ve come up with in my lifetime.”

When asked if there was anything she would change about the City, Carson replied; “well, they’re working right now basically to do facelifts and stuff, and you can see it in a lot of the storefronts downtown which is great because that used to be an issue, you know, downtown’s just getting run down and not cared for, and so the only thing that really concerns me now would be crime rates.”

Mallary Wiggins, another Americus native, was sitting at one of the outdoor tables beside The Windsor. She shared her favorite things about Americus. “My favorite things would happen to be the downtown events that we host, such as First Fridays, then of course, food truck festivals, Taste of Sumter, just things that get people out and about, to learn more about the community, whether they’re from here or not.”

When asked if there was anything she would change about the town, Wiggins replied; “I would like to bring more retail.”

She talked about the types she would love to see. “Clothing, dress shops, definitely more different style restaurants, so different types of cuisines.”

Amy Dennard and Kerry Dennard were walking in downtown Americus, and stopped for an interview, sharing their thoughts on Americus. They told how they had recently returned to Americus around a month prior. Amy Dennard told of growing up in Americus. “We had a roller-skating rink, we had movies, we had a bowling alley in college, lot of stuff that’s gone now, but then there’s a lot of cute stuff like, we love that Scoops Place, we love Horne Pecan Company, the Maze, there’s a lot of great places that have sprung up in place.”

Her husband Kerry Dennard is from a small town near Macon. He told how he came to Americus. “I came here originally to go to school, and I stayed here for a couple of years, and I joined the military, and we were a military family for over 20 something years, and now we’ve come back.”

Amy Dennard told how returning to Americus allowed them to be close to family. Kerry Dennard mentioned work was also a draw. “I’m running my father’s business.” He also mentioned his daughter was going to school in Americus.

When asked about their favorite things about Americus, they noted Horne Pecan Company, Sweet Georgia Bakery, and Pat’s Place. Amy Dennard described the atmospher; “everything looks very nice, and quaint, and very charming.”

Amy Dennard did mention one thing she would change if she could. “Well, there’s a lot of empty storefronts that I feel like could have businesses in them. The potholes everywhere. The streets seem bad in some places. There’s one near us that’s got a big orange barrel on it.” She noted she had seen it during a previous trip. “So it’s been there at least a year or so.”

When asked if there was anything else they wanted to share, Kerry Dennard replied; “I come from a smaller town of 1,800 so I like how Americus kind of has an older charm to it, but it still keeps. . . reinventing itself in a lot of ways.” He praised the First Fridays. “It’s just a changing town, but it keeps its roots.”