I chanced to flutter by some foreign visitors recently. Imagine my surprise to learn they came to visit Athens. Yes, our own little town in the northern part of our great state of Alabama was their destination. What a genuine surprise. I recalled landing near some Canadians who did the same about a year ago. They said they wanted to visit one small town along the way every time they went to the Gulf Coast. So what did these visitors from afar find?

Seems they really wanted to sit somewhere and have dinner while overlooking the great Tennessee River. Sad to say, they’d have to go all the way down to Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville to find “Daniella’s” restaurant to do that. Or, maybe they could divine the time that the bar ‘n’ grill on the river is open at the marina in Decatur? Or Lucy’s Branch barge? You get the picture. There’s hardly anything of that sort to attract guests here to Athens/Limestone County. And we also have the Elk River. Not to worry, they would settle for a shady park, relaxing among the native trees. Athens’ Big Spring Park? C’mon. What’s there? A couple of benches around a giant concreted pond. Hardly Central Park. Or maybe they could try their luck at Pilgrim’s Park? You remember, this is the one constantly promised, and never fulfilled, which is to be located where Pilgrim’s Pride chicken factory used to be, before all the Hispanic labor force was chased away.

No, all we have left is our town square. Now that is really something unique to see. Care has been taken to make the surrounding buildings presentable. The restaurants there are welcoming, indeed inviting. Of course, we have the well-visited Sheriff’s Rodeo. Just a couple blocks away from downtown is our well organized and presented Veteran’s Museum. To be sure, what’s lacking here, even for our good events, is information. Why don’t we advertise our good projects more? Trouble is, we have become a pass-through town. We’re lucky if somebody coming up from or going down to a vacation on the coast even stops here. Nope. The average tourist will pull into Buc-ees, fill up, use the very nice toilets, and say sayonara to anything here in Limestone County. We have whole county districts with no public parks at all, not to mention our constant building to house people who are then fed into the maw of Huntsville’s many jobs.

With our Athens State University nearby, you’d think we could do better. Most university towns offer programs year-round, which I’m sure we do, too. Trouble is, how would a traveler even know about that? What encourages someone to visit for more than a cursory glance at our downtown, then drive away after maybe an ice cream at Kreme Delite? What to do?

Our city fathers and mothers could perhaps organize events to bring visitors here. Why not more, and longer sporting competitions? Imagine a championship sponsored here with players and their families filling our hotels? Softball, pickleball, you name it. We are also a famous place for history. What would be wrong with bringing in guests to have a conference on the American Civil War, as it happened here? Tours of actual battle sites could be organized. Imagine a van taking guests of such events out to the Sulphur Creek Trestle battle site, or to other locations associated with skirmishes and combat across Limestone County. Discussions could take place at Athens State to learn about how our region reacted to that dread conflict. These are only ideas, but why stop there?

Authors aplenty are found in our region. Why not, such as our Athens Limestone Library has initiated, have more actual presentations by these skilled writers on various themes? We could have crime, or romance or historical writing conferences. They do this in Nashville and Sewanee. Why not here? Or why not have events sponsored by the many gigantic companies now located here? If Daikin can throw a city party in Decatur, why can’t Amazon or Toyota do the same here?

It was fun to watch the fireworks over the Foruth. What a simple, good idea it was to have such colorful blasts all over the place to remember our Independence Day? Why stop the celebrations? Our population would gladly support any event, given enough advertisement and community enthusiasm. After all, we all live here together, and should enjoy our free time together as neighbors with something to do.