We have many new projects and recently completely projects for visitors and residents to enjoy; here are some highlights of what’s new and upcoming in Georgia’s Rome!
The Forum River Center has officially reopened under the management of the Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism. The Forum Operations Manager, Jay Shell, has been busy booking events to bring people back to downtown to enjoy concerts, family events, live entertainment, and special expos. Upcoming events include Bull Riding, Community Prayer Breakfast, and more concerts! To prepare for all this fun, Jay and his staff have spent the last few months working on facility upgrades. The entire building has been refreshed with a new color scheme, new fixtures, upgraded audio and visual, and new signage. The facility is also available for booking private events including weddings, receptions, meetings, reunions, and parties. Stay up-to-date on upcoming ticketed events, or get in touch with staff if you would like to host your own event by visiting: ForumRiverCenter.com.
Another popular place in downtown Rome is the beautiful trail system and the greenway is growing! Paving for a trail extension from Mt. Berry Trailhead to AdventHealth Stadium Trailhead will be completed in early 2024 to create a continuous 13-mile loop around Rome’s rivers and Downtown Rome. Signage for the newly branded AdventHealth Redmond ECO Greenway will be installed soon to provide new trailhead maps and wayfinding signage throughout the system.
A new amenity was just recently added to a portion of our greenway on the south end. The sport of disc golf has gained a lot of momentum in the US in the last few years and a brand-new course has just opened in Downtown Rome! The Kingfisher Disc Golf Course features 9-holes and is situated along the Kingfisher Trail on the AdventHealth Redmond ECO Greenway. The city worked in partnership with Prodigy Disc on the design of the course. The company is well known in the disc golf sporting community because they sell disc golf discs and host tournaments throughout the country. The course is free and is open to the public during daylight hours.
Located on the northern part of the trail is a new geocache trail. Thanks to one of the largest geocaching events held in Rome every year, several new caches have been added to the Mt. Berry Trail portion of the AdventHealth Redmond ECO Greenway. If you park at the trailhead and walk towards the stadium, you will discover several caches. Learn more about geocaching and how to find the caches at GoingCaching.com.
There’s more great news for parks in Rome and Floyd County. Voters recently approved the SPLOST proposal, giving $11,465,000 to park improvements in Rome and Floyd County. Several community parks will receive splash pads offering outdoor play areas with sprinklers and fountains for families to enjoy in warm months. Ridge Ferry Park will receive a new trail connection from the AdventHealth Redmond ECO Greenway in the park to connect to the Jackson Hill Trail System across Riverside Parkway. A boardwalk will be built utilizing the existing Burwell Creek underpass.
SPLOST also provides some fun upgrades for our rivers too! A new boat ramp will replace the old ramp at Ridge Ferry Park along with a new paddle-in campsite on the Oostanaula River offering camping, picnic pavilions, and restroom facilities.
If you’re not busy outdoors enjoying all that Rome has to offer, then you might be indoors watching Rome on the screen, because Rome is a busy town for film! Rome was most notably featured on the popular Netflix show, Stranger Things. With Rome’s full resume of film and TV credits, film scouts are always visiting in consideration of future projects, especially as our entertainment industry continues to grow. To support this growth, the Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism just launched the new Film & Entertainment Alliance, to serve as a direct liaison with the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment office (a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development). We are excited to embrace the future of film and entertainment productions in all of Floyd County and look forward to working with our partners in the industry to expand on all that we have to offer as a camera-ready community.
With everything that is going on in Rome, we look forward to watching the growth spur more activity, because growing is thriving! Cheers to all our Rome residents and visitors and we wish you a wonderful 2024!
