James MagazineJames_July-August_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 9
When most people think of
visiting Georgia, they may picture
Atlanta or Savannah or Augusta
(the Masters tournament) or somewhere in the mountains like Blue
Ridge. But smack dab in the middle of the state, when you start to
run down the list of things Macon
is offering, the list gets pretty long.
Ocmulgee Mounds National
Historical Park was named one
of the best places in the world to
visit last year by Time magazine.
CNN named Macon one of the best
10 cities to visit in 2024. The New
York Times publishes an annual “52
Places to Go” list and in 2023— right
between Vilnius, Lithuania, and
Madrid, Spain— at No. 43 was the
city of Macon.
Think about it: There’s downtown revitalization. There’s a new
10,000-seat amphitheater. There's
the Cherry Blossom Festival and
the still-in-the-works-but-seemingly-very-likely-to-succeed effort at
making Ocmulgee Mounds into
Georgia's first national park. All this
underscores that the future continues to build for Macon.
One of the incredible assets for
Macon is the dedicated leadership
of the community groups that have
helped get the city to where it is
now. There is a collaborative attitude and dedication to the community that is bringing people together
for a common vision. Oftentimes,
community groups may be working
in their own silos but the support for
each other in Macon means that no
matter who you talk to, they know
what all the other groups are doing
and how they can support each
other. Redevelopment in downtown
means more jobs, more jobs means
more restaurants and more recreational activities, and that can
mean more visitors.
“When you have everybody
really set on the same goals and
the same effort, and being able
to support each other, that’s how
we get things done so quickly. We
saw an amphitheater rise from the
ground in a record amount of time
and is now holding concerts with
over 10,000 people in attendance.
It is just phenomenal to see,” said
Jessica Walden, president and
CEO of the Macon Chamber. “The
last concert I was able to attend
there was completely sold out.
To be able to invite my friends
from all over the state to come to
Macon and attend was just such a
point of pride because look where
this is. This used to be a blighted,
abandoned shopping mall and
here we are standing in the middle
of it with an amphitheater and
we’re going to leave this amphitheater and go into a thriving downtown. And in the thriving downtown you’re going to see even
more development. You will see
the beautiful Rosa Parks Square
that is now in our city center,
and that you can see from
Hotel 45, which is gracing
our skyline.”
J U LY/AU GUST 2026
9
