Folks gathered at the
welcome center in downtown Albany this afternoon to kick off Albany State's
homecoming week with a proclamation recognizing the importance of the
university to Southwest Georgia.
"At the request of
Albany State University, do hereby proclaim Saturday October 19th, 2013 as blue
and gold day," Dorothy Hubbard, Mayor of Albany.
Homecoming attracts
thousands of visitors to Albany every year.
"We're excited about
homecoming weekend, homecoming weekend represents the opportunity for of our
alum to come home" said Everett Freeman, President of Albany State.
All of the visitors that
will attend homecoming will spend millions of dollars while they're here.
"Half the four plus
million dollars on this weekend," said event speaker.
Hotels will be packed this
weekend. Workers at the Hilton Garden
INN and Merry Acres tell us they're ready for the rush.
"Well we have a 122
rooms a night, and most of them is going to have 2 or 3 people in the rooms,
and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday we got a party, so it's already cranking up
over here," said BJ Fletcher, Director of Sales, Hilton Garden Inn.
"We are sold out and
we also have four pages of people waiting to get into Merry Acres," said Sandy
Gregors, Director of Sales, Merry Acres.
President Freeman is glad
that Albany State can give the city an economic jolt.
"We just simply find
a way to connect and to keep that unity of purpose going, what's the unity of
purpose? To continue the development of Albany and Dougherty County and
Southwest Georgia," said Freeman.
All in an effort to keep our community
prosperous and our minds educated.
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