A Great Place to LIVE, A Fun Place to PLAY By: Tim Riddle, James H. Rainwater Conference Center
F
irst let me start out by saying, if you are new to Moody – Welcome to Town! I moved here myself 2 ½ years ago though it seems like just yesterday. If you are like me you may have thought of Valdosta as a neat stop when traveling I-75 south with lodging and restaurants close at hand when pulling off the interstate. That, and I knew they had an amusement park! After living here I can certainly say – that not only doesn’t make a dent in it, it barely scratches the surface! It’s true that the largest area attraction is the Wild Adventures theme park. Do you know how many cities our size have one of those? Virtually none! Having that wonderful playground in our back yard makes Valdosta unique…but wait, there’s more!
18 MOODY LINK / 2015
We are so fortunate to have both Valdosta State University with its 11,000+ students and Moody Air Force Base with its 6,000+ civilian and military personnel! They provide a strong foundation to the community’s economy. As a huge bonus, VSU’s Media and Arts Department helps provide a magnitude of cultural enrichment to our community that is beyond most cities that are much larger. The Valdosta Symphony and Peach State Summer Theater are prime examples of benefits VSU helps bring to our community. Add to that the local Theatre Guild’s offerings – live performances abound! In addition, there’s a rich “southern” history complete with antebellum homes and an up and coming arts segment – we now have five artists with shops in downtown Valdosta! And being a great interstate stop also lends itself to having a plethora of restaurants and shops that we locals get to take advantage of as well. There’s the usual “chains” but we also boast some unique cuisine. You must visit downtown to take advantage of some “off the chain” dining at places like 306 North, Steel Magnolia, the Bistro (and I’m sure I’m leaving something out!). Take advantage of Valdosta’s “First Fridays” program to check out downtown; shops stay open later and you might even find some music in some art decorated alleyways. Did I mention
music? In addition to giving us a huge playground – Wild Adventures has an annual concert series that brings a wide variety of musical acts. Classic rock to Christian rap and everything in between – newcomers and legends; you can usually see some of it all during their seasonal offerings. How could I forget sports? Our community is nationally known (with a trophy to prove it) as “Titletown USA”. We could rightfully claim to be the mecca of high school football with three schools often in the state title mix in Valdosta High, Lowndes High and Valwood High. Like college sports – again VSU brings it! They boast 3 national titles in football as well! PGA level golf, quail hunting, wake boarding, kayaking the Alapaha – there’s just too many activities to list in this small space – go exploring! If you add it all up, we have places for lots of fun, many opportunities for cultural enrichment and entertainment and lots of places to relax and enjoy a good meal after all of the above. I used to wonder why so many “transplants” to VSU and/ or Moody stay and retire here. I wonder no more.