Monroe County Commissioners celebrated on Friday, Oct. 23 the official Grand Opening of the county’s newly covered horse arena with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Monroe County Recreation Department while also marking the start of a major new project with a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the county’s future agricultural center.
Monroe County District 2 Commissioner Eddie Rowland, who has advocated for enhanced agricultural services in Monroe County since becoming District 2 Commissioner in 2017, served as the keynote speaker for the event, which had about 100 attendees.
Commissioner Rowland said alongside wife Kathy he’s visited almost every horse arena and agricultural center facility in the state of Georgia over the last five or six years. Commissioner Rowland said having a new agricultural center has been a desire for Monroe County Commissioners all the way dating back to about 2012 when then-District 2 Comm
issioner Jim Ham, then-Commission Chairman James Vaughn were in office. However, sufficient funding assistance was never available at the local, state, or national levels to make it come to fruition until recently.
Commissioner Rowland recalled a now famous March 1993 speech given by late N.C. State basketball coach Jim Valvano as he stared down a terminal cancer diagnosis. “Don’t ever give up!” Valvano implored a national television audience. Commissioner Rowland said he thought of Valvano’s speech as the ag center project was finally approved earlier this year.
“We never gave up,” Commissioner Rowland said proudly.
Commissioner Rowland said he’s planted a garden at his home in each of the last several years, and he recounted all of the obstacles that get in the way of the success of a single flower or a single vegetable, which are the very harvest that farmers need to have enough earnings just to be able to do it all o
ver again the next year.
Commissioner Rowland said, “I want to celebrate our farmers. I want to celebrate our ag community. I want to celebrate Monroe County. This is gonna mean so much to so many.”
Commission Chaiman Alan Gibbs, who emceed Friday’s ceremony, said Monroe County citizens are obviously aware that there are some major commercial businesses headed to the county, but he said Commissioners are well aware of Monroe County’s rural history and are showing their commitment to maintaining it.
Chairman Gibbs said, “We’re not forgetting our roots. We are digging in.”
Prior to Commissioner Rowland’s remarks, other speakers included in order: Ga. House District 134 Rep. Robert Dickey, Ga. House District 145 Rep. Tangie Herring, Monroe County Recreation Director Landon Sparks, Monroe County Agriculture & Natural Resources Extension Agent Luke Quick, Ga. House District 118 Rep. Clint Crowe, Monroe County 4-H Agent & County Extension Coordinator Rachel Frisbie, Georgia Power Company Area Manager Cassandra Cox, and Oglethorpe Power Manager, Community Relations Vanessa Barnes.
Rep. Dickey, who is Chairman of the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the state of Georgia and is very clearly important to Monroe County. Rep. Dickey said local leaders have shown a clear vision of support for rural Monroe County and for strengthening agricultural education opportunities for Monroe County’s youth through the improvements made to the horse arena and the addition of an ag center.
Rep. Herring, a member of the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said she grew up on a farm and said she’s excited about Monroe County’s efforts to ensure that young people can continue the county’s agricultural legacy. Rep. Herring said Monroe County’s leaders have been intentional about the kinds of businesses they want to come into the county and in making sure that the businesses that locate here give back to the local community.
Sparks, who has served as Monroe County Recreation Director for the past eight years, said participation at the rec department has doubled from about 1,000 kids to about 2,000 kids since he became director. Sparks said the recreation department’s continued success has been a result of the shared vision of county leaders.
Quick said he frequently spends his days meeting with farmers, homeowners, and agricultural hobbyists. Quick said he sees in these citizens the dedication that drives the local community. Quick said the agricultural enhancements at the rec park are an investment in the community’s future, particularly in its most important resource, the children of Monroe County. Quick said the new services provided will create opportunities for education and research that will allow for best agricultural practices.
Crowe said he’s had a busy schedule leading up to next month’s Election Day but said there was no event on his slate this week that he was more excited about than being a part of Monroe County’s agricultural day celebration. Crowe said he couldn’t say enough positive things about the county’s foresight in building an ag center and said agriculture won’t continue to be the state’s top industry without kids learning about it at facilities like Monroe County’s.
Frisbie said Monroe County’s 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) programs include so many youth who are passionate about agriculture. Frisbie said the county’s ag facilities will give these kids the skills that will stay with them long after they graduate. Frisbie said perhaps her favorite part of her job is seeing kids in awe as they learn about agriculture for the first time and watching them grow in their confidence as they take on new challenges. She said the Monroe County Horse Arena and the Monroe County Agricultural Center will be places where the whole community can gather together to learn, grow, and connect. Frisbie said the new facilities “represent a community that believes in its people and is willing to invest in its future.”
Cox said the Monroe County Recreation Department holds special memories for her family because her three boys grew up playing youth sports there. Cox said this family connection made it even more special for her to be able to announce on Friday that Georgia Power is making a $100,000 donation to the Monroe County Board of Commissioners to be used to build a new greenhouse at the Monroe County Recreation Department. Cox said the greenhouse project is a natural fit for Georgia Power’s educational initiatives and will be a living classroom that will provide a hands-on learning environment for Monroe County’s youth to study sustainable growth practices.
Barnes said Oglethorpe Power has been a long-term member of the Monroe County community for decades and is thrilled to continue to be one for years to come with the future opening of its $3 billion Smarr Combined Cycle natural gas-fired plant. Barnes announced Friday that Oglethorpe Power is donating $50,000 to the Monroe County Board of Commissioners to be used to construct a mile-and-a-half long walking trail at the Monroe County Recreation Department that will help connect the existing portion of the park where the horse arena is to the future section of the park near the park’s Fairview Church Road entrance, where the future agricultural center will be built.
At the conclusion of the official ceremony, Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Director Bridget Daniel and Cox, who is also the Vice-Chair of the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Board, brought forward a ribbon to celebrate the newly renovated Horse Arena. Commissioner Rowland did the ceremonial ribbon cutting honors surrounded by numerous other county leaders, including Chairman Gibbs, District 1 Commissioner Lamarcus Davis, who gave the opening prayer and led the opening pledge at Friday’s ceremony, and District 3 Commissioner John Ambrose, whose Strict Observance Masonic Lodge No. 18, provided boiled peanuts for Friday’s event.
From there, retired Mary Persons Agricultural Teacher Bill Waldrep, who is also the current Monroe County Farm Bureau President, drove the group over to the future ag center site on a Monroe County school bus. Once at the ag center location on the other side of the recreation park, Monroe County Commissioners took part in a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony, shoveling dirt and posing for photos alongside Sparks, Monroe County Manager Lorri Byrd, Proform Construction’s Robert Muckenfuss and C.J. Upright, Forsyth City Council members, Culloden City Council members, Monroe County Board of Education members, Georgia House Legislators, Georgia Power representatives, Monroe County 4-H Extension staffers, Monroe County Schools’ FFA students and teachers, Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Board members, and Forsyth Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) staffers.
Following the groundbreaking ceremony, attendees headed to the rec department’s new basketball gymnasium, opened in January 2026, where they enjoyed a hamburger lunch courtesy of the Monroe County Cattlemen’s Association.
