Railroads

built this country. As transportation allowed for people

to travel from town to town and state to state, this

nation grew up and out.

This

weekend, the town of Tyrone will have its annual Founders

Day festival, celebrating the railroad workers who

settled and founded the town.

Originally

inhabited by the Creek Indians and then by Irish and

Scottish railroad workers, Tyrone was once known as

Hopeful. Hopeful had an academy, a church and a number of

small settlements. Eventually, the railroad workers named

it Tyrone, after the town in Ireland that the region

reminded them of.

"If

you follow the railroad," said county historian

Carolyn Cary, "you'll find that many of the towns

share names with towns in Ireland. Towns like Fife,

Shakerag, and Tyrone."

Tyrone

became an incorporated town Aug. 8, 1911. The town

celebrates its founding, settling and incorporation

during the third weekend of every September. The festival

includes a road race, adult and middle school dances,

parades, entertainment, a beauty pageant and a carnival.

Festivities

for Tyrone Founders Day kick off with a carnival

beginning at 6 p.m Thursday. The carnival will run 6-10

p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday at Shamrock

Park. One-price tickets for Thursday and Sunday are on

sale for a limited time. The tickets are $9 for unlimited

rides. Call Cathy Knowles at 770-487-1790 or Tyrone Town

Hall at 770-487-4038.

Friday,

there will be a middle school dance, chaperoned by the

Founders Day Committee and the Tyrone Kiwanis Club, 7-10

p.m at Shamrock Park under the big tent. There will be

dancing and karaoke available during the dance.

Saturday's

activities begin with a road race at 8 a.m. The race will

take runners from Castlewood Road to Briarwood Road, to

Palmetto Road and to Arrowood Road. The walkers will

begin their circuit five minutes after the runners have

departed. The Shamrock Strut will be at 10 a.m. as

festival goers strut their stuff around Shamrock Lake.

The parade will begin at 2 p.m. on Senoia Road and will

go to Castlewood Road.

Also at 2

p.m. Saturday is the Sweetheart Beauty Pageant, the

three-month-old through 6-year-old categories. The

pageant will be at Sandy Creek High School.

The evening

events begin at 7 p.m with an adult dance at Shamrock

Park. Also at 7 p.m. will be the 7- through 18-year-old

portion of the Sweetheart Beauty Pageant. At 9:30 p.m.,

there will be fireworks over Shamrock Park.

Both

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Shamrock Park,

there will be arts and crafts exhibits, commercial booths

and food vendors. Entertainment will run from 10 a.m. to

11 p.m. both nights at Shamrock Park as well. Sunday's

main events will be a Hula Hoop contest at 1 p.m., an ice

cream eating contest at 2 p.m. and a talent show at 3

p.m. All three events will take place at Shamrock Park.

There will

be no shortage of things to do in Tyrone this weekend and

it is nice to see. The community will be outside and

together, celebrating the many things that brought the

town and its citizens together so many years ago.

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