Last Saturday

night my family went to my home town of Colquitt, Georgia (not to be confused

with Colquitt County) to see the town's Swamp Gravy production of "The

Land Between Two Rivers." This year The Colquitt/Miller Arts Council

celebrates ten years of Swamp Gravy that is basically a collection of

local stories woven together with a poignant theme. Previous productions

included themes dealing with Swamp Medicine, The Ten Commandments, and

Love and Marriage.

What happened?

About ten years ago some of the local folks in that southwest Georgia

city decided to have a story-telling time in the local high school auditorium.

That was ten years ago. Today, Swamp Gravy is recognized as Georgia's

Official Folk Life Play and has been taken on the road to the Kennedy

Center in Washington and was included in the Cultural Olympics.

Now, a dying

community known only for soy beans, peanuts, and cotton has become a thriving

arts center bringing new life and vitality to a dried up town. From Swamp

Gravy has come Market on the Square, New Life Leaning Center, Story Telling

Festival, New Vision Coalition (an after school program called Bounce),

Community Development Corporation, Millennium Mural Project, Peace Wall

Project, Building Renovations, and even a Museum of Southern Cultures.

Get the idea?

A group of community do-gooders not caring who got the credit put their

heads and hearts together and have now delivered a whole wonderful heritage

to their children and children's children. About coming together. Rich

and poor. Black and White. Educated and uneducated.

My family stayed

Saturday night in a newly renovated loft-type apartment on Town Square.

The local, on-the-square hotel called Tarrer Inn with finely appointed

rooms was already booked when reservations were made some six months ago.

When my Mama

and Daddy took us five children and moved out of Miller County 50 years

ago, they did it because the future was not very bright and they wanted

us to have a future. Now, what a difference ten years and a group of like-minded

folks can make! The future in Colquitt, Ga. is as bright as the lights

of Kennedy Center Washington, D.C.

After the Saturday

night performance, my family walked around the Town Square. Not a place

was open. Didn't see any of the performers milling around either. As soon

as the production was over, they skedaddled. Why? It hit me as I remembered

an earlier conversation that day with a shopkeeper. They all went to their

homes to get ready to go to church the next morning. About 100 percent

of the production staff are church folks who are just as committed to

their church as well as community.

What about

us here in Fayette? Don't the folks in old Fayetteville have some stories

that need to be told to the new folks in Peachtree City? Stories about

the past that are funny and maybe some painful? Why not a Lafayette Festival

that would bring the past together for us in the present so it will be

preserved for the future? I mean, Carolyn Cary can only do just so much

for our collective memory and thank God for her.

You can build

a mixed-use community off the Town Square. But that doesn't bring the

heart and soul of a community together. Go to Colquitt and see for yourself.

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor

of

River's Edge Community

Church

1091 South Jeff Davis

Drive

Fayetteville, Georgia

30215

770-719-0303

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