By Staff
Our View
It was good to see so many people at the Poarch Creek Indian's Pow-wow Thursday.
It was even better to see so many tags starting with the number 30.
The Pow-wow and Williams Station Day are the two biggest fall events for our part of Escambia County. While they are successful, and draw visitors from outside our area, they still depend on the support of the local citizenry.
The Pow-wow and Williams Station Day organizers can be thankful the local populace does attend and enjoy these events. And we should be thankful for these high quality events as well.
The Pow-wow and Williams Station Day, like others around the year, help improve our quality of life here. They bring visitors to our little corner of the world who might not otherwise decide to visit a place called Atmore.
Those people may stop for gas, or take a spin through the rest of town; maybe get something else to eat at our local restaurants. If they're coming from far away, they just might spend the evening in one of our local motels.
All that brings money into our community from somewhere. Ultimately, that kind of money can make life a little easier on all of us.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of Alabama's economy. Evidence exists all around us in the form of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail and the cruise ship now sailing from Mobile.
If PCI goes through with its plan, we will see more tourism in Atmore. But the question is whether or not we're ready to capitalize on it if it does.
Certainly, there are examples where the tourist trade is expanded and to be honest, exploited to the point of making life harder on regular working people.
But in an age when manufacturing jobs are shipped to the lowest overseas bidder by the thousands, Atmore must be willing to expand its economic "portfolio" so to speak.
We are thankful for the manufacturing companies we have in Atmore. They have been excellent corporate citizens, taking part in and supporting this community in more ways than just providing jobs.
But as the old adage goes, it's best not to put all of our eggs in one basket. Aiming for a balanced, broad economy is one of the soundest ways for Atmore to grow and for the quality of life to improve for all its citizens.
Someday, there will be more tourists coming to this area, the real question is whether or not we are willing to do what's needed and provide the support to make those tourists a solid addition to our economic base.