A little bit about George Clooney's home town

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A town of note

WENDY MITCHELL

Thursday, July 5, 2012

AUGUSTA | The residents of Augusta have another notch on the notoriety belt, following the release of an 11 Top River Towns in the nation by Fox News Network as part of its budget travel series.

The announcement caught local officials by surprise.

“It is fantastic,” said Augusta Mayor John Laycock. “It was really a shock to be ranked right up there with the likes of Cincinnati, and San Antonio, Texas riverfronts.”

The Augusta waterfront, along with destination tourism attractions like the Augusta ferry, Augusta Art Guild Art in the Garden festival, and Rosemary Clooney House Museum were mentioned sixth in the listing, along with references to memorabilia of Clooney, and her nephew, actor, George Clooney at the museum.

Inclusion is an honor, Laycock said.

“It says a lot about the hard work our people have done to make Augusta attractive to visitors,” he said. “It is a real boost to our tourism efforts.”

Augusta, with centuries-old row houses and a picturesque ambiance along the riverfront and side streets, has been a backdrop for movies like Huckleberry Finn, Black Beauty and Lost in Yonkers, and the television mini series Centennial.

In the past, Augusta was also listed as one of the 11 Places to Visit in Kentucky Before You Die and featured in segments on the region on Kentucky Educational television programs and in national magazines for structures and gardens in the city.

The announcement came out just in time to entice visitors to attend the June 2, Art in the Garden festival, which includes visual art, musical performances, and a variety of vendors set along the riverbank.

Augusta is in the company of Beacon, New York, on the Hudson River; Hood River, Oregon, on the Columbia River; Twin Cities, Minnesota, Memphis, Tennessee, Hermann Missouri, New Orleans and Davenport, Iowa, all on the Mississippi River; Great Falls, Montana, on the Missouri River, San Antonio, on the San Antonio River, and Cincinnati, just a day trip, by river, down stream on the Ohio River from Augusta.