On October 6, Southwire hosted its annual Community Day event to raise funds for the Carroll County Soup Kitchen and connect with Carrollton residents.

Event attendees were able to partake in several activities. Runners and walkers of all ages took part in the Community Day 5K, a certified course and Peachtree Road Race Qualifier winding along Southwire Drive and surrounding streets. Local residents could bring their old computers and televisions to the Electronics Recycling event and individuals with a classic car or custom motorcycle were encouraged to display their ride at the Show & Shine Car and Bike Show.

In addition to the aforementioned activities, Southwire also offered plant tours, distributed free bottles of water, informed attendees about various company initiatives and hosted activities for children. Event attendees were given a voucher at the event, granting a 10 percent discount at several restaurants in and around Adamson Square.

With at least 50 entries in the Show & Shine Car and Bike Show and more than 70 participants in the 5K, Krystle Thompson, Project GIFT coordinator, has received positive feedback about Community Day and believes that attendance is testament to the event’s success.

“Many of the 5K runners came up to me after the race and commented on how much they liked the course,” said Thompson. “The number of entrants we had for the 5K and Show & Shine, the continual flow of cars coming through the Electronics Recycling line, the crowd that we had for the concert and the approximately 85 people going on plant tours all represent positive feedback and illustrate how successful the event was. The numbers speak for themselves.”

The day’s activities concluded with a free concert at the AMP, a newly-constructed amphitheater near Carrollton’s Adamson Square. Homegrown Band, a local country group, opened for country music star Ashton Shepherd. Prior to the concert, Southwire posted various trivia questions about Shepherd’s life and music career on the company Facebook profile, and fans who answered these questions correctly earned the opportunity to meet Shepherd backstage before the concert.

According to Thompson, choosing Ashton Shepherd and Homegrown Band as the musical acts for Community Day was not a difficult decision, and she believes the community truly enjoyed them.

“After looking at many different options for main musician at the concert, we finally decided on Ashton Shepherd,” said Thompson. “I think we made a great choice. She put on a great concert, and she was a sweet and down-to-earth woman to work with. She seemed truly excited to be at our event. We chose Homegrown Band because we wanted a local Carrollton-based band to get the concert part of Community Day started. They did an amazing job, and you could tell that the crowd loved them.”

Thompson believes that each aspect and aspect of Community Day added to the event’s success, especially the evening concert and the ability to show off one of Carrollton’s newest features.

“The entire day was a huge success,” said Thompson. “This event was different than Community Day events in the past because we only held part of the event at Southwire. It was great to get to show off the beautiful downtown area of Carrollton. The AMP is a phenomenal new feature to Carrollton, and the free concert there with Homegrown Band and Ashton Shepherd was a great way to conclude a very successful event.”

All proceeds gathered from 5K and Car Show entries were donated to the Soup Kitchen, as well as donations that were collected during the concert.

- Jason Pollard