Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1184228
9 8 | M A C O N M A G A Z I N E F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 9 My family's been here since the beginning. And, I love Macon. I just love Macon. I do. Coming from north Macon, everybody said, "Oh, aren't you afraid of being downtown?" Oh, my goodness, I feel so much safer being downtown than I ever felt in north Macon. I am loving that I am outside of my box that I have been in for pretty much all of my life. I love the people. The people who sit out here on the corner at The Dempsey, they're all your friends! My mother instilled in me such a love of this place and of our history and our heritage. And, I am trying to do the same with my children. My brother, my brother was an architect who was here, and he was killed eight years ago. But, he was on the cusp of the revitalization downtown. And now I feel like I am seeing come to fruition the things, the vision that he saw before a lot of people saw. That, to me is so, so cool. I just love that. -Marguerite I hear people from Warner Robins talk about how dangerous Macon is, this and that. You know, I think crime is going to exist in any sort of urban area, but that shouldn't deter people from enjoying the resources that we have around downtown with all the good restaurants that should be packed every night. The Capitol Theatre is killing it. We need that to happen every night ... not just the weekends. If you want nice stuff, you have to support it. We shouldn't be the next anything. We have our own identity that 's existed here for years and years and years and years. We're on the up and up. And within the past three years, it 's like night and day downtown. It 's a whole different place. It 's a whole different place. I was born in Connecticut, but I moved here when I was 4. I moved around, but I always ended up here. Now, I cook at Piedmont. -Chris The Maconites tell our story. This project was originally funded by The Downtown Challenge Fund of the Community Foundation of Central Georgia created to implement the Macon Action Plan through a series of grants to local businesses, nonprofits, individuals, and government entities. To read the Macon Action Plan, visit MaconActionPlan.com. See full stories at: themaconites.com