Augusta & Co. celebrated five years, Thursday afternoon.
Several local business leaders gathered at Destination Augusta’s downtown hub to commemorate its anniversary in a catered event that included Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Garrett, on behalf of Mayor Garnett Johnson, issuing the latter’s proclamation of May 23, 2024 as “Augusta & Company Day.”
“The heart of our bright, vibrant downtown, its name Augusta & Company invites both a company of fellow Augustans, and that of visiting friends and family to experience the authentic flavors of Augusta,” said Destination Augusta CEO Bennish Brown.
Destination Augusta is the rebrand of the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB), first established in 1980. Before opening on Broad Street, its location was split between administrative offices at Enterprise Mill and a visitors center in the Augusta Museum of History.
“We knew that we needed to come back together in under one roof as an organization,” said Jennifer Bowen, vice president of Destination Development and Community Engagement. “We also knew that it was time to create something that was experiential, and also as much for the visitor as for the local.”
The ACVB conducted an arduous search for the right building, eventually finding the current space, and continued its market research to assess how to regroup, targeting millennials. The research yielded that prospective visitors would want to try local drinks—hence, Augusta & Co. being one of the few facilities of its kind to have an alcohol license, offering samples from local breweries.
“Other research said don’t call it a ‘visitor center,’” said Bowen. “Don’t be about brochures, be about things that I can experience.”
The organization hired San Francisco-based architectural design firm Gensler to help plan what is now referred to as an “experience center,” promoting local businesses and events and goods and, of course, experiences they offer. The ACVB changed its name to Destination Augusta, and opened Augusta & Co. in 2019.
Thursday afternoon’s festivities were also part of Destination Augusta’s observance of National Travel and Tourism Week, a tradition organized by the U.S. Travel Association to honor the impact of the travel and tourism industry on local communities.
Bennish and Garrett both underscored how the Garden City’s tourism efforts have affected it economically, noting that the industry is the fourth largest employment sector in Augusta’s river region, with more than 26,000 jobs, and visitor spending generating more than $800 million in Richmond County. This, in turn, makes for some $800 in tax savings for every household in the county.
“People wake up in the morning, they have a choice of going anywhere in the world they want to go,” said Brown. “But there is somebody out there that wants what Augusta has, and it’s our job to make it very clear to that person what they can do and see and experience here.”
Augusta & Co. is located at 1010 Broad St.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
