Chuck Williams: Lots of new faces all over downtown Columbus

A week or so ago, I was sitting in 11th and Bay drinking a beer and killing time before going to hear an Uptown concert.

It was a beautiful Saturday night to be downtown, eating at a restaurant along the river and enjoying what Columbus now offers.

Then it hit me.

Outside of the kids’ orthodontist — Dr. Burch Cameron and his wife, Ellen — I didn’t know anyone in the place.

Every table was taken and I was at a loss to tell you who all of these people were. Later I saw Cottonmouths Coach Jerome Bechard, but the rest were just faces.

The reason I bring this up is simple: Because of my job and 26 years of living in Columbus and Phenix City, I know a lot of folks. And because I now live, work and play downtown, I know a lot of folks in the downtown community.

In the last week, I have been looking around, taking stock of what we have downtown. And as I have walked around, it has been interesting how many people you see down here that you don’t know.

There’s only one thing I can equate it to.

A few years back, I was bragging to a friend about how many people I thought I knew in Columbus. He challenged me to come to the Government Center and walk into any courtroom where a trial was in progress. He told me to look at the jury box and see how many of those folks I knew.

Any time I cover a trial, I do that. Usually, I know one of the 12 to 14 people in that jury box. A good day, I might know two, but that is rare. I don’t think I have ever known more than three.

Recently, I have been looking at downtown like I look at those jury boxes. And, apparently, I am not the only one noticing that downtown is now drawing a different crowd. Sunday, my colleague Tony Adams quoted downtown businessman and property owner Buddy Nelms saying essentially the same thing.

“I would go into my businesses and 80 percent of the people that walked in the door, I would know them, I would recognize them,” Buddy said of the old downtown. “Now I don’t even recognize 20 percent. I have left my house (on Broadway) and walked down to a festival in my hometown and not recognized anybody. So that rotation, that constant influx of people coming into the market, is there.”

The change that has been coming for more than two decades is here. And it is here in a big way with fresh, new faces, new ideas and new investment.

More people are eating down here, exercising down here, using the river down here and some of them are looking to live down here.

A quarter of a century ago, you couldn’t bribe folks to come downtown. Last weekend, they were rafting, kayaking and dragon boat racing from Bibb City to Golden Park.

They were eating, drinking and listening to music. They were living life in a large way.And I didn’t recognize a lot of them.

That’s a good thing.

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Chuck Williams: Lots of new faces all over downtown Columbus."