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What to Do in Augusta GA in 2026 | New Attractions, Hidden Gems & Local Secrets
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Augusta, Georgia is about to land one of the most exciting new attractions in the Southeast — and it's happening right on the Savannah River. In this episode, Jamie sits down with Jennifer Bowen, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior VP of Destination Augusta, to break down everything you need to know about The Forge Augusta, a brand-new outdoor urban adventure center coming to Riverwalk.
It's Jamie, the marketing director with Blanchard and Calhoun, here for an episode with Jennifer Bowen, who is our Chief Strategy Officer and Senior VP of Destination Augusta. How are you, Jennifer?
SPEAKER_01Hello, Jamie. I'm good. How are you?
SPEAKER_00Doing well. Well, thank you for joining me bright and early on a Friday morning. Um, but I know we've got some fun stuff to talk about today, right? Yeah, I'm excited. Thanks for letting me come and be a part of this cool conversation. Absolutely. Well, let's start with Destination Augusta in general. Can you tell me a little bit about the organization, what you guys do, and how you serve our community? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Um, so Destination Augusta is the destination marketing and management organization for the City of Augusta. That means that we are a 501c6 not for profit, but we contract with the City of Augusta to be that official DMO. That's the industry term for us, which means that we are about promoting, marketing, managing, and helping to develop our destination so that people will come to Augusta, have an incredible visit, have a wonderful experience, inspire great memories, and spend their money, which is an economic driver for us in our community, and then actually go back home. And maybe they'll have a repeat visit, maybe they'll come and invest in an entrepreneur venture, or maybe they will tell their friends and family to go check out Augusta. So that's our main role.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Now I know you guys also, because I know you've done it for us, right? Um, you've helped us host a group that was coming in and kind of help us find meeting spaces. And you guys have all of that information. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So we we kind of divide into some main buckets, if you will. Um, one is to really attract and recruit conventions, meetings, and events. And so those visitors are coming to Augusta. They most of the time they're here for a professional event, like maybe the Georgia Association of Realtors has met in Augusta before. And so we want those visitors to come and be a part of that two to three day meeting experience, which means they're staying in our hotels or possibly in short-term rentals. They're spending their money here. So we'll work with anyone who is a member of a an association or a meeting, and they say, Yeah, I actually go to so-and-so once a year. We should do that in Augusta. That's our role uh to help make that planning process easier, to help recruit those kinds of events that again then turn into visitor spending. So, and because we are a 501c6, um, we are primarily funded by the lodging tax. So our goal is to get people to spend the night. And so all of our services to the community are free. We work directly with uh anybody local and a meeting planner and try to get to bring them to Augusta so that they'll spend their dollars here.
SPEAKER_00Well, and it seems like you guys are doing a great job because I feel like um I used to get these text messages, I think I still might, where it says, such and such is happening. You know, be be aware that we're gonna have X amount of people in the area.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and that's yeah, the convention business in Augusta is uh a really good economic driver. It is um, you know, not not an Atlanta convention business or not a Savannah convention business, but still very good for the Augusta market. And um that's another thing that we do is we try to really work with our hospitality partners to help them be equipped to serve visitors and locals by knowing when people are in town so that they could staff up if they need to. Um you maybe even order extra supplies, uh, but to keep them aware of what's happening so that they learn the value of tourism and also know that you know, most visitors are not wearing a sticker that says, I'm a visitor. Right. We actually we try to do that sometimes, give visitors some kind of badge or some sort of, you know, something that helps to identify them so people can see how many visitors are in town. But mostly, you know, you don't know, and so it's it's a good thing for us to do to communicate. The other thing that we do is about attracting leisure visitors. So an awful lot of our advertising campaigns are out of market. Um they are in markets like Atlanta and Charlotte and others where we know that people are interested in driving to Augusta, having a weekend getaway. And so we're running regular marketing campaigns in those areas, trying to attract that leisure visitor as well. Um, and then we want really our locals to know what to see and do. So we operate Augusta and Company as you've been there before, and that's our experience center, and we're open six days a week there to tell everyone about what cool things there are to see and do in Augusta. Uh, so that's another way that we reach our community. And in Augusta and Company, as we've talked about before, we really want to do that with a local presence. So um we do sell local made goods and handmade items, and that is all about trying to put that local business owner in front of a visitor so that they'll take home an authentic piece of Augusta with them as a souvenir and you know, go and see that experience while they're here. So those are the main buckets of um mission that we do at Destination Augusta, try to attract visitors, conventions, meetings, events, educate our locals, help get business through their doors, and then represent them in our experience center.
SPEAKER_00Well, you guys definitely do a good job with that. I mean, even when we were hosting um the group that came in last last year, um, you know, I came to you guys and I was just like, hey, I kind of need to put together some good bags, and you were, I mean, your whole team was just like, yeah, we can do this, we can pull this, we can do that. Um, and everything was local. Um, we ended up um when I was in in the actual storefront seeing that you guys had some Augusta and company candles. Oh yeah. Yeah, that you guys made. And I was like, can we do that? So, you know, I contacted uh is it Amy Donaldson over at Candle Company, yeah. And I was like, hey, can you make us some Blanchard and Calhoun candles and with a signature scent? And she was just like, Yeah, we can do that. I mean, it was it was just so great. Um, and the people that came to our um our conference, I mean, they were from all over you know, the country, and they, I mean, they loved it. They loved it. It was so cool.
SPEAKER_01I'm so glad. And we want to provide that kind of experience for everybody. Family reunions are another really um really important segment for Augusta, especially in the summertime. That's when from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And so we get a lot of people who are not professional planners, but they want to bring their friends and family to Augusta. And so we'll really work with family reunion planners to get those people here too. And the things that we do are turnkey, really. From the very beginning, a meeting planner will say, I'm kind of interested in Augusta, but here's what I need. And so we walk through with the planner or the event planner to say, Here are the hotels that might fit your budget. We'll help you get a room block. There are short-term rentals. Um, you can look in these areas and find them. And then we'll find the resources. If you need a caterer, if you want a special event venue, we will use our expertise about Augusta and our community to help make that a really smooth and seamless planning process. That's so cool. Now, Jennifer, are you from Augusta? I'm not, but I've lived here all my adult life. Okay. I I came to Augusta right out of college. Um, I'm not gonna tell you when, but a long time ago. Um, straight from Georgia Southern. Okay. Um, and I don't mind. Actually, I came in the 1990s, uh, in the old 1900s. Uh, and I've been here ever since. So I've lived all of my adult life in Augusta and uh have loved living here. Um, raised my family here uh and just loved to see all that Augusta continues to turn into. You know, we have a great foundation, wonderful southern hospitality, incredible place that we live right here on the Savannah River. Um and not to mention cost of living. Yes, I mean, so, so many good things. Um, and from a resident standpoint, you know, we're two and a half hours from anywhere. Right. So it's just been such a great place to be and a really incredible role at Destination Augusta to play a part and in shaping Augusta a little bit, molding it and and continuing to make it a cool place to be.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Well, what are some of your favorite things in Augusta?
SPEAKER_01Oh to uh explore? I do well, certainly I love our culinary restaurant scene, and I love that there are new restaurants opening all of the time and something new and cool to try. Um the st the standbys are my favorite, the Augusta Canal, uh that you know, the Petersburg boat ride and the canal cruises, which will be coming online. The the music cruises will start up. If they haven't already, they might have started in the month of April. And those are always just really neat, authentic things to do. Um, and I like to I like to try new things, you know, as well and just seek out new things. There's um, I love the brewery, Savannah River Brewery, and so just just about anything, really.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Well, I guess you kind of have to test some of that out, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yes. I mean, and that is another cool thing about working at Destination Augusta is it is our job to seek out experiences, develop experiences, and then and do them so that we can tell others what's fun about it.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Well, let's dive into kind of what we wanted to talk about. Yeah. Tell us what is coming.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's a so developing new experiences. It just rolls right into that, doesn't it? So um, Destination Augusta completed a uh what we call destination blueprint. It's a tourism product development plan. And we did it in 2017, but it was a specific look at Augusta from a tourism standpoint about what we could add and what could we do to enhance the city as a visitor destination. And one of the key recommendations out of that plan was to utilize the riverfront property and create an outdoor experience. Uh, and to uh one of the suggestions was to build an outdoor urban adventure center. And it was largely based on an experience that you can have in Oklahoma City, uh, where there are zip lines in the right in the middle of Oklahoma City's downtown, just in the urban core, just outside of it. And this recommendation was to try to do that along River Walk so that we could activate River Walk again, create an opportunity to engage with the Savannah River, which we really underutilize right now. And so, and then that would attract visitors and also provide great experiences for our community. Um, and so that destination blueprint was actually adopted by the city of Augusta. And as we were getting ready to approve a previous SPLOST package, you know, that one cent that's on our sales tax that helps go to so many different projects and um opportunities, uh, the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development Authority, and um Destination Augusta all kind of lobbied the city to include funding to do that project, the Outdoor Urban Adventure Center. And so in SPLOST 8, it received funding, and we have been working with the city to uh design, build, and select an operator for that. And it's taken us a good three years, um, but we are ready uh in this year to break ground. And once we are able to break ground, it will only be a six-month build. So we will have this incredible attraction. It will be known as the Forge Augusta. Um, it will be right at Freedom Bridge or the Fifth Street Bridge. If you're looking at the bridge, it'll be immediately to your right in what is a parking lot now, and it will sit on the foundation of an old um office building and it'll be eight stories tall. You'll be able to climb all the way up to the top if you want rock climbing, or you'll be able to zigzag in a beautiful staircase to the top. And at the top, you'll be able to zip line across the Savannah River to the middle of Freedom Bridge, where there will be a two-story climbing challenge course. Um, there you'll climb through at your heart's content. If you don't want to climb through the challenge course, then you can just turn around and zip back to the Augusta side of the river where you will be able to do that. I I'm not sure exactly how many times you can do that with your ticket. Those operating procedures have to still be worked out, but we do believe that you'll be, you know, when you pay admission uh to do the many different activities, that it'll probably be a um like a time duration for that opportunity. So we'll learn more about exactly how it operates as we get a little bit closer. Um, but there'll also be two observation decks. Um, so imagine that you'll be pretty high up off of the levee and you'll be able to just enjoy the view. Uh, they will contract with food trucks and other kind of prepared food and beverage so that you can have something to eat or drink while you're there. It'll become a special event venue so you can have private parties or private events there as well, and it really will be an engaging experience right there on the river for us.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So um I know you mentioned engaging the river, river walk. Are there any other um did I did we mention the little floaty?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so yeah, we're talking about our the donut boats that are donut boats. Yes. So in in addition to being able to climb and and zip, there also will be an on-water experience. Uh and these boats are called donut boats, but they're circular. Uh, they have a motor. You can put maybe eight to ten people in them, and you'll be able to rent them from the Forge Augusta at the marina there, and you'll be able to just go out into the river with your friends and family, hang out, tool up and down the river for again a designated time, right? Uh, and really be able to be on the water and enjoy that as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that sounds a little dangerous. I don't, you know, my friends might try to push me off of a donut boat. Tell your friends to leave you alone. Right. Well, that sounds so fun. I mean, so we're thinking by the end of the year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. We um, you know, construction is its own challenge, uh-huh. Um, but we have received the permits that are necessary from the Army Corps of Engineers, uh, and we have our permit waiting to be pulled from the city of Augusta. And so we expect that within the next 45 days from now that we'll be able to do the groundbreaking. And then it is really a pretty quick construction timeline. It'll only take six months from the time that all the materials are received and the construction begins. So we'll be open in this calendar year. We're really hoping it is, you know, early fall. Um, I I won't say that it when it is, because I can't predict it every time I say it seems to move a little bit farther. But um, we will definitely get open in 2026.
SPEAKER_00And have y'all run numbers um, because obviously this is based on a pre another concept, right, from Oklahoma City.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, yeah, so that was the case study that said this is this is something that would really work in Augusta. Um the Forge is an operator that we have selected through this process. Uh, they run a premier park outside of Chicago and Lamont. That's right. And they their park there is top-notch. It is hundreds of acres. Um, ours will be much smaller, but we are using them as the designer, builder, and then the operator. And so they have such great expertise in that field that they will know from day one exactly how to operate it. Um, and it is a public-private partnership with the City of Augusta. So that means that the City of Augusta is the primary funder, um, but the Forge will enter into a revenue sharing opportunity with the city. So they will operate it and then a portion of the proceeds will actually go back to the city.
SPEAKER_00Have you guys crunched numbers on how many people you anticipate might go through the outdoor adventure center per hour, per day?
SPEAKER_01Not per hour or per day, or actually, there there probably are numbers that are that detailed um by the Forge. Um, it's I'm certain that's in their their business plan. They do tell us that on average zip lines of this this type and this size usually see about a hundred thousand people per year. Wow. Uh, and so that is something that we're hoping certainly comes to fruition for Augusta as well.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and it would be great to see some activity over there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And that, you know, a really wonderful thing about Augusta again is our climate. So, you know, we'll be able to operate this really for the majority of the year. We expect maybe January, February. Sure. It might not be open during those really cold months for us, but by March, we're warming up again. And so from March, really until December, there will be opportunity to you know really experience this attraction. And it will also be uh illuminated and lit, which means that you can do this at night, uh, which will be a really cool experience. It'll be illuminated, well lit, it'll be a part of our city skyline and kind of a cool experience to do that at night.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I'm trying to think if it's better to do it at night when you can't see fully what what you're doing. Um, but can people come in and access from the North Carolina or sorry, North Augusta side and the Augusta side, or is everything going to be on our side? Everything will be on our side.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, we are certainly interested in kind of continuing the conversation with North Augusta. Sure. Um, there might be opportunities for expansion and to see it go across the river over into North Augusta in the future. Um, we want to get this done and then we want to have those conversations with them. But uh North Augusta's um city administrator has been in some conversations, seen some concepts, and says, talk to us when you're ready. So we'll we'd love to at least have that conversation, see where it goes.
SPEAKER_00Well, so what can the community, our businesses, our you know, just our community as a whole? I mean, how can we support you guys during this project?
SPEAKER_01Well, that's a great question. Uh at this point, just be ready and anticipating that it's gonna get open and when it does, to be really users of it, to tell your friends and your family to come and to do it. I know that there'll be things like season passes that are available. There will be opportunities like we talked about to rent it, to do special events. So let's absolutely welcome them with Augusta's wonderful open hospitality arms and make sure that we're embracing it and using it to the very best of its ability. Another cool feature that I haven't mentioned is that it will be completely accessible to anyone with a mobility challenge. Um, thanks to a grant from the Georgia Rehabilitation Institute here in Augusta, it will have accessibility features. So anyone of any mobile ability will be able to be a part of it. They can either put on a harness and be hoisted to the zip line, or they could put on a harness and they can climb. And so there is going to be a real opportunity for us to attract adaptive sports to use the facility as well, which really just opens it up to uh, you know, an entire segment of our population and to visitors as well as well. So we're really excited to be able to see that. And really, there are only a handful of adventure courses that have that capability, and so this is going to be another thing that helps set us apart.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And you know, I think some of the younger people too are going to be excited. Yeah. I know my um my godchild, Mary Margaret, she um, you know, she's like, let's go do this, let's go do that. And I I think she would enjoy this very much.
SPEAKER_01And there's going to be something for, excuse me, for everybody, even if you aren't a climber or you you're not too sure that you want to to to jump off onto the zipline, just watching your friends and family is going to be a fun experience in and of itself. You'll you'll have this incredible view of looking back at the city of Augusta, this wonderful view of the Savannah River, gorgeous view of North Augusta across the river. And just that experience alone is going to be something that is definitely worth having.
SPEAKER_00Well, and clearly you're gonna be the first one doing the zip line, right?
SPEAKER_01I know. Uh um people say who's gonna be the first one to zip. I think we're gonna have to set up. Um, you'll be the first one to zip at the 10 a.m. hour. You'll be the first one to zip at 11. Because there are so many people that really deserve that first zip. Um, I would also say former commissioner Sean Fantom, um, he has been the biggest advocate for this. Uh, he helped to secure the funding that was necessary. He's a believer in it and he's been championing it from the very beginning. So I feel like Sean Fram has got to be the first guy.
SPEAKER_00You know, you heard it, Sean. You're you're gonna be first. We'll come, we'll come pull you out from Top Golf and come get you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, what else do you want to share with us about this upcoming outdoor adventure center that's gonna be here by the end of the year, hopefully?
SPEAKER_01Well, it again, just keep your eye on you know, news, media, uh advertising. We'll be making big announcements and having an official groundbreaking. And so once that starts, then the countdown will really be on. But we're very excited about that. And then I, you know, we our website, visitagusta.com, is a great place for our community to go and to learn about things to see and do in Augusta. Whether you're planning an event or a conference, all of that information is there. Um we have a robust calendar of events. So if you're looking for something to do in, you know, this weekend or then the next weekend, or you know that you have friends and family coming to visit in May, then get on that website, look for some you know special things to do. We also have some really cool digital trails and passes, the Augusta Coffee Trail, an outdoor adventure experience where you can make sure that you're finding outfitters for kayaks or canoes or anything that you'd like to do. Um, a bold black business pass to support our black uh African American community. So those are also great ways to dive into Augusta as a local. Um, think of them as ways to explore and discover, but also think of them as loyalty kind of passes as well, because when you check in with those, then you get a little special discount. You can actually win a prize at Augusta and Company. So a great way to see your hometown, also support local businesses and um get a little something extra sometimes as well.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah, I didn't even know that was a you know, that was a thing. Sounds like I'm gonna be going over there and getting a pass, right? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and it's a really it's it's not an app, it's this really cool mobile application. You just sign up for it, it comes straight to your phone, you open it up, you check in at a at one of the participating um coffee houses if that's the one you pick. Um, in the summertime, there they just launched one um that is called Off the Course. Um, I've forgotten the name of it now, but off the course sandwiches. But in the fall, there's a special cocktail one with many participating restaurants. So it's a great place. It's Augusta's Experience Passes on visitagusta.com. I'm gonna go there right after.
SPEAKER_00Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for being with us today. And I hope that once you guys break ground and you're you're going, we can come back and kind of get an update from you on how it's going. Absolutely. And uh, we'll put you down for a zip time at 1110 a.m. No, no, no. Well, I'll probably make Victor do it, you know. Strap a GoPro on him, Victor. Well, thank you so much, and we look forward to what's coming. Thank you. Wonderful time talking with you, Jamie. You too.