As the city of Covington’s community development director, Ken Malcom bears many responsibilities. From overseeing the city’s tourism to helping organize city sponsored events, Malcom is involved with a lot. 

Of those duties, seeing people flood the streets of Covington is among Malcom’s favorite aspects of his role. 

“Personally, I love seeing people enjoying the downtown. I love seeing people enjoying the events we’re involved with from the concerts to the Fourth of July. I love the diversity that we see at our events that people from all walks of life are coming to them and enjoying them in a wonderful way,” Malcom said. “I feel like we’re hitting the mark on an area that we’re responsible for in the strategic plan is helping create a sense of community for everyone. I feel like we’re on the right track and we’re doing very well in that area.”  

Malcom shared a few statistics with The Covington News concerning tourism and other facets of the community.

Approximately 700,000 different people have come to the Covington Square area in the last year along with around 108,000 people who have visited the Covington Visitors Center. 

Those numbers just add to Malcom’s enthusiasm. 

“Our tourism is at an all-time high with the number of people who have visited Covington, Georgia,” Malcom said. “That excites me a lot. To know that many people are enjoying our community and the impact that has on our merchants and our local economy. The visitors spending in our community is over $100 million countywide. That’s something exciting.”  

Though Malcom is only a year and four months into this role, he was no stranger to working with Covington. Malcom was previously a captain with the Covington Police Department (CPD). 

During his last 11 years with the CPD, Malcom was the community outreach coordinator for Covington and Newton County. 

In his spare time, Malcom enjoys spending time with his five grandchildren and cheering for the Georgia Bulldogs. In fact, Malcom said he tries to attend as many home and away games as possible during the football season. 

But there is a hobby of Malcom’s that ranks at the top of his list. 

“Traveling with wife Lynn. We have been very blessed at times to be able to travel the country and really around the world, because of opportunities to enjoy this type of travel,” Malcom said. “I love seeing places with her for the first time. That’s my most favorite thing to do.” 

Malcom fosters many relationships with the city and other entities in the area such as the YMCA, Newton County Arts Association, the Newton County Minister’s Union and more. 

That helps Malcom work with many individuals in Newton County. And, according to Malcom, it’s those individuals who help make the overall county a success. 

“It’s obviously the people — Covington, Newton County. It’s having these long standing partnerships with so many different people and groups that have allowed us to achieve some mighty things,” Malcom said. “That’s what I enjoy about serving our community. We’ve done great things and we’ll continue to do great things together. I’m glad to be a part of it.”