When the 1996 Summer Olympic Games were awarded to Atlanta, few could have predicted a town as small as Conyers would become a part of that dream. Conyers went on to win the bid to host the equestrian competitions and built the Georgia International Horse Park. Fifteen years later after the close of the Atlanta games, the Horse Park remains one of the few facilities built for the ’96 Olympics that is still operating in its intended use. Here is the story of how it happened.

(Part I of a two-part series)

A Shining Dream

It all started with wastewater.

Many in the community today might not realize it, but building an Olympic-level equestrian venue - a facility that is now a crown jewel of Conyers – was an afterthought for land that was set aside to spray effluent from the wastewater treatment plant.

The city of Conyers owned the water treatment and sewage systems at the time and had their eye on about 1100 acres owned by the Banks family located near the Quigg wastewater treatment plant.

But the city realized it needed a secondary use to make buying the land financially feasible. 

Mayor Charles Walker, who was mayor at the time, recalled, “We had a consultant, a Mr. Plummer. He came up with the idea of the fact the Atlanta Olympic committee were looking for a place to have the Olympic equestrian events.”

Roland Vaughn, who served as police chief from 1988 and full-time city manager after  1994, said Walker and the late Randy Poynter, who was the Chair of the Board of Commissioners at the time, decided to see if Rockdale and Conyers could be part of the Olympic effort. “We didn’t want to be left out,” said Vaughn.

Longtime resident and volunteer Matt Dixon, who had served on the Hospital Authority and Chamber of Commerce board, was approached to head up the committee to win the bid for the equestrian events.

Dixon, who now lives in the Athens area, said she remembered wanting to be part of it, but also having doubts about her abilities.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh no, I don’t have any experience in this. Going after such a huge event? What if I don’t ask the right questions? What if I don’t talk to the right people? What if, what if, what if.’”

Then she asked herself a different question: “When will I ever be involved in an event such as this?”

She decided to go for it.

“It was a huge undertaking,” said Dixon. “My very first thought, because we are such a small community we can never pull off something like this unless we have the whole community behind us.”

The committee she headed was made of about 60 residents, businesspersons, and volunteers but soon, the excitement spread and the whole spectrum of the Rockdale-Conyers community was involved.

For the next year an a half, organizers dove into minutia of what the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) wanted and expected. They hosted visits with dignitaries. They went to the schools to educate children about equestrian events. Students wrote letters to Billy Payne about why the events should come to Conyers. Businesses put signs up on their marquees. Senior citizens stuffed envelopes.

Conyers was competing against 13 other communities for the venue. But the city had several factors in its favor. Its proximity and ease of access to Atlanta was a big advantage. The ability to handle parking and traffic. And the equestrian experts of the International Olympic Committee approved of Conyers’ soils, recalled Walker.

When it came time to make the presentation, Dixon remembered she was told she should simply leave their book and application at the front desk.

Dixon said, “I looked at some of our committee members and I said ‘Uh uh. No, no. we have put our heart and soul into this. I’m not going to leave it on the desk with the receptionist.’”

She and five other committee members rode into Atlanta, accompanied by a police escort and cameras. In the lobby of ACOG, she and her entourage patiently waited until an ACOG staffer was able to come down and receive the book and application in person.

When it came to announcement day, Dixon was at the ACOG headquarters with Randy Poynter. “Randy and I were holding hands so tight, we were about to squeeze them off,” Dixon said.

And then, they announced the winner.

“To hear your name called by Billy Payne, it was an overwhelming experience,” said Dixon.

But winning the bid was only the beginning of the battle.

Stepping up to the plate

Rockdale County was also bidding for an Olympic event – the rowing competition, which would theoretically take place in its yet-to-be-built reservoir. The city and county had formed a joint authority, the Conyers Rockdale Recreation Authority, to handle the projects.

But concerns were brewing over financial feasibility.

On the day that Conyers and Rockdale were to sign on the dotted line with ACOG, city representatives learned that the county, which was the financially stronger of the two partners, was pulling out of the CRRA.

Norm Wheeler, who was one of the two part-time sitting commissioners, said it came from a discussion among the commissioners. “We had a commitment we had made we would not use county taxes to do that,” said Wheeler. “We sat and talked about it and decided we shouldn’t try it, not knowing what it was going to cost.”

 “Looking at the monetary side of it, we felt it was not fair to the taxpayers,” said Bud Soesbee, the other part-time sitting commissioner. “Any time you see the Olympics, you don’t make a whole lot of money. You get lots of advertising, you get a lot of sales tax. But then you pay umpteen-million to build.”

Current Mayor Randy Mills, who was then a city councilman, had gone to the AGOG office with councilmen Marty Jones and Chris Bowen and City Manager Roland Vaughn.

“We found that out an hour before the meeting,” said Mills. “We lost our partner in this, in essence.” This meant the city would take on the financial risks alone.

Mills talked with ACOG President Billy Payne, Chief Operating Officer A.D. Frazier, and construction head Bill Moss. He assured them the city was likely still going forward, but needed to consult. This was the largest project Conyers had ever taken on in its history. The city would be chipping in $13 million on its end, and ACOG would be investing about $30 million. Hundreds of thousands of spectators would attend the equestrian games.

“I asked if they could give me a couple of hours; I need to contact my mayor and the rest of the council,” said Mills.

Mayor Walker and then-councilman Bill Rogers were in Switzerland at the time visiting Rogers’ son. Walker awoke to a call in the early morning hours.

Mills said, “I called them up and said ‘Mayor, is Bill anywhere around?’ He said ‘He’s in the room over.’ I said ‘Can you wake his butt up? We’ve got a little hiccup.’”

After hearing the explanation of what happened, Walker’s response was immediate: "Just do it."

“I couldn’t see backing out at that point,” said Walker. “It was not a hard decision for me.”

“I felt assured we could handle what we had to handle to do it. I did ask Roland if he had any doubts about our ability to carry our end of the load. He had no doubts. I had an awful lot of confidence in Roland Vaughn.”

Walker continued, “Everything in life has a certain risk to it. We all understand that. Different people might make different decisions. They made what they felt was a great decision. We can’t criticize that decision.”

Wheeler and Soesbee said they stand by their decision and that it worked out for the best. “I wouldn’t change it one bit. We three did the right thing,” said Soesbee.

Mills polled the rest of the city council and everyone approved of going ahead.

“We went back up there the next day to sign on the dotted line,” said Mills. “The rest of it is history.”

Next week: Bumps in the Road, and After the Games