Fabulous Forward Sumner!

With being on the road virtually every week, touring over 100 towns annually I feel that I’m starting to get a feel for the potential of towns and regions. My tour of Sumner County, TN was one that astonished me with its potential. I was there to keynote their Third Annual Meeting of their ED group for the county, which is composed of seven towns in the rolling hills north of Nashville. There was a risk of the county only becoming a bedroom community for the larger city, but my observations are that it will drive its own economic engine, while taking advantage of its proximity to Nashville.

The Dollar General HQ (1,200 employees), The Gap DC (1,400 employees); a recently announced Federated Stores DC (500 employees) and other large employers provide a strong foundation. Local entrepreneurs are adding to the vibrancy. Halo Properties is developing 300 acres of land in a new urbanism style for 1,000 residences, 900,000 sf of retail and 2.3 million sf of offices. The meandering Old Hickory Lake stretches along the entire south boundary of the county, providing an incredible quality of life attribute and dozens of miles of shoreline for homes.

Johnny Cash, Barbara Mandrell, Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty all settled in the county. Twitty started Twitty City in Hendersonville in the early 1970s that should have probably become what Branson, MO has become instead. Charly Lyons, who grew up here and is a VP with Forward Sumner told me, “We used to have tour buses coming through here in droves.”

The Academy Award nominations were announced the day I was in Sumner County and we drove by the lake house that Johnny Cash lived in until he died. One of the more memorable scenes in the recent biographical movie “Walk the Line” was him driving his new tractor into Old Hickory Lake. I’m still upset that “Walk the Line” was not nominated for Best Picture.

Charly told of another memorable event in the town. Kris Kristofferson landed at Johnny Cash’s house in a helicopter to talk him into recording “Sunday Morning Sidewalks”, which Cash turned into a major hit. “At the time Kristoferson was down on his luck and that song saved his career.” Sometimes you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone and sell yourself in an out-of-the-box way like Kris Kristoferson. Agurbs® can learn a lesson here.

Barry Gibbs originally of the Bee Gees recently bought Johnny Cash’s house, sight unseen and has yet to visit. He feels that the house will be an inspirational place for songwriting.

Sumner County has an interesting history, outstanding quality of life and a bright future. I’m glad that I toured it in 2006 because I’ll want to see the progress and new jobs that are going to be created there in the next five years.

Tomorrow, I’ll be reporting on a new project in Sumner County that you probably won’t be seeing on Lou Dobbs.