Hey y’all!
Raise of hands, who watched the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
The World Cup is the biggest and most-watched single-sport sporting event in the world. As a born and bred Southerner, I never realized there could be anythin’ bigger than the Superbowl, leastwise outside of the Olympics. Then they told us FIFA was bringin’ the World Cup to the Americas, and Atlanta would be hosting eight matches. Even the research we did beforehand couldn’t have prepared us for the absolute massive crowds and energy in the city from the world showin’ up to be a part of its favorite game!
You may have heard, the City of Forsyth had its own connection to the World Cup this summer. The Visit Forsyth GA team, Forsyth’s official destination marketing organization and the host of this blog/podcast series, was selected to participate in a showcase of destinations across the state at the Georgia World Congress Center durin’ Atlanta’s match days. They were right in the middle of all the action, sharin’ Forsyth with people from all over the world!
On the latest episode of Monroe Today, Ms. Gilda Stanbery, the Executive Director of Visit Forsyth GA, thought it would be extra special to bring her two colleagues, Nicole Newsom, Director of Marketing, and Chelsea Bunn Kerr, Administrative Assistant, on the show with her and share their experiences from the event.
Ms. Chelsea explained how the state’s tourism office, Explore Georgia, emailed destinations in Georgia soliciting pitches to be a part of their showcase, which they were callin’ “Georgia, the Whole Day Through”. After mulling over several ideas, the Visit Forsyth GA team decided to pitch “Forsyth the Whole Day Through,” which focused on our zen kind of vibe. They described how the booth immersed visitors in the center of nature, the same as Forsyth does. The backdrops walked you through a full day in Forsyth, from morning to sunset, and had leisurely games like checkers and tic tac toe for guests to sit back and relax, take a moment. Forsyth’s small town and natural beauty really lets visitors slow down and unplug, and that’s exactly how they wanted people to feel steppin’ into their booth.
“They [Explore Georgia] said that they wanted an experience, and for booths to feel like you’re stepping into the destination,” explained Ms. Nicole. “What better way to do that for Forsyth than to kind of step into that natural scenery and be surrounded by the outdoors. We talk all the time about being the basecamp for outdoor adventure. And I mean, when we were planning that booth space and we were thinking through what it looks like to truly immerse yourself, surround yourself… We had a U-shaped, four-paneled background. You really step in and are surrounded by the rivers and the lakes and the forest…and just nature. And that’s how it feels to be here [in Forsyth].”
Visit Forsyth GA was one of 16 exhibit spaces selected for display at the showcase.
“It really worked out well,” shared Ms. Chelsea. “People seemed to really enjoy it. It was really great to look across the room and see people with our Namaste hand fans. And then having—I remember one lady came up and said, oh, good, you’re the ones with the namaste fans. I saw someone with one of these at Fan Fest and asked ‘where I could get one because I thought it was a great design and I needed a hand fan’ and we were like, well, please take one!”
Visit Forsyth GA had multiple collateral and giveaway items, from visitor guides and maps to pinwheels, stickers, fans, and even peaches from Dickey Farms on the preview day. But they shared that hands down, the most popular items were the stickers and fans with “Namaste” and little foxes doing yoga poses. Whether visitors were from India or local, the theme resonated with everyone. “It transcends time and place. To honor one…it can be life altering, but it certainly shows respect and inclusion,” Ms. Gilda explained.
Over the course of the eight match days and VIP/media preview day (nine exhibit days total), Visit Forsyth GA shared that they spoke with over 2600 people. “But we know that that’s pretty conservative,” said Ms. Gilda. “That’s that one-on-one conversation.”
About 20% of these were international, and 50% were from Georgia itself. “We had a guest book and people would say where they’re from. I was able to plug in all those mentions into a heat map generator and see the hotspots—how big, from what area of the state. All corners of Georgia, all corners of the United States, all corners of the world were at this!” shared Ms. Nicole.
At that, all three ladies started excitedly rapid-fire naming some of the places people had been from:
Ms. Gilda—“We had Washington and Canada and all of that represented in that corner. I don’t know how far north we went on the East Coast. I do remember New York State and then, of course, California, Arizona, New Mexico, all the way down and then lots of Texas…”
Ms. Nicole—“We had Puerto Rico, and then we did have Canada, Mexico, and of course, I mean, Argentina and Chile.”
Ms. Chelsea—“There were a lot of Argentina fans there the day that Argentina played in Atlanta.”
Ms. Nicole—“We had Indonesia, we had Russia…”
Ms. Gilda—“It was amazing!”
Ms. Chelsea—“Greece…”
Ms. Nicole—“South Africa…”
A complete look at the numbers from the event and where everyone was from (47+ countries, 35+ states!), can be found in Visit Forsyth GA’s World Cup Report. The report also includes favorite encounters from the World Cup, a collection from the Visit Forsyth GA staff, volunteers, and local businesses who had their own experiences with World Cup travelers here in Forsyth, too! Who could resist the story of the Forsyth family from Scotland, or the family from Puerto Rico’s fishin’ trip on Lake Juliette? Some of these favorite stories were shared by the ladies on the show, but I don’t want to take away from you hearing those firsthand for yourself from the ladies themselves. So hurry on and give the episode a listen below!
‘Til Next Time,
Your Storyteller
