Cartersville is a nice, quaint town that has grown increasingly popular. It features a popping downtown filled with various establishments, including stores like Blue Sky Outfitters and locally owned restaurants like Ate Track Bar and Grill. At first glance, it might not be obvious what issues could lie in the town. If you are like me, though, and have lived here as long as you can remember, you start noticing a few things that are a little concerning for the town, and that is the lack of fun things to do.

Cartersville, while an interesting town, can become boring fast. While there are some places you can go to have fun, it can grow repetitive returning to the same place repeatedly. One of those places is Dellinger Park, which is admittedly a beautiful park, no doubt about it. It features two playgrounds for kids, baseball fields, a basketball court, a football field, a running trail, a public pool, and a duck pond. As someone who has gone to Dellinger repeatedly, I will not deny that the more you go, the more you can become bored with it. I wish there were more places like Dellinger in Cartersville. That way, there could be different options to choose from when it comes to going to a park. Of course, there’s Sam Smith Park, but I honestly only see that as some running or biking trail; there is not much else to it.

Luckily for Cartersville, there are always some minor events that happen downtown that can bring some fun. For some people, you may find enjoyment in the Farmers Market that occurs weekly from March to September. Sometimes, small bands hold concerts near the train tracks, and some yearly festivals are held. Unfortunately, while these can be fun, these events are usually there for only a certain amount of time, so they often come and go very quickly.

There is one place people often like to bring up when it comes to areas that bring fun: Lakepoint. While this point of interest is not technically in our town, it is right next door in Emerson. For people with a car, it is only an 11-minute drive from Cartersville to Lakepoint, making it easily accessible for the people who live here to get there. Despite this place of interest being outside the city limits, I will admit that it is the most fun place near this small city. It features a sports complex, a miniature water park, a wakeboarding park, and an amusement center. When bored, kids and teenagers from Cartersville often gather during the day or night to visit the amusement center to give themselves something to do. This place is truly a light in the dark; it does not matter if you are an adult or a kid, Lakepoint often has something for everyone to do.

When you compare our small town to a place like Kennesaw, another city about 30 minutes away, the lack of entertainment is much more noticeable. Kennesaw has a mall, a trampoline park, a bowling alley, a multitude of restaurants, and much more. Meanwhile, Cartersville has some shopping centers, restaurants, and a park. The reason for Kennesaw having more things to do could be because of the more significant population. Our town is noticeably smaller than Kennesaw, and part of that could be because of the larger student population Kennesaw has due to a nearby university in the city. Another reason could be because of how much closer Kennesaw is to Atlanta. When a town is closer to Atlanta, the population grows.

Although Cartersville may seem small compared to Kennesaw or Marietta, it is still growing and could even be on track to become as popular as Kennesaw. If this is the case, there need to be some fundamental changes made to Cartersville that can help bring more attraction to the town.