We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Doherty a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
I’m in the memory making business. I work for a local city government that treats events like a service to its citizens. I want my legacy to be that the people who grew up in this town will want to come back here with their own families to enjoy a day in the park because of the fond memories they made coming to community events like concerts, movies, fall festivals and farmers markets. Maybe their school choir sang at an event on stage or maybe they walked in the community festival parade with the band or scout troop. What I organized had a positive impact on their childhood and brings great memories of their hometown that warms their hearts and brings a smile to their face. They may not know my name but I hope that the memory that someone helped to plan and organize that core memory of a great place to grow up was Suwanee, GA.
Amy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I grew up in south Mississippi and was always involved in clubs in and out of school. I was president of service clubs, editor of the high school newspaper, and involved in our social club. In college I took an active role in my sorority and loved planning our annual fundraising event. We moved to Georgia three years out of college when my husband was tasked with being a supplier to the Olympic games. I became active in the community by volunteering for the fall festival committee. After serving 3 years on the planning committee, I became chair of the one day event. During my year of service, the city’s event coordinator was relocated with her husband’s job. I was pregnant with my son and decided that a job close to home that I was already volunteering to do would be ideal as a part-time job. I was hired at 7 months pregnant and have now been an event manager for almost 20 years. As a city employee, I oversee 40 events in the city’s parks annually. The city produces about 15 events a year as well as 34 weeks of farmers markets. We partner with other groups to produce another 10 events each year and then we rent our park facility to outside organizations for another 20 or so events each year. The first 10 years I worked here, I did all of the events and market by myself. After 10 years, I knew I would not be able to continue at this pace so we hired market managers for the Farmers Market. In December of 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was abundantly clear that no one from our office could “fill-in” for 40 events and still do their own job. We then hired a temporary employee to assist with events. I really didn’t miss much work during my cancer journey until I needed to take leave for surgery. Our temporary person became a permanent and still works with us today. Together, we still product around 45 events a year. In my 18 years of event planning, I’ve seen and done it all. I’ve booked bands, held events large and small. I’ve seen a ferris wheel taken up and down in one day. We’ve participated in trendy things like flash mobs and goat yoga. Heck, we made national news when twin goats were born during a session in some pretty nasty thunder storms! So I guess goat mid-wife is also a skill I’ve acquired. I’ve created events from scratch like Suwanee’s Big Cheesy Festival (it was legion – dairy), moved events around and re-named them and been part of our annual fall festival planning that will celebrate 40 years this year. I’ve now been on the planning side of that event for 23 years! I love what I do and I am super invested in making events memorable. When you Google Suwanee, GA – the world wide web will tell you we are known for several things – great parks, crowd-pleasing events, multiple mixed-use developments and public art. I’m so proud of knowing my town is known for the events I plan and execute! One of the reasons I feel this pride is being invited to speak and share about this knowledge in one-day seminars across the southeast. I’ve spoken in 10 states about Suwanee, GA events. I also have been a Southeast Tourism Society Marketing College professor for 10 years. I helped them develop the Festivals & Events Track in 2013 and was in the first graduating class for the F & E track. I’ve won the Event Director of the Year title from Southeast Festivals & Events Association in 2020. That was the same year I learned how to plan events, post pone them, reschedule and eventually cancel them all in the same year. Just this past year, I was honored by an event partner, The Atlanta International Night Market as a Partner in Excellence for the work we do together on an event hosted in Suwanee each April. If I had to sum up what I do in just a few words, I love to say I am in the memory making business. I add value to my hometown by allowing people to gather in fun ways. Planning outdoor events also has its challenges as mother nature can easily ruin the best of plans! But in my 18 years of planning, I’ve learned to always plan for sunshine and then just make adjustments as needed. I can barely remember a time when we just all together canceled events. We always say events are rain or shine. Luckly, I think mother nature likes Suwanee events, too as she normally cooperates pretty good on event days!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I had to “share” the role of event planner with a new person and make sure they got the Suwanee Way of doing things. I had developed the event personality we had built and I wanted to be sure a new person didn’t come in and change what had been built in those first 10 years. I also took so much pride in our Farmers Market and wanted it to be as robust and awesome. Our market was a weekly summer staple and had 40 vendors selling consumable goods each week. It was not for artist but only farmers, bakers and a small amount growers. The new person we brought in was a former volunteer for many events and stepped in quickly and kept things moving without changing the personality our events were known for. So glad this person joined us and kept elevating what we already created!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
When an event is over and all of the things are put away – so the park doesn’t even resemble an event happened when people come to visit the park the next day, I love to go home and look at social media and see my friends and neighbors talk about the event. Maybe we had a band they loved. Maybe their kids were on stage for something. Maybe they knew a vendor (or were one themselves). Maybe they took a video or pics of their friends enjoying it all. Those posts fill my bucket with pride that these are awesome memories for families in this town.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.suwanee.com
- Instagram: @amyknightdoherty
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amydoh
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-doherty-tmp-7a70482/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/amykdoh