Healthy Outdoor Living

Sports, leisure, and recreational offerings found throughout the county reflect Coweta residents’ dedication to positive, healthful, energizing activities. Soccer fields are found at almost all of the county’s parks, including the Whitlock Complex on Highway 34. Running/jogging trails can be found across the county. Several annual road races take place, including the Festival Days Road Race, held Labor Day Weekend each year in conjunction with the Powers Ferry Crossroads Festival. 

The county’s Hunter Complex is located on Highway 16, offers jogging/walking trails surrounding the entire facility. In addition, the Complex offers three football fields for youth teams.

Little league softball and baseball are popular. County facilities provide high quality programs and facilities at convenient locations in Newnan (adjacent to the county’s Recreation Department offices at 39 Hospital Road), and also in Moreland, Grantville, Senoia, Sharpsburg, and in the Arnco-Sargent community. 

Youth football and cheerleading are offered through the Recreation Department and attract hundreds of young people each year ages five to 17.  In addition, several active swim teams/clubs can be found throughout the county. 

Golf continues to be one of the most attractive recreational and leisure time activities, and the golf amenities offered by the Coweta County area are exceptional. Courses range from private, upscale country clubs to public courses to driving ranges and teaching centers.  

Canongate is a group of seven golf clubs under the same ownership and management group. Members have reciprocating rights to play at any of the member clubs. Canongate-White Oak offers 36 holes in Newnan, with the remaining courses in close proximity in the surrounding counties. SummerGrove and Orchard Hills are two popular daily fee courses. SummerGrove Golf Course in Newnan stretches across residential neighborhoods and woodland areas and offers 18 championship holes. SummerGrove features Zoysia fairways and bent grass greens. Orchard Hills Golf Club has a traditional Scottish links feel with gentle rolling hills and bent grass greens. 

The Summit Family YMCA was founded in 2001 through a unique partnership with the medical partners of The Summit Healthplex and The Metro Atlanta YMCA. The popularity of the “Y” in Coweta County has required a move from the original facility.

A capital campaign is now underway to build a new 65,000-square-foot, $13 million, full-service YMCA on land adjacent to the Summit Healthplex that will open in the fall of 2005. 

The design for the new facility includes a two-story building with a courtyard between the new pool and the tennis courts. It will include a gymnasium, space for fitness/wellness programs, a state-of-the-art natatorium with an eight-lane swimming pool, a teen center, a senior community center, a running track, and space for toddler care.

Equestrian sports are also very popular in the county. Scenic horse farms line many of the vast rural areas of the county in the riding disciplines of hunters and jumpers, three-day eventing, fox hunting, combined driving and Western. A new equestrian facility opened in 2004 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds and will host a variety of equestrian events.

The Arts

Acting as an umbrella for arts groups in the city and the county, the Newnan-Coweta Arts Council, a nonprofit organization, promotes all the arts, coordinates information and awareness of arts activities and venues, and creates partnerships with the schools.  

The Newnan Community Theatre Company (NCTC), located at 24 First Avenue, is a live theatre company offering a variety of performances for adults and children throughout the year. The Company, which is an all-volunteer organization, offers three different “series” during the season. In addition, the NCTC’s KidsPlay classes and KidsCamp summer program give children the opportunity to experience and to enjoy all aspects of live theatre performance, including experience in performing, set building, and learning about make-up and costumes.

The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts is a 48,000-square foot, $8 million facility, which opened in the spring of 2004. Located on Lower Fayetteville Road, the Center includes a 999-seat theatre with stage, lighting, acoustics, fly system, shop, and dressing room space. The stage, which can be raised or lowered as needed, is equipped with lighting and sound controlled from booths at the rear of the theater. Dressing room space is comparable to, or in some cases, larger than in many professional theatres. In addition, there are green rooms for performers, special guests, and the media, ticket sales space, and an open gallery area as well as a large meeting room with catering kitchen and storage. The Center was designed to accommodate all mediums of art—performing arts, visual arts, and music.

Community Service

Community service organizations range from national organizations with local chapters and branches. These include the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club, Kiwanis Club, Habitat for Humanity and United Way. Other organizations have been formed through the vision of local residents to meet local needs of families, senior adults, and children, such as the Alliance for Children’s Enrichment, Angel’s House, The Community Welcome House, the Continental Societies, the Coweta Community Foundation and the Good Samaritan Transition House.

Churches

The following denominations are active in the Newnan/Coweta area:  AME, Assembly of God, Baptist, Bible, Catholic, Charismatic Episcopal, Christian, Church of Christ, Congregational Holiness, Episcopal, Holiness, Jehovah’s Witness, Latter-Day Saints, Lutheran, Methodist, non-denominational churches, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and Seventh-Day Adventist.

As diverse as their theologies and churches may be, some of the most visible—and valuable—expressions of the faith community in action are in their cooperative efforts. In Coweta, the faith community is characterized by cooperation and by servant leadership as evidenced by the many opportunities that bring together those in need with those who supply and fill both spoken and unspoken needs. In the words of long-time First Baptist Church of Newnan pastor, Dr. Gene Tyre, “what unites us, is greater than anything that divides us.”

The Coweta County Fairgrounds Complex

The Coweta County Fairgrounds Complex is located on 65 acres on Pine Road in southern Coweta. The complex contains a conference center/exhibit building, an Ag Center, a midway area, a concession area, the Walker Horne Outdoor Theatre, the James E. McGuffey Nature Center and the W.C.Adamson Horse Arena. 

The Conference Center contains 6,000-square-feet of meeting space. It is equipped with a catering kitchen and an outdoor arbor area. The Ag Center contains 11,000-square-feet of indoor/outdoor space for animal shows and for agricultural exhibits and shows. The midway area contains seven acres of open space for outdoor events, while the Walker Horne Outdoor Theatre offers a 200-seat performance venue for small stage performances and live bands. These facilities are the site of weddings, receptions, civic club dinners, fairs and garden shows each month of the year.

One of the newest amenities is the McGuffey Nature Center with its three miles of trails, including hard surface trails, an open-air pavilion, a ceremonial ring, an outdoor classroom, and opportunities for wetland education.