VALDOSTA — On Wednesday, Jan. 28, Valdosta and Lowndes County held their annual Bird Supper in Atlanta, Georgia. The Bird Supper began more than 50 years ago and has evolved tremendously since. The original supper was a group of businessmen and male government officials coming together for a quail hunt and dinner in Valdosta.
Fifty years later the tradition continues, although now the hunting has turned into a buffet of quail and grits and the guest list consists of both men and women.
One of the longest Bird Supper attendees is Arthur “Mac” McLane, Senior Superior Court Judge of Lowndes County, who has been attending the supper for close to 45 years.
“Its just a means of expressing appreciation to those in the public service,” Judge McLane said. “Public service is a real service if it is done properly, the majority of our people do that and it’s a sacrifice, it’s hard and it’s difficult. It requires a commitment not only from the office holder, but also from their family and their staff, so again this is just a way to thank those who are willing to donate their time and their service and their efforts to benefit all of us all over the state.”
Lowndes County and Valdosta City host the annual supper together.
Paige Dukes, Lowndes County Clerk, said, “It’s our opportunity as a community to showcase all of what our community has to offer, also it’s held every year during the legislative session so that if there is any legislation that any of the general assemblies want to address while they’re in session they can.”
The supper had officials and business members from all over, including Department of Transportation, Economic Development, VSU, multiple school boards, and the Chamber of Commerce. The city and county also encouraged local people to show up and converse with their local government in a relaxed atmosphere.
Lowndes County Chairman, Bill Slaughter said, “From Lowndes County’s standpoint we are always glad to be the host, it gives us the opportunity to come up here and to see a lot of the department heads in the state, and to see not only our delegation face-to-face, but the opportunity to see other legislators out of the assembly as well.”
John Gayle, Mayor of Valdosta said, “This is the 4th year I’ve been attending, it’s just a time when we entertain the legislatures and get to talk to them some more, which we’ve been doing a lot of this week and we’ve got a lot of things we tried to get their ear on. It just gives us a relaxed atmosphere where we can talk and it’s not across the table or anything. It’s just a good place to let your hair down and be able to talk man-to-man, woman-to-woman, or man-to-woman.”