Hundreds of people crowded the ballroom at the Gainesville Civic Center Friday night, looking for an opportunity to meet Governor-elect Brian Kemp and his family on their Georgians First Celebration bus tour across the state.
Kemp spent most of his time shaking hands and having photos taken with supporters from Gainesville and Hall County and other communities from the region.
Nathan Alexander, 12, made the trip from Lawrenceville with his father just so he could meet the governor-elect for a few moments.
"I think he's a very genuine person and he doesn't have to go and talk to everybody and say hello, but he wants to," Alexander said. The student at Twin Rivers Middle School and his father Shajan also managed to snag two tickets to Kemp's Monday inauguration at McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus.
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum was among law enforcement officials who attended the celebration.
"I just wanted to be here as a sheriff to support our governor...I just wanted to be here to show the support from Jackson County." Mangum said.
Kemp, who has been on what he calls a "thank you" tour across Georgia since Wednesday, also took some time to speak with reporters, saying the visits to different communities have been an opportunity for him to let people know he's committed to listening to Georgians as he prepares to govern.
"People have just been glad that we're coming back. They're glad that we haven't forgotten them in the different parts of our state," Kemp said. "It's also given people who can't come experience the inauguration on Monday or our gala celebration on Thursday to be part of this."
Even though the tone of each event was meant to be celebratory, Kemp said he heard from a number of constituents about what they want to see his administration accomplish.
"We've heard a lot of ideas...we've heard a lot of teachers say 'we do need that pay raise that you promised us' and we're working on that. And, people are adamant about wanting us to go after drug cartels and street gangs, which we're absolutely going to do," Kemp said.
The final stop on the bus tour is in Dalton on Saturday.
Gov. and Mrs. Deal honored at Gainesville stop
The Kemp campaign used the Friday night event in Gainesville to pay special tribute to Gov. Nathan Deal and First Lady Sandra Deal.
"I honestly can't think of a better way to end our tour before we go home tomorrow night than to say thank you to both Mrs. Deal and Gov. Deal for the great job they have done, for their service and for their lasting legacy to the great state of Georgia," Kemp said from the podium.
Part of the tribute included the presentation of a serving board carved from a tree that had to be taken down from the southwest corner of the State Capitol property during Deal's tenure in office. According to the presentation, the tree had likely been planted when the Capitol was built, and 34 Georgia governors had served under the shade of the tree, the last one being Gov. Deal.
