After a week of events, one Gainesville official says the 2021 Georgia Police and Fire Games were a huge success.
Robyn Lynch, director of tourism for the city, recently spoke on WDUN’s Newsroom and said that over 800 participants came to Gainesville from across the southeast for the games.
“We were able to present almost 90 gold medals, and I think everybody had a great time,” Lynch said.
The games are held annually and consist of a variety of events for those in law enforcement or firefighting. Some of the events held in 2021 included the toughest cop, tactical drone ops and a wing-eating contest.
This is the first time Gainesville has hosted the games since 2007 and 2008, and they will return to the city in 2022. Lynch said the 2021 participants loved the setting.
“They loved what all Gainesville had to offer, and they loved our sporting facilities,” Lynch said. “We have some really impressive facilities that they were able to compete at. The Sheriff’s Office has a new firing range, of course, there’s Gainesville High School and our softball fields.”
Aside from the positive reaction from participants, Lynch said the games had a nearly $400,000 economic impact throughout the week.
“That’s with people staying in our hotels, eating at our restaurants, shopping in our retail stores,” Lynch said. “So, it was a huge impact.”
While Lynch said the 2021 games were a huge success, they are ready to improve ahead of the 2022 games.
“We definitely saw some things that we could do better, ways to improve,” Lynch said. “So we really, really are looking forward to next year.”
