This is our last newspaper for 2017, and as we’ve gone back through the year in our review series, it is amazing to see everything that happened in 2017.

This year Troup County has celebrated business success large and small, ranging from the expansion of Duracell in August to the opening of Frios in July to the opening of the Courtyard by Marriott in December. Troup County also saw the grand opening of two craft breweries, Chattabrewchee Southern Brewhouse and Wild Leap Brew Co. Hobby Lobby and Dunham’s were both announced in January, and both are now open at the LaGrange Mall.

LaGrange has seen major performances this year, like Vince Gill, who sold out Sweetland Amphitheatre with the biggest crowd at the amphitheater to date.

The ground has been broken on two segments of The Thread, and the segment at Granger Park has already become a popular recreation area in the city.

And like the 29 miles of The Thread that are expected to be built in the coming years, LaGrange is expected to continue to grow in the next year.

Great Wolf plans to open its doors on May 31, and next door remains the promise of a 500-acre shopping center with restaurants, offices and hotels, including the recently announced Home2Suites hotel.

Downtown LaGrange is expected to see business continue to grow with a new pizza restaurant scheduled to open in spring 2018, and the new skate plaza is expected to begin construction in the near future as well.

Sentury Tire plans to break ground on its all-new 400-acre, 1.4 million square feet tire manufacturing operation in fall 2018.

For now, let’s just take a moment to appreciate how far we have come. It’s been a big year for LaGrange, and the people here have played a major part in that progress.

We are sure that there will be many more major announcements in 2018, and we are excited at the prospect of what is to come.