With the 200th anniversary of the city nestled safely in the history books, some might look for Gaffney’s Visitors Center to slow down.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

“We’ve got all kinds of new projects in the works,” said Pat Throneburg, City of Gaffney Project Coordinator. “Next month, we’re going to be hosting our annual Do-Dah parade to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day and we’re going to be really promoting tourism for the city now.”

But a few changes are in order. The Gaffney Visitors’ Center, located at 300 North Limestone Street in uptown Gaffney will be closed Mondays. It will be open Tuesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m until 5 p.m. The Visitors Center will also open on Saturdays during special events.

“Gaffney’s Visitors Center provides information, directions and printed materials to the public regarding the city’s history, historical monuments and sites, and special events; acts as a “point of purchase” for Gaffney’s Bicentennial Memorabilia, as well as other items relating to the area’s history; and is headquarters for several special city-sponsored events and projects,” Throneburg added.

A few changes had to be made to accommodate the altered duties.

“For the last two years, when the Bicentennial was in full swing, we were funded as a joint entity by the City of Gaffney and the Bicentennial Commission. Now that it is over, we’re run strictly by the city. So, we’ve cut back our hours to four days a week.”

The Gaffney Visitors’ Center will soon have a Web site devoted to promoting tourism. The Web site will link to the city’s business web site, as well as to other sites within the community, and will include a community calendar of events. Local schools and organizations are invited to contact Throneburg for details on how to have their meeting or event listed on the Web site.

“This all started as an idea to bring the community together a few months ago,” Throneburg recalled. “But at that time, we really didn’t have a way to effectively execute it. Steve Wong, who works with Upstate Carolina Medical Center, suggested the calendar Web site at a meeting of many local organizations, societies and clubs that all have activities in and around uptown Gaffney, but wanted to make sure that their events did not overlap and cause a conflict of interest for the public.”

The community calendar, when up and running, will not only provide potential visitors with information on what will be taking place in the community, but will also act as a tool for persons within the community who are charged with planning meetings or events for their organization. By checking the website, they will be able to see what other meetings or events are already on the calendar, and therefore can plan their meeting or event so it will not conflict with another.

The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce and The Gaffney Ledger have joined forces to bring an extensive community calendar to the Internet. The program for that calendar was specifically written for the co-sponsors by a professional programming firm in Texas. It will include extensive information about events of interest to local residents. The data will be presented in a digital format that will allow it to look just like an actual wall calendar or datebook. Viewers can click on an event to open a “popup” window that will contain details of each listing.