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THE SHIFTING FORTUNES of North Georgia's Fannin County are reflected in the narrow main street that cuts through the thriving town of Blue Ridge. Cars line both sides of the thoroughfare, with many bearing out of county and out-of-state license plates. It's clear most of the sidewalk crowd is from somewhere else.
They're here to visit upscale boutiques such as the aptly named Out of the Blue. This store sports a wide selection of fine wines and foods from around the world, French table linens, hand-painted Italian ceramics and furniture. It's merchandise you'd expect to find in Atlanta or Miami, not a small town surrounded by wide expanses of the Chattahoochee National Forest. There's a good reason it's here, says proprietress Sarah Auman.
"Our customer base is that second home owner - hundred grand or more income - people that live up here," she says. "This is definitely a tourist community. The fathers of Fannin County don't know that yet, but we know it's our industry. This is no longer the Levi plant. This is no longer logging. Our industry is tourism."
Clearly things have changed in this scenic community nestled on the northern edge of Georgia where the state meets Tennessee and North Carolina.
That change was kicked-started a few years ago by the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs when Levi-Strauss, American Uniform and Shaw Carpet all closed within 12 months of each other. The textile base that once sustained this area was dealt a death blow. The closings were part of a larger trend that has seen these industries flee to low wage foreign countries, but for Fannin it meant a dramatic change in the local economy.
"The community leadership at the time realized that they would have to reinvent themselves since the likelihood of replacing those jobs with a similar business was pretty small," says Kristin Gunia, executive director of the Fannin County Development Authority.
The county hired Georgia Tech to conduct a feasibility study that found the economy was already beginning to change. Fannin County and Blue Ridge in particular were becoming tourist destinations. An increasing number of people already were moving up here for weekend getaways and many were finding they didn't want to leave.
"It encouraged us to focus...