CONYERS — Long before the Olympic rings appeared at the Georgia International Horse Park, Matt Dixon was visiting local kindergarten classrooms to talk about horses.
Conyers was working to convince Olympic organizers that the community could host equestrian events for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, and Dixon knew that effort had to extend beyond city leaders and organizing committees. She knew they needed the community to get involved.
“We went out to the schools, and we educated these school children on what the word equestrian meant,” Dixon recalled. “Then we had them write letters to Billy Payne, telling him why the Olympics should come to Conyers. Billy Payne loved that. And then we had senior citizens addressing envelopes or any events or things that we had going on to get them very excited.”…