SWGA Politics

Success In The Good Life City

Albany likes to bill itself as the Good Life City, but that name hasn’t been applicable in quite some time. With crime and a poor economy, a name like the Good Life City is sort of like calling a bald guy “Curly” or a big guy “Tiny”. However, amidst all the chaos and turmoil that is this city, there is one man who seems to thrive in this town in spite of everything else. He walks into Harvest Moon with a swagger and confidence that came from many years on a stage, playing music for a living. He moves around the place like it’s not a restaurant, but his own private party and everyone is invited. It’s like its Bo Henry’s world. We’re just living in it.

The mustard walls are littered with guitars and neon signs and metal signs that appear to have been picked up on the side of the road, but upon further inspection reveal the eclectic mix of alcohol served here. The wait staff moves around in a mix of uniform shirts that range from tie-die to faux sports shirts, further adding to the confusion one would have if searching for a common theme. A common theme that’s not all that hard to find when you talk to the Henry.

Starting out on the road, playing in the Bo Henry Band, Henry realized at the age of 26 that he couldn’t play on the road forever, despite his love for it. “I decided to open a place in Albany that I could play.” It wasn’t meant to be so much of a restaurant to start with, but that’s what happened.

In 2001, Harvest Moon opened up in downtown Albany. Shortly after, he opened up the State Theater with Sandy Farcas and Lane Rosen. Still later, he opened up The Catch with his brother-in-law, Stewart Campbell who now also co-owns Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon quickly became the eating place in downtown Albany and Henry quickly became the poster boy for downtown revitalization. However, after seven years, he pulled up stakes and relocated to northwest Albany.

After the move, rumors started to circulate of a problem with his landlord not performing much needed maintenance. Henry, however, tells a different story. “The main reason I left downtown, I had a great landlord and had great support from the people and the city, but the main reason was traffic.” He made his money playing music and taking on catering jobs, the restaurant was just paying for itself. After those seven years, Harvest Moon was simply looking for greener pastures.

“It was time for me to move and better my business,” Henry says.

As the icon of downtown development has been asked a lot about what it would take for the downtown to really take off. His answer is one that isn’t often heard. With Albany State nearby, he believes that Darton College getting four year status would do wonders for downtown. “Younger people would be more apt to live downtown in a college age of their life,” but only “if they could walk to bars and stores and restaurants downtown.”

He’s also been asked if you get residents or businesses first. However, Henry acknowledges that you can’t have one without the other. “I don’t have all the answers. If I did, I’d have demanded from the city to do something, but I don’t know.”
Henry also proposes an interesting idea that he acknowledges will probably never happen, but could really shake things up downtown. “Take the land from Broad Street to the Power Dam and give it back to the Indians.” Why? To put in a casino, this would bring in tons of revenue and draw people from Atlanta and other areas and spend money elsewhere in town. He’s not sure how viable the plan is, but believes that it’ll take something drastic. “It’ll never be Athens, it’ll never be Savannah. We have to be realistic.”

Henry loves Albany, but unfortunately Albany hasn’t been acting like it loves him.

Some time around May 20th, while Henry was out of town on a business trip, he was visited by Code Enforcement regarding his violations of the sign ordinance. His manager was told that either a peace sign or a beer sign had to be removed, and the second ground sign couldn’t be used. It needed to have the letters taken off, which the manager did.

Henry was told what had happened, so he decided to do a little looking. He left the peace sign down, an effort to show he was willing to work with the City. But the lettering went back up on the ground sign. Henry claims that he needs it to advertise his business. “I’m trying to be realistic and use some common sense,” he says. He had just had the same sign approved by the city just a year and a half earlier. “I need that sign for advertising”

Henry also wishes the City Commission would look into what they’re doing a little more, noting that Commissioners and Code Enforcement are showing a bit of confusion about what the ordinance actually means. “I’m not an anarchist,” Henry says while explaining that he has no problem with the sign ordinance, but feels that the city is going about this rule the wrong way. “A mistake has been made, that’s my opinion.”

When asked about Commissioner Bob Langstaff’s comments about how a sign ordinance is needed to attract business, Henry agrees. He feels that having a clean looking city is necessary to attract business, but disagrees about impacting existing business in such a negative way. “You have to do that in a fair way to businesses that are already here.”

Whether he agrees with the sign ordinance over all or not, he’s now moved from the poster boy for economic development downtown to the poster boy for city government run amuck by many in the community. However, it’s important to remember that Bo Henry is hardly the kind of guy who labels fit, and he wouldn’t classify himself as either. From the unusual mix of menu items at Harvest Moon, to the juxtaposition of being a musician of a popular local band, a restaurateur, and part owner in one of the hottest venues in town, Bo Henry is easily a man apart from many others in this town.