THE HISTORY OF SOUTHERN CRESCENT MEMORY WALK Bruce Farr, wife of Floy Farr one of the founders of Peachtree City, had Alzheimer’s Disease and was at Ashley Glen Assisted Living & Alzheimer’s Care in Peachtree City. Floy and members of the Ashley Glen staff journeyed to Atlanta to participate in the Atlanta Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk. The Ashley Glen staff complained about the early hours they had to leave Peachtree City to participate in the Walk as Registration began at 7:00 a.m. Floy Farr did not shy away from taking on big projects, so he requested the Greater Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association to let him start up a Southern Crescent Memory Walk to be held in Peachtree City, walking the beautiful cart paths. Permission was granted and the first Southern Crescent Memory Walk occurred on September 30, 2000, involving participants from Clayton, Coweta and Fayette Counties . Elaine Gaillard, Marketing Director at Ashley Glen, and Floy recruited many of their friends and associates to serve on the various committees to organize and conduct the Walk. Fred Brown, former Mayor of Peachtree City for 10 years, and Iola Snow, retired Benefits Administrator of Big Star Foods, became Co-Organizers for the Memory Walk beginning in 2001. Fred worked with the Heart Association for 12 years while Iola was on the Greater Atlanta March of Dimes WalkAmerica TeamWalk Committee for 10 years.  The Walk has continued to grow with  Spalding County joining in 2002, Henry County in 2003,  Fulton County in 2007, and Meriwether and Troup Counties this year, 2010.  Therefore, the Memory Walk now has 8 counties with chairpersons recruiting sponsors, teams and individuals to raise money for Alzheimer's programs, services and research. The success of the 10 Southern Crescent Memory Walks has been tremendous:      Memory Walk  Total $ Raised  No. Teams  No. Participants  2000  $ 73,185  61  Over 450  2001  $117,574  68  Over 850  2002  $148,150  94  Over 1000  2003  $167,687  99  Over 1000  2004  $194,400  103  Over 1100  2005  $173,767  84  Over 1200  2006  $200,166  87  Over 1200  2007  $218,734  89  Over 1300  2008  $200,634  76 Over 1300   2009 $230,337  101   Over 1400 Participants include walkers, runners, and volunteer workers. Money raised consists of contributions from sponsors, money raised by teams and by individual walkers/runners. Teams consist of employees from small, medium and large businesses and organizations, and residents from subdivisions who organize into teams. We look forward to expanding the Southern Crescent Memory Walk for years to come adding more participants to help raise funds and awareness of this devastating disease.