Georgetown, KY & Tahara City, Japan Commemorate 35 Years of Sister City Friendship
In 1986, Tom Prather became mayor of Georgetown at the same time that Toyota Motor Company was breaking ground here on its first wholly owned manufacturing plant in America. Prather says that beyond the obvious impact of what has been called “one of the great economic development deals of the last century,” Toyota’s arrival brought many opportunities for Georgetown and the Bluegrass Region.
“I was eager to explore them all,” says Prather, who adds, “especially those in the areas of culture and education.”
A sister city in Japan was one of the first items on the agenda, with the obvious choice being Toyota City, until as he puts it, “we discovered it had already been taken – by Detroit.” Thus, the search was on. Toyota helped identify another city – Tahara, about one hour from Toyota City – as a suitable partner, and helped in arranging Prather’s first trip to Japan to meet with his counterpart, Tahara mayor Masayoshi Yamashita.
It was a meeting of destiny, according to Prather. This year, the two cities will celebrate 35 years of sisterhood. In honor of that special milestone, on September 4th current mayor Burney Jenkins will welcome a delegation from Tahara to Georgetown for the 44th annual Best of the Bluegrass - Festival of the Horse.
While here, Jenkins says they will visit the Toyota plant and Scott County High School, along with tourist attractions Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm, Kentucky Horse Park and Ward Hall. The visit will conclude with a farewell dinner at Yuko-En on the Elkhorn, a Japanese-style garden.
Turnabout is fair play, and on September 10th, Jenkins will lead his own delegation composed of city officials and community members to Tahara. While there, they will experience its famous namesake festival with ornate floats and mechanized puppets that dates back to the 17th century during Japan’s Edo period.
To the casual observer, Georgetown and Tahara may not appear to have much in common. Georgetown lies in the center of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region, where horses and bourbon rule, while Tahara is a Pacific Ocean port on Honshu Island’s Atsumi Peninsula, and is known for its flowers and melons.
Jenkins, however, knows better, saying the two cities have much in common when it comes to three main areas: the environment, education, and the youth population of both. “These are the areas we identified as being most important and which we could most learn from each other,” he says.
Along on the trip with Jenkins will be a man who says his time in Tahara changed the trajectory of his life. Kelly McEuen will serve as tour operator for the Tahara trip, and considers himself the “keeper of the flame.”
In 1990, the year the Sister City relationship was established, McEuen was a freshman at Georgetown College and eager to pursue his interest in Japan. He began as a volunteer, eventually working his way up to a position as director of the Sister City Program. During his six-year tenure, Georgetown/Tahara was recognized as the Outstanding Sister City Program for cities of that size by Sister Cities International.
“Credit goes to the leadership of the city and college,” insists McEuen. “Both were quick to see the opportunity to forge long-lasting relationships based on areas of common interest.”
The two cities shared information on agriculture and the environment, particularly the conservation of creeks and rivers, but they also delved into aspects of each other’s culture.
If the Japanese got an even greater appreciation for bourbon and horses from their association with the Kentuckians, Bluegrass residents learned more about kite festivals and quilting from their Japanese counterparts.
There were library exchanges and student exchanges at the junior high, high school and college level, but most of all there were long-lasting friendships, says McEuen, who lived in Japan for four years and speaks fluent Japanese.
As testament to that friendship, he says, when Tahara found itself with a $100,000 windfall, city leaders did not use it for their own benefit. Rather, they donated the entire amount to Georgetown for the Yuko-en Garden.
Though he will not be on this year’s trip, Daniel Harrison benefited both professionally and personally from Georgetown’s Sister City relationship. After spending three years in Tahara teaching English, he returned to Georgetown, bringing with him both a new career goal and a new bride.
As to the former, his three years in Japan gave him a passion for brewing craft beer which led to his current role as Brand Manager for Country Boy Brewing. As for the latter, he also found a passion for a young Japanese lady named Michiko, now his wife and an administrative assistant at Toyota.
Harrison says he also came back with an unbreakable link to Tahara on many levels. “I’ve been back at least five times since I lived there,” says Harrison, adding “that to me, Tahara feels like Georgetown in the sense that we are the same size, have the same agricultural population, and though home to multi-national corporations, still manage to maintain small town charm.
The people of Georgetown and Tahara may speak a different language,” he continues, “but in every other way they are connected.”
Tom Prather agrees. “The destinies of our two cities have been intertwined for 35 years,” he says, adding “that is something to celebrate."
Lori Saunders
Georgetown/Scott County Tourism
+1 5028635424
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