After a wonderful sunny day in Greenville on Saturday, my wife and I dressed in black and headed down to the meeting point for the Google on Main event. Community spirit is something that I’m not used to seeing very often. My experience is normally when a group congregates,  it’s to protest about something or make themselves heard for a cause, which only really affects them. This gathering was for the greater good of Greenville and the surrounding areas – for businesses, for schools and universities, and for individuals; not only so we can download the latest films within a few seconds or transfer large files more easily, but to show the world that Greenville is a progressive, modern and cosmopolitan city that ought to be considered as such.

We were blown away: there were over 2,000 local people all dressed in black – and this event had taken only two weeks to organize. Registration was done online via a specific website for the event, and as numbers were limited, we felt honored to be part of it. We were handed a glow stick and then split into groups of red, green, blue and yellow.  Each group made their way through the park to a defined location – the Google letters were chalked out and organizers shuffled us into place. It was amazing to see the mix of people (and Google dog), old and young, getting together to show support of their city. After a short while, airplanes and helicopters began circling overhead, taking pictures and video of the event to send off to Google. One of Google’s choice criteria was a city who showed community spirit, and I think Greenville did itself proud.

See more photos from the event courtesy of GreenvilleOnline.com

Check out a video of downtown Greenville’s Google on Main event (Courtesy of Bobby Rettew)