Now it has been over a week since the Google On Main #GoogleOnMain event where thousands gathered in Greenville’s Falls Park while aircraft flew overhead capturing the spectacle on video and stills. Yes, the #LuckyGVL sponsored event was spectacular without question! More info on this event, including photos and video can be found on http://www.wearefeelinglucky.com/

This coming Tuesday evening at 7PM, there will be a follow-up event that you should go to if you are in the Upstate…  Find that information here: http://wearefeelinglucky.eventbrite.com/ This will be a fun event and you will get to see unreleased footage of the Google On Main campaign!

And it would be great if you could join the Facebook fan page and help support the Upstate of South Carolina: http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Feeling-Lucky-Greenville-SC-For-Google-Fiber/108303235861525?ref=nf&_fb_noscript=1 This group has grown to more than 1700 in a few days now and your participation is invited and encouraged.

Remember, what helps Greenville, helps the UPSTATE of South Carolina. So if you are from Easley, Six Mile, Pickens, Piedmont, Liberty, Duncan, Spartanburg, Anderson, Simpsonville, etc, it doesn’t matter, if we are selected by Google as the place to roll out 1Gbps high speed fiber internet, without a question, you will see the benefits anywhere in the Upstate!

I received an email from a gentleman saying that someone mentioned that I could help him with a computer issue he was having. Thing is, he was not in my geographic service area of Greenville and the Upstate of South Carolina. He was not even in our state. He was from Arizona.

Now it is not uncommon for someone to Google us and call from an area that is not in our service area, but he called at the suggestion of someone who saw my posting on Twitter. They happened to be following the same hashtag that I was posting to and suggested us to the gentleman in their area.

So what did I do? I helped him, of course! Didn’t know what to charge him… 5 minutes to fix a simple problem (the guy had taken it to 2 places and they couldn’t fix it, but fortunately I was able to do so in email)

What it boils down to though is that even though we are using hashtags like #LuckyGVL #GoogleOnMain and #Greenville, which one would think were localized, there are people all over the world watching. It can lead to new friends, new business contacts, and other interesting opportunities. Heck, we recently became a vendor of a product because of a chance online meeting!

If you are from the Greenville / Upstate area you would have to be living as a Quaker to not know about all that is going on with the effort to bring Google Fiber here. Heck, even Quakers probably are aware of the community effort to catch the eye of Google. It is not just localized either. Greenville is showing up in discussions on blogs all over the world, and in online and print publications you will find mentions of this grass roots effort. Just a few moments ago, we received word that a Time Magazine writer confirmed there will be an article published about Google On Main.

To give you an idea how things happen here… It was mentioned to Fairway Outdoor Advertising that another city had put up some billboards… Within minutes, Fairway Outdoor (@FairwayOutdoor on Twitter) had programmed two of their digital billboards on two very major streets to support the Google On Main / We Are Feeling Lucky movement! People are meeting with the Mayor and City officials, the news media like Amy Wood (@TVAmy) are in touch with what is happening. And those who were involved in last Saturday’s Google On Main event are getting recognition by the community as well. My wife @PamelaHoyt and I have received phone calls, text messages, emails, tweets and facebook messages saying “HEY! I saw you on TV”. 

And in some of the most surprising events, those who are active on social networking sites are being contacted by supporters of other city’s initiatives and told how we don’t stand a chance, etc! hahah All I can say to them is, Greenville wishes you the best of luck! This is all in fun, though we are serious about wanting it for our area. We want to keep it positive!

If you want to get involved, please sign our petition at www.wearefeelinglucky.comand join the various social networking discussions taking place on Facebook, Twitter, and an interesting one, the Google Wave forum that has been setup… A link to that can be found at the www.wearefeelinglucky.com website. If you would like an invite to Google Wave, please contact me and I will invite you.

Amy Wood of WSPA TV was asking what the Google On Main event meant to us… In thinking about what Google On Main meant to me, it meant a chance to join with friends and strangers alike in a *community* effort to catch the eye of Google… And I believe we did just that!

Seriously though… To see thousands of people come together and achieve a common goal was a good thing for our 17 year old daughter to see. We made this a family affair, taking my wife, daughter & a friend with us to the event.

I believe it is a true testimony to what Greenville, SC as a community is capable of. Where else would you find a group of great minds who would dedicate their time to unselfishly plan & organize such an event, a city “machine” who is receptive to said event that would throw open the doors to allow it to occur, businesses who would support the event, volunteers who would help with the staging, media who would get so involved, and thousands of people, young and old who took time out of their weekend to do something for Greenville?

And what about why Google Fiber is important to the Greenville area? That’s simple – Because if Greenville can come together to accomplish so much with so little time and resources, imagine what Greenville will accomplish with mind-boggling bandwidth! What strides will be made in medical, industrial, educational & the arts thanks to a fat pipeline? Give us the chance to find out and you will not be let down!

One thing is for sure… Should Google select another city, it will not be because Greenville has sat idly by!

Last night my wife Pamela, daughter Megan and her friend Christina attended Google On Main along with hundreds of others and formed the letters that spelled out “Google” while swinging LED glow sticks over our heads and posing for photos and videos as a helicopter and plane flew over. What a blast!

What does it all mean? It means that the community of Greenville depends on high-speed internet, and feel strongly that if Google were to roll out their ULTRA-High-Speed Fiber Internet to the Greenville, SC area, it would help us to thrive…

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30832021&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=350492394591&aid=-1&oid=350492394591&id=1569863676 for one of the first overhead shots….   My wife and I were in the big G, while our daughter Megan and her friend Christina were in the red “o”.

Here’s a video of the staging area and some of the setup… Taken with a Flip Mino Ultra HD, which www.HomelandSecureIT.com will be giving away soon. Well not that one, but a brand new one! (See the other blog post about that).

Here’s the video from above….  Thanks to Bobby Rettew this:

Okay, the title is deceiving, as Google has not picked where they are going yet… However, we here in the Upstate are hoping that Google will select Greenville, SC as their test bed for 1 Gig of fiber awesomeness!

This Saturday, many people are planning on meeting downtown in Greenville in an effort to make everyone in the world aware that Google is welcome in our wonderful community. The event is limited to 2000 participants, but don’t let that stop you from turning out. The more the merrier as they say.  More information can be found here: http://www.wearefeelinglucky.com/

To anyone from Google who happened to Google and find this posting using whatever search keywords, whether #GoogleOnMain or #LuckyGVL or who knows what… Let me tell you why I believe Google should select Greenville…  Greenville SC is already a technology center for the state and the region. So much is going on in the way of technology, from automotive research and development to cutting edge medical products and proceedures. Bringing lightning fast connectivity will cause a mass influx of businesses, and with those businesses will come jobs, and money to an area that was dramatically impacted by the loss of the textile industry to other countries. I believe Greenville has so much to offer the world, and a huge pipe will allow us to share what we have!  Thanks for your consideration!!!!

By now you have heard about the contest that Google has that will bring one lucky community the fastest internet connection possible. I support Greenville, SC all the way. Google, please hook us up!

Please sign our petitions at: https://sites.google.com/a/wearefeelinglucky.com/greenville/get-involved