Maybe you’ve seen them in your hometown, or perhaps you noticed them while traveling through another city. Chances are, when you’ve encountered one, you stopped for a great picture opportunity or just took a moment to get off your feet and take in the surroundings. Scattered around many of the great metropolis and even smaller cities are beautiful places where locals and tourists can co-mingle and share in an appreciation of something that may seem somewhat trivial but is quite functional. 

Perched atop the high, flat prairie of the Texas Panhandle, the city of Amarillo is experiencing a cultural boom. Through much of the twentieth century, Amarillo often felt like an outpost on the edge of the universe. Yet, with the advent of the internet, the city has launched itself into the new century with gusto.

The Amarillo community is brimming with generous volunteers, influential leaders and successful businesspeople. The people of Amarillo are what make our city unlike any other. With the AEDC guest blog posts, we hope to educate readers on our community as well as share valuable messages from Amarillo's key thinkers. This is a guest post by Dan Quandt, Vice President of the Amarillo Convention and Visitors Council for the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce.

So, say you have a product that has steadily increasing sales, now totaling over $870 million annually. This product is enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds, yet has easily defined specific niches that can really heighten the public’s desire to consume. In business, we call this a success story. In Texas, we call this Amarillo.