Twenty-eight people turned out at the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville on a rainy afternoon Jan. 28 to exchange nonpartisan conversation with the goals of getting to know each other and of building community.

The sponsors, the Oconee Progressives and Oconee Democrats, had reached out across party lines with their invitations, and they were successful.

Oconee County Commissioner Chuck Horton, a Republican, attended, as did Kate McDaniel, secretary of the Oconee County Republican Party, and Marcus Wiedower, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in the special election for House District 117 representative last November.

The event started at 3 p.m. and lasted just an hour, but several people were around a half hour later, continuing the conversations started during the structured part of the session.

For more, visit Oconee County Observations.