Local Knowledge: Trivia rings in the new year

Listen up. Your New Year’s resolution should be to ace every “Local Knowledge” quiz for 2025. And, if you don’t get straight A’s, at least soak up some trivia to impress your friends and neighbors.

1. Which of the following is NOT true about Bowen Shoemaker, the daughter of former Macon mayor Robert Reichert?

(A) She was the first baby born in Macon to start the New Year on Jan. 1, 1984.

(B) She was salutatorian of Central High School’s Class of 2002.

(C) She was crowned homecoming queen at the University of Georgia in 2005.

(D) She served as head of the Georgia Republican Party.

2. Bill Berry, a drummer, and bass player Mike Mills were high school friends at Macon’s Mount de Sales Academy and Northeast High School. In 1978, they moved to Athens, where they met guitarist Peter Buck and lead vocalist Michael Stipe. The four men formed an alternative rock group that became one of the most influential bands in the world. What was the name of it?

(A) Kiss

(B) Fleetwood Mac

(C) R.E.M.

(D) Aerosmith

3. Debbie Allen is an Emmy-award winning actress with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. What is her connection to Macon?

(A) She once sang the national anthem at a Macon Mayhem hockey game.

(B) She is married to former Southwest High basketball star Norm Nixon, a former two-time NBA all-star with the Los Angeles Lakers.

(C) She was the principal architect for the Hilton Hotel in 1970.

(D) She appeared in a scene from the 2023 musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” that was filmed on Mulberry Street.

4. The late Bill Yoast, a 1949 graduate of Mercer University, became a famous high school football coach whose life story was the subject of what movie?

(A) “Bad News Bears”

(B) “Remember the Titans”

(C) “Rudy”

(D) “The Blind Side”

5. Next weekend will mark the anniversary of what historic event that took place in Macon on Jan. 12, 1886?

(A) It was so cold the Ocmulgee River froze solid.

(B) They imploded the city’s only high-rise hotel. 

(C) Bibb deputies installed speed zone cameras in front of schools and issued tickets to lead-footed horse-and-buggy drivers.

(D) Central Central City Park hosted the world’s first pickleball tournament.

6. Tina Dickson, the owner and operator of Ingleside Village Pizza, shares a Jan. 8 birthday and pays tribute at her restaurant to which singer?

(A) Frank Sinatra

(B) Little Richard

(C) Elton John

(D) Elvis Presley

7. In the South, a “polecat” is another name for what animal?

(A) Skunk

(B) Armadillo

(C) Squirrel

(D) Possum

8. The Theatorium was Macon’s first movie theater when it opened on Third Street in 1906. What was the opening movie shown there?

(A) “Wicked’’

(B) “Citizen Kane”

(C) “The Great Train Robbery”

(D) “War of the Worlds”

9. What does former Olympic gold medal hurdler Roger Kingdom have in common with the late Gov. George Busbee, the late Readers Digest senior editor Gene Methvin and the late Jody Powell (White House press secretary under Jimmy Carter)?

(A) They were knighted by the Queen of England.

(B) All are natives of Dooly County.

(C) They all served in the Carter administration.

(D) They were invited to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

10. Why is Ga. Highway 208 in Taylor County sometimes known as the Old Federal Road or Wire Road?

(A)  Back in the day, the rural county did not have wi-fi.

(B)  The state received federal highway funding to reinforce the shoulder with rebar. 

(C) The telegraph wire from Richmond, Va., to New Orleans once ran along Ga. 208.

(D) It was part of pork barrel legislation to create hog farms along the highway.

Click HERE TO VIEW ANSWERS

(1) D

(2) C

(3) B

(4) B

(5) A

(6) D

(7) A

(8) C 

(9) B

(10) C

REPORT CARD:

(9-10) New Year’s toast.

(7-8) Auld lang syne.

(5-6) Broken resolutions.

(3-4) In serious need of a cheat sheet.

(0-2) Lingering hangover.