Author: Denise Mann, parent and supporter of Brightside Cafe
I invite you to take a seat and reflect on what “American Made” means. Travel north on
historic Main Street in Buford, Georgia, and visit Tannery Row. Across the street, you will
find the large bronze statue representing Buford’s Bona Allen saddlery past. The statue
is titled “American Made” and depicts Hollywood horse, Trigger, being fitted by a master
saddler, John Johnson, as western film legend Roy Rogers assists. The statue not only
honors Buford’s past, but because the legacies of the men memorialized, it also
powerfully predicted the rise of a new local legacy, Brightside Cafe, 20 years later.
Located within camera view of “American Made,” in the previous corner offices of the
Bona Allen Collar facility, Brightside Cafe carries on the statue’s family legacy of protecting
community youth by providing training, education, and employment for neurodiverse
youth and adults with autism, Down syndrome, or physical challenges.
Roy Rogers was more than a western film star. He was a devoted husband to his wife Dale
Evans for 51 years. They were in 29 films together and successfully grew wealth and a
diverse family. Inspired by a love for children of all kinds, they adopted nine children
and sponsored 40 worldwide. Within that love, they experienced many losses as well,
including the significant loss of their only biological child, a daughter named Robin, with
Down syndrome, at the tender age of two.
From this tragedy, Dale began to find ways to support children who were often removed
from society’s view, like her daughter, and children who had suffered from abuse and
neglect. Foundations they began like the ARC and Happy Trails Children’s Foundation,
are still active today. The Rogers’s God-driven mission for children can be found in a
story authored by Dale Evans Rogers called “Angel Unaware.”
Evans Rogers wrote that there was a place for everyone on earth, and her daughter
helped deliver that message from God. She created an analogy of many rooms on
earth that can accommodate all, strong and weak, but all of which serve the purpose of
learning your mission for God. “There are many rooms, where we study and teach and
get ready to move into Your big light room Up Here (Heaven),” Robin speaks to God.
As a balance for Rogers, master saddler and third-generation Bona Allen worker, John
Johnson and his wife also had a huge heart for protecting children in Buford. They, too,
had one biological daughter and cared for 32 foster children. He was dedicated to Bona
Allen for over 50 years and to his wife, Lillian, for 64.
It is the spirit of these men (as well as the infamous, well-mannered Trigger) that mark
the historical presence of a new local business, Brightside Cafe, across the street.
Quoted in an AJC article in 2005, the developer behind the fundraising for the statue,
Don Arsenault said, “People will come from miles around, from all over the country to
see these statues.” Today, I challenge you and your family to come see the statue and
visit Brightside Cafe. Sip a latte and revel in the re-emergence of this historical location
and how it is a “room” in which we can all learn something.
I invite you to learn about the community-focused mission of Brightside owners Jennifer
Elinburg and Carrie Walton – training, employment, and ultimately uncovering the light
within their employees and the Buford community at large. A mission that providentially
parallels that of little Robin Rogers as written by her mother, “they’re a lot stronger,
since they got Our message (from God). There’s a new glory inside them and on
everything all around them…the sun’s a lot brighter.”
You will feel strength and sunshine after a visit to Brightside Cafe. After all, it is right there in the name and, coincidentally, embodied in the beautiful bronze statue out front and perhaps the choice of angel wing art inside? How very serendipitous, I think.
Editor’s note: The Brightside Cafe is located at 554 West Main Street in Buford, Georgia. Turn into the smaller parking lot (first one if coming from Main Street and South Lee Street area. Brightside Cafe is in the smaller stand-alone brick building at the corner of West Main Street and Elliot Street.
Learn more about their important mission of putting special needs adults to work, including their non-profit, Brightside Forever Foundation, as well as Brightside on the Go at brightsidecafebuford.com. Catch them almost daily posting new content on their social media pages. Facebook and Instagram.
