Sister City visitors arrive

Sister City visitors arrive

Dalton has changed a great deal in the decade since it last had visitors from its sister city, Dilbeek, Belgium. And local officials are going to do their best this week to show off the city and its progress.

Some 37 visitors from Dilbeek are scheduled to arrive today for a five-day visit in Dalton. There will be a small reception in their honor tonight, but things will really get busy on Wednesday.

Dalton Utilities spokeswoman Lori McDaniel said the group will take a driving tour of the utility’s facilities Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, the visitors will learn about the local floorcovering industry. They’ll visit IVC U.S. Inc., a Belgian vinyl flooring manufacturer that opened a 520,000-square-foot plant this year near the South Dalton Bypass, and U.S. Floors, another Dalton floorcovering company with European roots.

Organizers say the visitors plan to stay in and around Dalton more this year than previous groups from the sister city have. But on Thursday, they will visit the Fairburn farm of former Beaulieu CEO Carl Bouckaert. Bouckaert, who is originally from Belgium, helped set up the Sister City relationship back in 1985.

On Friday, the group will meet with officials from Dalton State College to learn more about a student exchange program the college has developed with Erasmus University College and Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussels in Belgium. They will also have lunch at the Royal Oaks retirement community and tour the Bradley Wellness Center and other health care facilities.