Copy cell help

For years I have just typed in say 1/1/2011 in cell A1 of an Excel and clicked on that cell and copied it throughout the entire A column and then selected what I wanted. Such as copy days. But the other day someone said there has to be some formula. Say I entire in A1: Market and then in A2: Georgia and want to copy Georgia in cells A3:A5000 but do not want to click and drag. Is there a formula to copy all that without the click and drag?