Fall festivals

set all over the state this weekend

By

MICHAEL BOYLAN

[email protected]

One

knows that autumn has finally arrived when the Georgia Mountain

Fall Festival and the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Ga. start up

again.

Both

festivals have an old timey, small-town feel to them. They seem

synonymous with the changing colors of the leaves and the annual

harvest.

This

is the eighth year of the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, which

has added lots of new acts, musicians and features. The festival

is in Hiawassee, Ga., which is the self-proclaimed country music

capital of Georgia. It is unique in that there are no commercial

exhibits and it is built almost entirely around the theme of the

old fashioned country fair.

The

Georgia Mountain Fall Festival runs Oct. 6-15. It is sponsored

State Fiddlers Convention. There will be a mountain village of

yeateryear, where patrons can explore a mercantile store, a blacksmith

shop, a farm museum, a one-room school and a log cabin with a

corncrib and barn. There will be daily demonstrations of mountain

art. In fact, there will be more than 60 craftsmen present daily.

One

of the main attractions of the festival, though, is the music.

Dozens of talented musicians will take the stage at the Anderson

Music Hall. Some of the best of the hill country's pickers and

singers, Nashville talent, bluegrass and gospel singing, will

perform over the course of the festival.

There

is also a brand new exhibit this year, Dondi, the comedy performing

elephant. This 6,000-pound elephant travels across the country

doing her tricks, such as whistling, praying, standing on her

head and playing baseball with children in the audience.

Another

part of any great festival is the food, and the Georgia Mountain

Fall Festival is no different. There will be the traditional funnel

cakes and barbecue, but there will also be smoked rainbow trout

to sink your teeth into. Admission to the festival is $7 and children

under 10 are admitted for free. For a schedule of activities by

the day, call 706-896-4191.

The

Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Ga. is one of the top ten festivals

in the United States. This semiannual event was established in

1972 and offers a wonderful day for the entire family. There will

be music, dancers, performers, an old time puppet show, booths

and displays of arts and crafts, games for the kids and pony rides.

The

festival will be Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7 and 8, and runs from

9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission

is $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 4-12. The fairgrounds

are on Ga. Highway 85.