History of the High County Artisans and the Butternut Creek Festival
Once
upon a dream – Judy,
a talented decorative painter,
Mike, a master wood craftsman,
and Suzanne, a stained glass artist,
dreamed an impossible dream. Having participated in arts and
crafts shows throughout the Southeast
for several years, they had experienced
numerous poorly organized and
badly run shows, but only rarely,
had they been privileged to encounter
what they considered to be a quality
arts and crafts festival.
In 1997 these 3 individuals formed the High Country Artisans, Inc. to promote quality art work in the North Georgia Mountains. Their major activity would be their version of a well organized, well run, well attended, quality arts and crafts festival named “The Butternut Creek Festival”.
In their vision, such a festival would require a beautiful natural setting offering shade and comfort for the visitors, careful jury screening of all exhibitors to insure a balanced show of multiple artistic categories (with only the best in each category), limiting the total number of exhibitors to 60-70 to insure each exhibitor a reasonable chance for successful sales, reasonable exhibitor fees, live musical entertainment featuring crowd pleasing music, free admission and free parking for all visitors, active local community support, a few good food vendors, adequate night security, and lots of media publicity. Finally, the entire operation should be run solely by volunteers, so that all show proceeds could be used to improve the festival operations or to benefit the local community.
With
these goals in mind, they organized
the first Butternut Creek Festival
in 1998. They
discovered their ideal festival
setting in Meeks Park, a fully
functional community park operated
by the Union County Recreation
Department. A major part of the
park was a beautiful,
nearly level, area along the banks
of the Butternut Creek which featured
lots of stately shade trees. In
addition, there was a large picnic
pavilion where the musical performers
could be located. Both the Blairsville/Union
County Chamber of Commerce and
the Recreation Department became
major supporters of the festival.
The first festival came and went
and a lot was learned from that
first experience. The next year,
necessary changes and adjustments
were made. Gradually the festival
began to grow in quality, size
and attendance. The community
base expanded as additional major
sponsors joined, foremost being
United Community Bank.
In conjunction with the Recreation Department, the Festival funded the construction of a new Performing Gazebo in the exhibitor area prior to the 2006 Festival. In 2007, the Ninth Annual Butternut Creek Festival was the largest ever with over 8,000 visitors in the Park on Saturday. With strong active support from the Recreation Department, 2 shuttles were activated to assist in moving people between the parking and exhibitor areas.
On July 17, 2008, Union County Commissioner Lamar Paris signed a proclamation recognizing Butternut Creek Festival and it's founding members. The Butternut Creek Festival also celebrated its 10th Anniversary at the 2008 festival with birthday cake, coffee, and doughnuts. Artists, craftsmen, and other vendors gathered on Sunday morning for the special occasion. It was a time of celebrating the realization of a dream.
If
you dream big, work hard, and
have dedicated supporters,
you can truly achieve the
impossible.
High Country Artisans, Inc.
PO Box 422
Blairsville, Ga. 30514
United States of America
Telephone:
706.781.1221
Email:
butternutcreekfestival@gmail.com
© 2007
by High Country Artisans, Inc.
Web Design by Janice Boling
