Our Mission

High Country Artisans, Inc.’s intent is to promote quality craftsmen and artists in the region through exhibitions and demonstrations and to support art programs in the community.
Our purposes are exclusively charitable and cultural. Our commitment is to promote, improve, and expand functional and visual arts for everyone in the North Georgia Mountains and to conserve and enhance the rich heritage of all areas of traditional arts & crafts by encouraging a wider appreciation of these arts & crafts.

Our History & 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 artwork 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 ensure a balanced show of multiple artistic categories (with only the best in each category limiting the total number of exhibitors to 60-70 to ensure 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.

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, former Union County Commissioner Lamar Paris signed a proclamation recognizing the Butternut Creek Festival and its founding members.

Each year the High Country Artisans have presented Union County Schools with funding for their art programs. Our hope is to continue this and to promote our children to fulfill their dreams for the future.

We’ve continued to grow and improve our show every year. Artists and craftsmen now come from all over the country to participate. Last year we celebrated our 25 th anniversary.

If you dream big, work hard, and have dedicated supporters, you can truly achieve the impossible.