A hometown folk art festival returns to Ellijay Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25-26. The Dancing Goats FolkFest will unfold at the Artful Acres site at 518 River Street from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Event organizer Mona Lowe said this year would normally bring the fifth annual festival, but it’ll actually be the fourth annual installment due to Dancing Goats, like many other large gatherings, not being held in 2020.
“We thought, for a while that we’d have to postpone it (this year), but we decided it’s so out in the open it should be OK. Parking is free, admission is free and we’ll have some good food vendors,” Lowe said.
The festival, which celebrates folk art, as well as old mountain ways and traditions, will welcome a variety of artists from Georgia and other southeastern states to sell their handmade work.
“This year, because of the economy from COVID, we felt like the artists were going to have trouble getting the fees for the festival, so we reduced that to less than half of what it was to help them out. We’ve got more artists this year, (including several) folk painters and potters, a wonderful cigar box guitar maker who’s local and a wooden bench maker,” Lowe said.
Dancing Goats will also feature live music and storytelling, which the festival team calls a form of “mountain internet.”
“They communicated that way, with songs and stories,” Lowe said.
Rowdy Yates, a Talking Rock musician who’s been lining up the entertainment, said festivalgoers can expect to hear folk, country, blues, Americana and gospel music from several groups and performers.
Saturday’s music lineup will feature acoustic musicians Jerry Lynne Cockerham and Gene Ponder, the blues and folk combo of Yates and Tom Crawford and RiverSong, a duo with Sherri Hood and Julie Mahaffey. The day will conclude with Trailer Hippies, the combo of husband and wife Tommy and Silvia Davis, from Chatsworth.
Sunday will feature a “gospel brunch” with Riversong and other artists performing gospel songs. Also scheduled that day is acoustic group the Buckskin Sheriff Band, Yates noted.
“They’re a trio with Mike Belotti, Dan Worley and Marvin Von Almen, who do a nice blend of music,” he added.
Ellijay native Chuck Reece said he’s excited about returning to town as one of the event’s storytellers.
A former Times-Courier reporter whose career has included writing for several magazines and working as former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller’s press secretary, Reece co-founded The Bitter Southerner, an online magazine focused on Southern writing and storytelling that’s now under different leadership.
Lowe said Reece will tell stories both days.
Among those memories, he noted, the annual Wagon Train rolling into town. For that bygone Ellijay event, participants took to horses and wagons to ride in procession from near Chatsworth to Ellijay. When they got here, a celebration was held around the downtown square.
“I think the parents of every kid in town brought the young ‘uns to the town square to see a long parade of folks on horseback or riding in wagons, carts or buggies around our square,” writes Reece in a blog entry at DownSouth.house, a website maintained by his wife, Stacy.
Lowe said one of the festival’s most popular activities, a goat beauty pageant, will also be featured both days. It’s just what it sounds like, she confirmed, and several goat owners have already entered their animals in the pageant.
“Most people like to dress them up. We usually have some judges that really get into it (because) the goats, themselves, are so entertaining. Right now, we have five contestants for Saturday and five for Sunday. We’ll have awards for the winners,” Lowe said.
The folkfest has grown in size and reputation since starting out downtown. The Artful Acres location, which some still call “the old Plymart,” will allow for plenty of room for vendors and festivalgoers, Lowe noted.
“It’s outside and we’re giving our vendors extra space. We’re spreading everything out and we’re going to have a wide walkway. We’re putting hand sanitizer everywhere and that kind of thing,” she added.
Lowe said the folkfest is made possible by local sponsorship, a large part of which comes from a Gilmer Chamber grant generated by hotel-motel taxes. A nonprofit, North Georgia Folkways, is being formed to present the festival and possibly expand the type of programming enjoyed at Dancing Goats, she added.
Yates, who’s performed at each of the folkfests so far, said he’s looking forward to again enjoying the event’s down-home atmosphere and camaraderie.
“Last year was kind of a disappointment for all of us, but we’ve had good interest and good response from vendors this year,” he added. “One of the things I like about Dancing Goats is it’s so down to earth. It’s a grassroots, community-type of thing, and it’s sort of becoming Ellijay’s homegrown festival. It has an organic fabric to it with the folk art, the food and the music (that) just feels very community-friendly.”
More volunteers are needed to assist with various festival tasks including setting up chairs and putting up signs, Lowe noted.
“We are also looking for senior citizens to staff the Old Goats Giving Advice Tent, which is a fun thing to honor old guys sitting on benches down at the country store, telling anyone who will listen how the world should run,” Lowe said. “Visitors can bring their questions and ask for general advice. Old goats have no requirements, but should have opinions.”
Anyone who’d like to know more about volunteering should visit the festival’s Facebook page or email dancinggoatsfolkfest@gmail.com.