Geranium Festival in McDonough, Georgia on May 21, 2022 will feature an arts and crafts fair, live music, and more south of Atlanta!
Where is the McDonough, Georgia, Geranium Festival?
The Henry County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival was the original name of the Geranium Festival. Big Spring Park hosted the inaugural Henry County Chamber Arts & Crafts Festival in 1977. Similar to this, Big Spring Park hosted the 1978 Festival, which featured 17 exhibitors. The Henry County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival, which had roughly 54–57 stalls in 1979, was relocated to the downtown Square.
What does McDonough’s Geranium Festival entail?
On the square and surrounding streets of Downtown McDonough, the Geranium Festival is celebrated. For more information on where the more than 400 places are, please consult the festival map. This festival is largely an Arts & Crafts marketplace for local artisans. The proceeds from the selling of booth spaces help the visually impaired and local charities in Henry County.
The Geranium Festival lasts how long?
The 28th annual Geranium Festival, a day-long arts and crafts fair in the centre of the Henry County seat, will bring together more than 300 sellers on the iconic downtown McDonough Square on Saturday.
The McDonough Lions Club sponsors the event, which is held annually in McDonough, also referred to as the Geranium City. Visitors to the festival frequently come from the neighbouring counties for the traditional food, like tomato sandwiches.
When you visit, you “somehow feel a genuine sense of community,” according to Diane Reed, chairperson of the Lions festival committee.
Returning guests may notice some differences in the festival due to renovations made to the Square. The Square has been rearranged as part of a Georgia Department of Transportation project, and paving stones have been put all around the area in the middle of the Square that is home to a Confederate monument.
Vendor booths can be open on both sides, according to Reed, and pedestrian traffic should move a little more freely.
However, due to the one-way pairs currently going to the majority of crossroads on the Square, vehicle traffic will circulate differently.
Cars entering the Square from Jonesboro Street will have to turn left onto Ga. Highway 42, which is currently one-way into the Square.
According to McDonough Police Chief Preston Dorsey, John Frank Ward Boulevard, which was recently made a one-way route, would be blocked at Ga. Highway 155 either late tonight or early Saturday morning.
According to Reed, the festival will continue to enable businesses to set up booths at the event and showcase their products without actually selling them.
Local musicians, talent contest winners, church choirs and bands, and party bands are among the performers scheduled for the day’s entertainment.
For what is McDonough, Georgia renowned?
The historic area of McDonough, located in the heart of the city, spans more than 80 hectares and features structures that date all the way back to the city’s founding.
The Henry County Courthouse and Historic Jail, which is located on the northern side of the town centre, is one that stands out.
It has a white clocktower that rises over the square and is primarily constructed of red brick. It was constructed in 1897 in the Romanesque Revival style.
The enormous Palace Theatre, now known as the Clay Plaza Building, and an art deco Standard Oil gas station that serves as a tourist information centre are two other lovely and significant structures in the neighbourhood.
After whom was McDonough, Georgia named?
The county seat for Henry is located in McDonough, which is about thirty miles south-east of Atlanta. The town, which became a legal entity on December 17, 1823, was given the honorary name of Commodore Thomas MacDonough, who won the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. (1812-15). The Henry County Courthouse was initially in the heart of the town’s block-style layout. It was built close to its water source, like the majority of communities. This was referred to as the “Big Spring” in McDonough, and it was where the city’s first water system was situated.
Blacksmith shops, buggy works, sawmills, brick-makers, masons, mills for grinding maize and wheat, and by 1835, cotton gins were among the early industries that were oriented on an agrarian economy. In McDonough, there were at least two cotton gins: McGarity’s and Welch on Key’s Ferry Street and Harkness’s on Griffin Street. The local blacksmith was important since he produced many of the essential farm tools as well as practical household items. In addition to having a number of inns and livery stables, McDonough served as a halt or relay station for the stagecoach line connecting New York with New Orleans.
By 1921, Dr. J. G. Smith had constructed a hydroelectric plant on the Big Cotton Indian River that supplied the city with energy for a minimal cost of $1.50 per month. The Hood’s and Carmichael’s hosiery mills and Dowling Textile Manufacturing Company are some of McDonough’s more recent businesses.
The Methodist (1822), Baptist (1825), and Presbyterian (1827) denominations each built their first churches in McDonough. Assemblies of God, Southern and Independent Baptist, Catholic, Christian, Episcopal, and Lutheran congregations are just a few of the many churches that have grown in number over time.
The 1824-incorporated Henry County Academy opened its doors in 1827. A female academy already existed by 1831. Following the adoption of the first common school system in 1837, academies started to disappear. A branch of Mercer University is located inside the city limits of contemporary McDonough, which also has a public school system with primary, elementary, and high schools.
The Brown Mansion, a sizable two-story white house built starting in 1826 by Revolutionary War veteran Andrew McBride, is one of the town’s historic sites (1775-83). The Genealogical Society of Henry and Clayton Counties, Inc. is headquartered in the Brown House, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Davis-Bryan-Hazlehurst House, constructed around 1829, is another historic home. The Henry Players perform at McDonough’s Performing Arts Center. The city sponsors the Henry County Fair in the fall and the Geranium Festival in May.
The 2010 U.S. Census determined that McDonough had 22,084 residents. The population of the city increased by 160% between 2000 and 2010.