Changes proposed for Cedartown events
♦ Positive improvements sought in moving dates and locations, plus an idea to celebrate Sterling Holloway
Changes are in the air for some events that are part of the regular calendar in the yearly life of Cedartown, though no decisions are yet set in stone.
The city’s new Department of Tourism and Economic Development head Aimee Madden provided the City Commission with several ideas during a first update at January’s regular meeting.
She said that the department made up of Cedartown Performing Arts Center director Oscar Guzman and Main Street Director Ramona Ruark for their opening meeting back in November 2018 with other city officials to sit down and put together a whole range of thoughts to create new or improve events held locally.
One idea Madden immediately put forth was a way to both capitalize on Cedartown’s connection
with Sterling Holloway and propose to create the Holloway Honey Pot Festival and Arts Market that would look toward a late summer timeframe to coincide with honey harvesting season.
“We had originally planned to have it in May, but our beekeeper here in town at the College and Career Academy, said that we wouldn’t likely have any honey until July,” Madden said.
She believes the best place to start out such a festival would be Big Spring Park, which was close to where Holloway’s ancestral home in Cedartown was located. A room at the Polk County Historical Society museum on West Avenue is dedicated to the legacy of Holloway’s career in film and his life in Cedartown.
Additional details are still in the works on the potential festival, Madden said, and more announcements are expected later in the year.
In the meantime, the department has other
plans for downtown events. The group believes that based on previous participation in the summertime Fourth Friday events, and since in the past years they’ve had to call off events and reschedule them later in the year due to rain, Fourth Friday needs to move from downtown to Peek Park.
She said the benefits outweigh any potential pitfalls: it gives more space for families to come and enjoy the event, the park provides more shade and cool air during sweltering summer evenings, and most importantly it has a small amphitheater already in place.
The city also wants to promote a new fall event, “Spooky Spokes.”
Madden said this wasn’t being designed as a Trunk or Treat-style Halloween event, but more of a cycling showcase of kids in costumes that also can double as a festival for local churches and civic groups to participate in as well.
It wouldn’t replace annual downtown Trick or Treating, or the Fall Festival.
The department does
think that dates for the Fall Festival need to be pushed back in order for the weather to match the name. They are looking at a early November date instead of early October, to avoid summer temperatures which in the past years haven’t broken as early as in the past.
“We want to dive in together as a department and try to make it a better event,” Madden said.
The goal is to also provide additional entertainment and options for youth to enjoy during the festival day on Main Street.
Additional ideas include an open air art gallery along the Silver Comet Trailhead area, ramping up the annual Christmas parade with a full day of events but also moving it from Thursday to Saturday evening.
No formal changes have yet been made, but all are something the department is looking at as 2019 gets underway.
Commission Chair Matt Foster thanked Madden for the update during the January regular session, and said he appreciated their coming with not just information but a plan for the future.