City plans bigger heritage festival

Organizers of Grovetown's inaugural Heritage Festival last May were amazed by its success and have plans for a bigger and better one this year.

"It was beyond our fondest expectations," said Rosa Lee Owens, event chair. "We had many people to attend, and we made some funds so we are not starting off (fresh) this year. The participation was way beyond our expectations."

More than 500 people attended and more than 50 vendors set up shop at the May 10th festival, which highlighted Grovetown's colorful past.

Planning has begun for this year's festival scheduled for April 24 near Grovetown City Hall and the gazebo at the corner of Robinson Avenue and Old Wrightsboro Road.

Anyone interested in helping put the festival together is asked to attend a planning meeting today at 3 p.m. at the Grovetown Museum.

The group already has been contacted by several vendors and a local American Indian group wants to put on an even bigger display than last year, Owens said.

The organizing committee learned a lot from planning the first festival.

"We learned we need to plan earlier and plan prior to school closings because we could not get any school bands last year because they had to inventory equipment," Owens said.

Owens said she expects the main attraction to be the classic car show organized by the CSRA Road Angels, in addition to museum tours, historic memorabilia, clowns, live entertainment, face-painting and lots of displays and demonstrations.

"We are feeling very excited," Owens said. "We expect even better this year."

For more information on the festival or to register as a vendor, call Owens at 863-1867.