City will celebrate heritage

Grovetown started as a small railroad town outside of Augusta.

Next month, the city will celebrate its 125th anniversary with the fourth annual Grovetown Heritage Festival.

"It is just a citywide celebration," said Rosa Lee Owens, event coordinator and a resident of Grovetown for more than 40 years.

Owens said she is hoping for sunny weather after last year's thunderstorm.

Owens said the festival on April 29 will possibly include Fort Gordon soldiers re-enacting Confederate battles, plenty of children's activities and rides, live entertainment, food and arts and crafts vendors.

Owens said she would like the festival also to recognize the 15th anniversary of the John Deere Commercial Products plant in Grove-town.

Area dignitaries will ride in classic cars during a parade. Those cars will then be part of the annual classic car show.

"We would like some more live entertainment," said Marsha Keating, another event organizer. "We're hoping to have two stages set up."

Keating said she is accepting applications for arts, crafts and food vendors in addition to live entertainment and demonstrations.

Anyone interested is asked to contact Keating at 650-9279.

Owens said that like the city, the Grovetown Heritage Festival gets bigger and better every year.

The city, which was chartered in 1881, started as a railroad town and became a city in which wealthy Augustans moved.

"It began as a little hamlet, a place of interest," said Owens, who also is on the Grovetown Museum Board.

"The folks of Augusta who were ridden with disease from the Savannah River - they were seeking higher ground - they got into their horses and buggies and came out here ..."

Soon after, Owens said, extravagant homes, schools, theaters, sawmills and cotton gins were built.

"(The festival) is just a grand celebration," Owens said.

"It's a blast from the past - that's our theme. We are planning a blast from the past, and we want everybody to realize that we are alive and we have really moved from what was a hamlet to a sprawling city."

For more information, contact Owens at 863-1867.