The 2021 City of Baldwin Fall Festival was one for the books, with the biggest turnout the city has ever seen, and community reception that had city officials and vendors smiling from ear to ear.
Baldwin Councilwoman Alice Venter was overwhelmed by the community togetherness she saw. She said seeing neighbors spend time together, shop, enjoy good food, participate in activities and enjoy their city brought her so much joy she teared up.
“The turnout and the vibe here was […] exactly like a family community,” Venter said. “It really is a family event and people were here having a good time, and we need more of that. Baldwin is a family-oriented community, and that’s the type of love that we want to foster here.”
City Clerk Emily Woodmaster says that spending the day with her community and family, and seeing her nieces enjoy the festival and beautiful weather left her with a full heart.
“It was great, it was everything that we wanted it to be,” Woodmaster said. “I think the community had a lot of fun. It brought people back out, which is exactly what we wanted to happen.”
It wasn’t just kids and families that had a great time at the event, local businesses saw just how supportive Baldwin’s community can be during the festival.
Demorest business owner Naomi Gragg, who owns Naomi’s Sweet Cakes, attended Baldwin’s Fall Festival for the first time this year. Gragg says was pleasantly surprised by how busy the festival got over the course of the day and her overall sales.
“We did really good today,” says Gragg. “Everybody was really sweet, which is great, and we had a lot of different varieties of people [see us].”
This year’s fall festival was the biggest the city has ever had, with 38 vendors, 67 runners in the inaugural Runway 5K and 22 Jeeps participating in the Currahee Crawl. While there wasn’t an exact count of attendees, city officials say that this year’s crowd far exceeded the number of attendees in 2019, which totaled around 150.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Baldwin Mayor Joe Elam said. “We’re so thankful for the public coming out and joining us, and our staff has been incredible all day.”
