A year since traditional festivals and gatherings were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgians were ready for Cornelia’s beginning-of-fall festivities Saturday morning. Hundreds came to Cornelia for the city’s 33rd annual Big Red Apple Festival, and city officials and festival vendors say it may have been the most-attended Big Red Apple Festival yet.
Community and Development Director Jessie Owensby says that this year’s festival was “a little bit bigger than it has ever been,” with dozens of vendors, some even traveling from as far away as Macon, Athens and Atlanta.
From handmade soaps and baked goods to geode serving trays and boutiques on wheels, this year’s vendors offered a variety of products unique to their businesses. But it wasn’t just these businesses making the event spectacular, Downtown Cornelia businesses held their grand openings today among the crowds.
Community Brew and Tap, which has taken residence in the Cornelia Community Bank & Trust that opened in 1900, opened their doors to the public to show off their fabulous space, complete with the bank’s vault, a massive chandelier, bar and chic upstairs lounge.
The highly-anticipated Cornelia charcuterie spot, “The Gathering Box,” also held its grand opening. Owner Cagney Meads tells Now Habersham that the “overwhelming” support she’s received from the community since opening the doors of her storefront has blown her away. About halfway through the festival, she said she’d already made about half the amount of the sales of her soft opening the day before.
The festival was organized in its entirety by Tourism Coordinator Lindsey Fitzgerald; this is her first year coordinating the festival.
“She has done a phenomenal job doing all of this on her own,” Director Owensby says. “I’ve only been there […] to kind of give her guidance and share contacts with her, and […] give her an outline, but she did all of this. I’m very pleased with her, and it looks really good.”
Fitzgerald says she’s thrilled with the festival’s outcome, too.
“I’m so excited for the turnout,” she says. “People […] have come out, the vendors are awesome, I’m so happy with it.”
