Published: August 01, 2009 10:42 pm         

Spring Place Festival set for Aug. 15

The 12th annual Spring Place Community Festival will be Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Old Spring Place Methodist Church just off Georgia Highway 225 S., beginning at 8 a.m.

The theme this year is “Somewhere in Time,” and the festival will feature a display of historic/antique clocks and watches from the collections of area residents. Among them are an Elgin pocket watch from 1887, a 1903 Waltham watch, and a dresser clock purchased from W.S. Lents in Chatsworth in October 1916, according to a penciled inscription on its reverse. A raffle for a large reproduction wall regulator clock donated by Carlton McDaniels will conclude the day’s activities.

Members of the Spring Place Ruritan Club will have a bake sale with homemade cakes of all kinds. Breakfast biscuits and lunchtime hot dogs are among the items being sold to raise funds.

Sponsored by the Ruritan Club and the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, the festival commemorates Spring Place’s heritage and raises funds for the continued preservation of the Old Spring Place Methodist Church. New and used books, historical society publications, collectible and flea market items including Christmas decorations, glassware, toys and household items, attract buyers as well.

The largest fundraising event is an auction conducted by “Red” Edwards set for 10:30 a.m. Things to be auctioned include a variety of artist prints, gift certificates to area businesses, antique butter dishes, children’s items, savings bonds, sets of historical maps and books, silver dollars and presidential coin sets donated by Cohutta and First National banks, exercise equipment, framed paintings, dish sets and rugs donated by Peanuts and Value Carpets.

Another highlight of the day will be the release of a new memoir written by former Spring Place resident Genievie Hawkins Urban about growing up in Spring Place in the 1930s. Now a Maryland resident, Urban attended the Old Methodist Church as a child. The books will cost $10.

Quilts handmade by Ruth Young and other items handcrafted by Chatsworth resident Pamela Sparks Fraire will also be available. The Ruritan Club, Murray County Red Cross and the Keep Murray Beautiful Commission will have information tables and the Boy Scouts will be on hand to help with parking and other activities.

Parking will be available on Elm Street as well as across the street from the church. For more information call Carlton McDaniel at (706) 695-2110, Jyana and Chuck Smith at (706) 695-8297 or Tim Howard at (706) 695-2740.

     

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