"The Blairsville Sorghum Festival has been permanently shut down."
That line came from an email the Sorghum Festival Club sent to its vendors, and North Georgia News printed it on its March 5, 2025 front page under the headline "Sorghum Festival tradition ends after 55 years." The email said the 55th festival, held in October 2024, had been the last. It thanked the volunteers and told vendors they might still have time to apply to other fall shows.
Seven months later, syrup was cooking at Meeks Park again, and the festival that came back in 2025 spent its whole first year paying for its own rebuild. That makes this October's weekends the first under the new organizers whose proceeds are set to go back to the community, which was the festival's purpose from the start.
A Festival Rebuilt From the Ground Up
The festival that came back in 2025 was a new organization, not the old club picking up where it left off. A newly formed nonprofit stepped in, run by a volunteer board of Missy Mashburn, Kim Bridges, Abby Briley, Scotty Jarrard, David Dyer, Zachary Edmonds and Stephanie Holgate. Union County Government, the Chamber, the Downtown Development Authority and others helped, according to the Towns County Herald. The event got a new name, Sorghum in the Mountains, while keeping the second and third weekends of October it has always used.
The new organizers made sure the link to 1969 was clear. Junior Bridges helped found the original festival, and he led the first Sorghum in the Mountains parade as Grand Marshal, riding through downtown with his wife, Carolyn, as North Georgia News reported in October 2025.
Behind the parade, the board was starting from almost nothing. As the paper put it in its October 7, 2026 preview, the festival "had to start from scratch last year with purchasing and installing syrup-making equipment, redoing the field, and building a new stage and concessions stand." Union County Government designed and built the stage that the musicians play on this year.
Why the 2025 Money Stayed in the Park
The 2025 festival drew 25,800 people, which kept it among the largest community fundraisers in the region. That gate revenue went first toward the cost of the rebuild.
In a normal year, 100% of proceeds go to local giving, such as youth scholarships and donations to other nonprofits. In 2025, local giving was postponed so the county could recover what it spent to re-create the event. North Georgia News reports that the festival "is all set for a return to local charity." After the 2026 festival, the volunteer board plans to choose its charitable recipients.
So the $5 you pay at the gate on October 17 or 18 counts toward that first round of giving. Once today's October 11 gates close, the third weekend is the last chance this year to add to it.
The groups working the festival tie it to the community too. Union County Rotary hosts the Sorghum Games. The Appalachian Wellness & Harm Reduction Coalition and Positive Pathways staff the gate. Students from the Union County Beta Club help at the Sorghum Concessions Booth.
What Year Two Changed at Meeks Park
The biggest change is the layout. In past years, some vendors set up across Butternut Creek from the main area. In 2026, the whole festival sits on the Sorghum Field side of Meeks Park and stretches deeper into the park instead of crossing the creek. You won't need to walk back and forth over the creek this year.
The second change is at the concessions booth, which now sells Sorghum Bacon Biscuits and plain black coffee along with the usual sorghum treats. The Sorghum in the Mountains organization also bakes and sells sorghum syrup biscuits near the back of the park, and it's first come, first served, "so you can get'em till they're gone," according to the festival rundown in North Georgia News' September 30 opinion section.
Families get a new bounce-house area and a rock-climbing wall. Pony rides and a train ride are back too. The vendors running these charge separately, unlike the Sorghum Games, which stay free.
Some things haven't changed. Brothers Harold and Don Collins are back at the copper pan in Sorghum Field. The cane goes through the press, and the juice runs down a trough into the large copper vat, where it's heated until it reaches the right consistency. Then it's bottled and sold as sorghum syrup grown and made in Union County. Syrup-making starts each festival day, and you can buy the syrup once it's jarred.
The Third Weekend, Hour by Hour
The official schedule on sorghuminthemountains.com lists stage times for both days.
| Day | Time | On the Sorghum in the Mountains stage |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, Oct. 17 | 9:00–11:00 a.m. | Riverbend Band |
| Saturday, Oct. 17 | 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | Campbell Folk School Cloggers |
| Saturday, Oct. 17 | 3:00–5:00 p.m. | Riverbend Band |
| Sunday, Oct. 18 | 9:30–11:30 a.m. | Davy Henderson Gospel |
| Sunday, Oct. 18 | 3:00–5:00 p.m. | Riverbend Band |
The gates are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The Sorghum Games run during the festival: biscuit eating, pole climbing, log sawing, rock throwing, horseshoes and a sack race, all free. The festival's published materials don't give start times for each game, so ask at the Rotary area when you arrive. The biscuit-eating contest lets you eat your biscuits with or without sorghum syrup. Saturday morning is the only time this weekend to see the Campbell Folk School Cloggers. Sunday opens with gospel instead.
Getting In and Parking
The festival is at Meeks Park, 490 Meeks Park Road. The traffic plan is strict, so here's what to know before you leave:
- Come in eastbound on GA 515. Cross-over traffic isn't allowed.
- Staff and volunteers direct car parking inside the park, and handicap parking is closest to the festival area.
- Shuttles run from the main field.
- Parking is free. Admission is $5 for anyone over 12, and children 12 and under get in free.
- Cash and cards are both accepted.
If you're coming from the west side of the county, the eastbound-only rule may mean a short loop before you can turn in. Plan for that extra time.
Who's Under the Tents
The 2026 vendor list on the festival site was last updated September 8. On the food side, there's Young's Famous Funnel Cakes, Heyman Kettlecorn, Serenity Coffee Camper, Southern Sips Lemonade & More, Nana & Papa's Ice-Cream, Redhills Catering, Kokomo's Sweets & Treats and Best I've Ever Had Porkrinds. Craft and goods vendors include Berry's Honey Farm, Scary Jerry's Mountain Fire Hot Sauce, Low Creek Leather, Benches by Caskey, Laughing Rain Botanicals, My Quilting Hands, Mountain Valley Tallow-Naturals and Whiskey Barrel Crafts.
There's also a nonprofit row, which fits with what the gate money is for. Groups including Appalachian Veterans Memorial Park, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 11, the Georgia Burn Foundation, Joshua's Warriors, S.A.F.E. and the Whiskers Project are listed as nonprofit vendors. Marine Corps League Det. 783 is on the general vendor list. Money spent at those tables goes straight to those groups. The admission you paid at the gate goes into the pool the board will hand out after the festival.
North Georgia News describes the rebuilt festival as one that "continues the legacy started by Junior Bridges and his crew of original volunteers in 1969," with a renewed push to involve the community and young people. The bounce houses and the Beta Club students at the concessions stand show that youth push this year. The charity list the board announces once the October 18 crowd goes home will show the other part.
Our team at Laura Elleby | E+E Group loves seeing our mountain towns come together over something as simple as a jar of Union County syrup, and we'd love to hear which biscuit line you think was worth the wait. If the Sorghum Field side of Meeks Park has you thinking about your next chapter in Blairsville, let's talk about your next move.