Sorghum in the Mountains, Year Two: How Blairsville Kept Its Oldest Festival Going and Rerouted the Parade Around Blue Ridge Street

"The Sorghum Festival has been a staple in Union County since 1969," Kim Bridges told the Towns County Herald last October, and then she made it personal. "My father-in-law (Junior Bridges) was one of the original members that got this started."

Bridges was talking about a festival that came close to ending. In 2026 she is vice-chair of the group running it and coordinator of its parade. On Saturday, Oct. 10, that parade will take a route nobody has used before, because the street it usually turns onto is torn up for drainage work. A few years ago a festival run by one volunteer club might simply have lost its parade. This year a festival run by downtown Blairsville drew a new route around its own construction zone.

The spring the festival closed

In March 2025, the volunteer Blairsville Sorghum Syrup Makers closed the festival for good. The Herald put it down to a disagreement with the Commissioner's Office, or a misunderstanding, depending on who you asked. That group had run the event for a long time. Coverage from 2024 credits Lisa Kane with helping organize it for 18 years.

The festival didn't end. The Blairsville-Union County Chamber of Commerce, the Blairsville Downtown Development Authority and others stepped in and formed a new nonprofit. Bridges said there was no ill will between the old organizers and the new ones, and that the former crew shared what they knew. The event took a new name, Sorghum in the Mountains. It still takes place at Meeks Park, where the old Blairsville Sorghum Festival was held.

Today the board is Sorghum in the Mountains, Inc., with Abby Briley as chair and Bridges as vice-chair. The 2025 event listing named the Downtown Development Authority as host. So the festival's organizers now overlap with the people responsible for the square itself. That overlap matters this October.

Downtown is under construction this fall

The City of Blairsville started its Blue Ridge Street Improvement Project the week of Aug. 25, 2026. The old storm drainage between the Town Square and Earnest Street is being replaced, including under the parking area between City Hall and the police department. Since the sidewalks and roadway had to come up anyway, the city is also rebuilding the sidewalks on both sides, resurfacing the street, and adding an elevated crosswalk from City Hall to Merchants Walk. North Georgia News reported it as a $1 million SPLOST-funded project. The contractor hoped to finish in three or four months, though weather and conditions underground could stretch that.

The change most people will notice started Monday, Sept. 28. Blue Ridge Street between Earnest Street and the square is now eastbound only, and the exit from the square onto Blue Ridge Street is closed. A detour runs from Cleveland Street to Hunt-Martin Street. The city expects the closure to last at least three to four months, until the storm drains and concrete are finished. Counted from late September, that runs into winter, well after the last festival weekend.

The parade normally turns onto Blue Ridge Street at that roundabout exit, and this year that exit is closed.

The 2026 parade route, turn by turn

The parade starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, the festival's opening day. The North Georgia News story on the route change misprints the date as "Sept. 10." The official schedule confirms Oct. 10. Here is the route as North Georgia News laid it out:

1. Floats line up at the usual spot, the Old Middle School Gym staging area at 371 School Circle.
2. Instead of heading out on School Circle, the parade goes south on England Street to Kimsey Street.
3. It passes the Tan Yard Branch Apartments and turns onto Cleveland Street.
4. It heads north on Cleveland Street to the square.
5. Halfway around the Old Courthouse, it exits onto Pat Haralson Memorial Drive.
6. It turns right on Young Harris Street and returns to the start by way of School Circle.

The square is still where most people watch the procession. Because the floats now come in on Cleveland Street and leave on Pat Haralson Memorial Drive, the curb along those two streets becomes viewing space it usually isn't.

Anyone can still join the parade: churches, schools, nonprofits, businesses, people in classic cars or on tractors, or a group that just wants to walk. Entry is free and you don't need to register ahead. If you want your float judged, Bridges recommends arriving at the staging area by 8:30 a.m. The Blairsville-Union County Chamber of Commerce will award cash prizes to the top three floats that best match this year's theme, "Sweet Sorghum Goodness." Bridges takes parade questions at 706-781-8711.

Parking downtown while the street is closed

The city's project page answers most parking questions. The spaces in front of City Hall stay open. The spaces between City Hall and the police department are closed. Public parking is in the lot behind City Hall, and the Merchants Walk lot isn't affected by the construction. City Hall and the businesses on Blue Ridge Street stay open throughout, with detour signs posted. For questions about the project, the city lists Mayor Moore and City Clerk Kaye McCann at 706-745-2000.

Two weekends at Meeks Park

Out at Meeks Park, 490 Meeks Park Road, the festival runs four days, the second and third weekends of October as it always has.

The Sorghum Stomp takes place at Grandaddy Mimm's Distilling Co., 112 Wellborn Street.

The games are the same ones longtime visitors remember. Pole Climbing is a race up a debarked pole, usually 20 feet tall. Log Sawing puts two people on a crosscut saw. Rock Throwing is scored mostly on distance. There are sack races for kids, and the Biscuit Eating Contest is open to eaters "with or without sorghum syrup." Last year's festival added the Excavator Game alongside the traditional ones.

The syrup is still the main event. The official page describes the whole process: pressing the cane stalks for juice, boiling it down slowly, skimming off impurities, and watching the consistency until it thickens into syrup. Last year the Herald reported that syrup-making started each festival day and that visitors could buy the syrup once it was jarred.

Riverbend Band plays most of the music slots across both weekends. Davy Henderson Gospel and the Campbell Folk School Cloggers are also on the lineup. The vendor list was last updated Sept. 8. Food vendors include Best I've Ever Had Porkrinds, Heyman Kettlecorn, Young's Famous Funnel Cakes, Serenity Coffee Camper, Nana & Papa's Ice-Cream and Kokomo's Sweets & Treats. Craft and farm booths include Berry's Honey Farm, Wild One Farms, Low Creek Leather, Laughing Rain Botanicals, Benches by Caskey and Scary Jerry's Mountain Fire Hot Sauce, and the Trinity Trackless Train is running again.

A 2026 event listing shows admission at $5, with children under 12 free. That matches last year, when the Herald reported $5 for ages 13 and up and free admission for kids 12 and under. The Herald also reported free parking in 2025. The official 2026 pages don't mention parking or a shuttle, so it's worth checking the festival site before you head out.

The festival and the street project share a calendar

Last year organizers estimated the festival draws upwards of 15,000 people each year. This year those crowds arrive while the street work is still going on. Through 2024, an event this size depended on one volunteer group, and when that group closed the festival in March 2025, it nearly ended. Now the same organizations that handle the square's businesses and parking help run the festival, and in 2026 they have rerouted the parade around their own drainage project.

Something else is on the downtown calendar this week. The Georgia Department of Transportation is holding an open house on the Murphy Highway widening on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Union County Sports Center, 519 Industrial Boulevard. Comments are accepted through Oct. 23. North Georgia News reports that construction won't start until 2030 at the earliest.

The Randy Dockery Team has watched Union County traditions like the Sorghum Festival change hands and keep going, and we're glad to see the parade on the square again this year. If you're curious how this fall's downtown work and the Murphy Highway plans might affect what your Blairsville property is worth, ask us for a free home valuation and some local market advice.