I’m Really Ambivalent about Gold Rush Days in Dahlonega

Gold Rush Days 2011 was everything a sponsoring organization could want. Tourism pros and economic developers were probably jumping for joy. Visitors were all over downtown enjoying 300+ booths, restaurants, shops, galleries and festival food by the tens of thousands.

The Jaycees provided exactly what the crowds wanted to see. And, by and far, the majority of the booths featured handmade products.

I could stop right there. Maybe I should. But I won’t…

We exhibited at Gold Rush 30-35 years ago. And, I’ll be darned but most of the products for sale this past weekend were duplicates of those cutesy, amateurish crafts offered way back when. Stylized yard pumpkins-on-a-stick were best sellers. Painted bottles & glasses, dried flower arrangements, bows in school colors, etc, were on display in many booths.

The potters, the crepe booth, the fudge booth, and a handful of other exhibitors offered strong product lines. Any festival around Georgia would have been proud to have them.

But, far and away, the quality of exhibitors was demeaning to the community.

Dahlonega is home to world famous artists, photographers, craft makers, jewelers, chocolatiers, and authors. By having worn out, amateurish product lines for sale in booth after booth after booth, the event snubs its nose at the people who are Dahlonega’s best and emerging talents.

Oh, I DO get it… the goal of a festival is lots of tourism & economic impact. And, Lord knows, Gold Rush provided that in spades. The exhibitors were selling. The crowds were still packed in when we left around 5pm.

I kept thinking about a gallery owner who is no longer in business on the square. She was as passionate about her gallery as I am about Georgia Made Georgia Grown. She gave every fiber of her being to the gallery and to a project many of the entrepreneurs around town were putting together. But no matter how hard she worked, nor how innovative her artists were, nor how many videos she put together for the entrepreneurs, she just couldn’t make it work.

I couldn’t help but wonder if, when visitors came to town for Gold Rush and saw the arts & crafts offered on the streets, they didn’t subconsciously decide that a cute yard ornament or floral is what represented Dahlonega, not a one-of-a kind artwork.

It may be just me… I certainly do not speak for anyone else. But Gold Rush Days is a sparkling opportunity to highlight a charming, sophisticated, erudite community. And it does not.