First Renaissance Festival in Lavonia Deemed a Success
The first ever Renaissance festival in Lavonia is over and talks are already in the works about doing it all over again next year.
Sponsored by the Lavonia Downtown Development Authority, the festival was held at Lavonia City Park behind City Hall.
The festival replaced the Land of Spirit plays that have been discontinued and was an effort to attract more tourists and visitors to Lavonia.
DDA Executive Director Vivian Young said it’s estimated some 4,000 people attended Saturday, despite the clouds and threat of rain.
“It was very much a success,” Young said. “We were extremely pleased. I know our hotels were full, our stores were full, and next year we hope it will be bigger and better.”
Young said so many more visitors attended that parking became a problem.
And she said many of the vendors, who were given space for free, sold out of their items and there had to be a number of extra trips to the grocery store to keep the food supply going.
Young also thanked the all of those who helped with the entertainment.
“My understanding from my emcee on stage that the Franklin County Drama blew everybody away with their rendition of Romeo Revisited. We also want to thank the drama, and art department at Franklin County HS and the band. These kids came and volunteered their time andworked our kids realm, they did a lot of art for us, worked our festival. We could not have put this on without them,” she said.
There were also magicians, bagpipers, and strolling minstrels.
While this was a bigger success than expected, Young said the one thing they will need for next year’s Rennaisance festival is more volunteers.
“Anybody is more than welcme to come and work with us on planning and putting on this festival for next year. We found out it takes a whole lot of people to on a festival of this size,” Young said.
If you are interested in getting involved with the planning for next year’s Renaissance festival, you can contact the Young at the DDA office at: 706-356-5725.