Eastanollee Cannery Opens Today

By Phil Hobbs, WNEG Radio, Toccoa

The Eastanollee Cannery will celebrate a Grand Reopening with a special sale beginning at 8 A.M. until 6 P.M. today at their location at 582 Eastanollee School Road.

Richard Johnson is the operator and manager of the cannery and says that it has been a long time coming. “We’ve been down for 13 months, one week, and two days but I’m not counting” jokes Johnson; “we have all kinds of new equipment installed. We were approved to reopen through our boiler inspector, and I wanted to give it a week and a half or so to make sure everything is running properly before our Grand Reopening, and we will be open to the public on March 9th. We will be open from 8-6 and I’ll have boneless chicken on sale beginning that day and running through March 15th.”

Johnson was asked why the cannery was important to the community. “I think it is huge just teaching people how to preserve their food, and with grocery store prices these days what a huge asset this place is to our community. Garden season will be coming in and I know that there are a lot of people that have deer meat that they will be bringing in and canning as well.”

The Eastanollee Cannery is a service of Stephens County Schools agriculture education. Johnson says that many people do not know that the cannery is part of the school system and that is something that he hears every day. “Yes, it is part of the school system. A cannery was originally built right around 1930. The facility that we are in now was built around 2001 so it has been here a long time. We have a lot of things that we can teach here. We have a meat-cutting side and a canning side. I have learned that so many people are intimidated by the canning side and scared to do it, but don’t be-it is why we are here. Bring your crop in, bring your meat in, and we will walk you through it. It is self-serve, so you are expected to do it, but we are here to help.”

Johnson is joined at the cannery on Wednesdays and Thursdays by Terry Sapp and says that students help out also. Many will be on hand for the Grand Reopening.

Johnson reminds listeners that the meat side will be open Monday-Friday as it has been the past year. The canning side will be open Monday-Thursday with meat canning Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and fruit and vegetable canning on Wednesdays. Those days will change later when the fruits and vegetables start to come in.

Again, the Grand Reopening at the Eastanollee Cannery is this Thursday from 8 A.M.-6 P.M. and will include tours and refreshments.

For more information concerning the Eastanollee Cannery contact Johnson at 706-779-2218 or email [email protected].