Community Events
COTTON PICKING FAIR FALL FESTIVAL
Footlong hotdogs and candy apples at the Cotton Pickin Fair in the Town of Gay on Saturday and Sunday May 1 & 2, 2021. The club has been a part of the Fair for over 45 years through fundraising efforts in order to give back to our community. The Cotton Pickin’ Fair is sponsored by The 1911 Society, Ltd., a Georgia not-forprofit corporation supporting sustainable rural development through agri-tourism, and is a seventh generation family business featuring a very unique venue and patron experience. In 1972 the Gay Family determined that the old cotton gin and other farm buildings would become the backdrop for an “invitation only” antiques, art, and craft festival produced to promote Gay, Georgia and Meriwether County as a good place to live. Meriwether County civic clubs, schools, churches and a wide range of non-profit organizations have exclusive access to food concession operations raising funds for many worthwhile community projects. For more than 40 years, funds raised at The Cotton Pickin’ Fair have paid for church buildings, a Masonic Lodge, band uniforms, school grounds improvements and church missions abroad. Smaller nonprofit organizations receive substantial support from The Cotton Pickin’ Fair through commercial food concessionaires. There are no better southern foods, anywhere! The COTTON WAREHOUSE, now The Cotton Pickin’ Fair Antique Center, dominates the grounds and was built before 1910 as a farm and building supply center. Later it was used to store a few thousand bales of newly ginned cotton.
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The Cotton Pickin' Fair is the signature fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Meriwether Co. The Fair is held twice a year on the first weekends in May and October.
he Meriwether County Rotary Club cooks over 700 foot long hot-dogs with slaw, chili and cheese. Other items include candy apples, tea, lemonade, coffee, and muffins for breakfast.
The Cotton Pickin’ Fair, a festival of art, antiques and crafts, is set for the first weekend in May and October at the Gay Family Farm, where it has been held continuously since 1972.
About 350 exhibits are expected in and around the farm buildings, which date from 1891. Fine art, antiques, pottery, weaving, basket making, blacksmithing, sculpture, wood working, folk art, jewelry, furniture and gourmet foods will be designed and produced by artisans from all over the United States.
There also will be entertainment on tap, including folk dancers and blue grass music at the main stage and magical illusions and sleight of hand, or the country sounds of the Honey Creek Band on other stages.
Local civic clubs, churches and schools will provide Southern foods from fried chicken to peach fried pies.
There will be a complimentary shuttle from the fair to Historic Red Oak Covered Bridge built by Horace King in the mid-1840s. The shuttle will be provided free of charge for Cotton Pickin’ Fair visitors.
Created by the Gay family, the fair is sponsored by The 1911 Society Ltd., a Georgia nonprofit corporation supporting sustainable rural development, farm preservation and agri-tourism.
The Cotton Pickin’ Fair is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. First weekend in October at the Gay Family Farmstead.
8 to 10,000 people attend the weekend fair.
September 25, 2024 11:54 am