Family Day of the 15th annual September Saturdays Festival will be held this Saturday, September 23rd, on the grounds of the Douglas County Courthouse. The largest annual community festival in the county is a two-Saturday event, begins this Saturday, and will feature 150 vendors and exhibitors.
The festival is open to the Public with free admission, free parking, free features, free rides, and free shuttle service from the Transportation Center parking lot. The free features include inflatable games, a train ride, a carnival ride, and a rock climbing wall. The Food Court will have everything from pizza to roasted corn to funnel cakes and BBQ. The festival goes from 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. and is organized by the Douglas County Department of Communications and Community Relations.
The presenting sponsor is Georgia’s Own Credit Union. The Courthouse front steps will serve as the festival stage, and the programs begin at 12 noon with the presentation of colors by the US Navy Sea Cadets Warrior Division and the National Anthem by the Mason Creek Middle School Chorus. Chorus presentations throughout the rest of the afternoon include:
12:30 p.m. – Annette Winn Elementary School Chorus
1:00 p.m. – Beulah Elementary School Chorus
1:30 p.m. – Alexander High School Chorus
2:30 p.m. – New Manchester High School Chorus
3:00 p.m. – Sweetwater Elementary School ENCORE Chorus
3:30 p.m. – Central Baptist Church Celebration Choir
4:30 p.m. – Winston Elementary School Chorus
5:00 p.m. – Chestnut Log Middle School Chorus
The school-level Teachers of the Year will be presented to fanfares at 2 p.m. on the Courthouse steps, and will be congratulated by a line of locally elected officials, School Board members, and other dignitaries in a show of support for the important work performed by teachers. Family Day further highlights the Douglas County School System with booths from numerous schools, including STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) demonstrations of robots, a cake walk, face painting, and school displays.
For those looking for a job, Family Day will have an informal jobs fair featuring the following businesses and agencies who are looking for employees:
Gordon Food Service
Caraustar
Water and Sewer Authority
Silver Line by Andersen
Douglas County School System Transportation and Nutrition Departments
Metro Garage Doors
Georgia State Patrol
Heritage Bag.
The Social Security Administration will also be on site, as well as the Atlanta Regional Work Source Mobile Career Lab with on-site career assistance.
Other festival features include free and confidential HIV testing (cheek swab, no needles, results in 20 minutes); free hearing testing; free computerized child ID program; and used book sale. Douglas County Commission Chairman Dr. Romona Jackson Jones will host her ‘Walking the Talk’ listening session in a tent adjacent to the Food Court. Other government agencies with tents will include Solicitor General Matthew Krull, Douglas County Libraries, the SPLOST Program, Tax Commissioner, Juvenile Programs, and Rideshare.
The theme of the festival is ‘it’s all about community’, and its sole purpose is to create a pressure-free, fun-filled atmosphere where all citizens can come together and enjoy being a part of the Douglas County ‘family’. Gold sponsors for the festival are T-Mobile, John Thornton Chevrolet, West Georgia Technical College, GreyStone Power, SunTrust Bank, and Coca-Cola. Silver sponsors include Kaiser Permanente, Jones-Wynn Funeral Homes, Resurgens Orthopaedics, Troy University, and BioLife. The train ride sponsor is District Attorney Brian Fortner, and the Media Sponsor is Chapel Hill News & Views.
