Moonshine Festival

This was my first year and it will not be my last.
I enjoyed all the antique moonshine running cars.
I learned a lot about the making of moonshine.
We got to meet a few people from the realty show.
The few local band pickers were nice. The liquor store was only place to buy moonshine but they offered a nice free raffle.
There was a fun kids area for playing. Many tents set up for long distances and dogs are welcome.
It was very busy and parking was tight but overall I really enjoyed my time here.
I took off one star for the lack of moonshine related booths. A museum of moonshine would be good. Plus I found a huge lack of areas to sit down and eat. My dad is elderly and needs breaks to rest but he had nowhere to sit.
I also have to add my criticism of the dance troupe company that blared it’s music all over. These very young girls are dancing to modern pop music that’s not proper and def not suited for this type of event. Girls dancing were twerking and doing unlady like moves. I was not the only one making negative statements but I’m sure the plethora of older men didn’t mind. Some hoedown music would be fun but no HOEdown dancing is needed.

A BIT DISAPPOINTING!
The Dawsonville Moonshine Festival is the unrefined country cousin of the Dahlonega Gold Rush Festival. Not even close! We attended today and I was very disappointed because of the limited number of quality vendors and the overall tone of the festival. It was a bit smoky, (cigarettes), for my taste and they seemed to have an over abundance of typical food vendors and for profit businesses soliciting clients.
The port-​a-​potties had no hand sanitizer or way of washing your hands after using them. I of course did not use them. If you want a nice clean facility with plenty of stalls and sinks, I suggest that you walk down to City Hall which is a short walk from the action.
Although they had a great band performing on stage at one of the intersections, there was no seating provided and after walking around for a couple of hours, the last thing you want to do is stand to watch a performance.
As expected, there were lots of beautiful classic vehicles from every era, racing cars, roadsters, cars, trucks and a Ford Bronco. However for me, the star of the show was a recently purchased 1915 Steam Tractor in full demonstration mode. It was unbelievable and we really enjoyed speaking with the owner who was just beaming with pride. He informed us of the steam engine parade that occurs every Fourth of July in the town and I will definitely be turning out for this event.
They did have a nice petting zoo and large inflatable play area for kids.
The shuttle (from the local high school), is still the best deal in town: free and convenient. Don’t even try to drive into town as it is not worth it.
Lower your expectations and you will be fine.

This Fall festival takes place in my town, so it hurts to not to be supporting it 100%.
There is a large car show that is the highlight of the weekend, so kudos on that. Unfortunately the infrastructure of Dawsonville and the volunteers who handle the traffic just do not support the volume of people that show up for the festival. The volunteers are edgy; if you can’t handle high stress events, you need to stay home, and let somebody else handle it.
There are a few good booths, but it ends up being a big flea market atmosphere with a bunch of people wandering around trying to find the purpose for being there. It just does not seem to be put together well, but maybe the folks who put this event on will eventually get a handle on it.