Georgia Apple Festival

I’ve been reading some of the low reviews for the apple festival. That’s probably because you went to the festival. What we have figured out is to not go to the actual festival. Instead, we go to downtown Ellijay, which is fantastic. And it is free. Plenty of stuff like you’d buy at the actual festival on display. Good food. Lots of shops and restaurants. Easy parking. I like Ellijay better than Blue Ridge. I feel bad because Andre’ M may have made the trip due to my positive reviews on the Chattanooga board. I should have made clear: Don’t go to the actual festival. Go to downtown Ellijay. The actual festival is basically the same homemade junk you see at any festival. Rows and rows of it.
After you go to downtown Ellijay, you can hit Panorama Orchards and load up on pies and other apple stuff. And then drive back via Fort Mountain. A fun day. BTW, there are many orchards in the area to choose from. Panorama just happens to be our favorite.
By the way, Ellijay recently opened what they call the Ellijay Boardwalk. What a stroke of genius. And what a carpentry job! Huge boardwalk that connects the rear entrances of several downtown businesses with places to sit and relax. Great idea and well done!

Nickle and dimed. Five dollars to park, five dollars per adult to get in and kids over ten years old charged as well all to shop for overpriced crafts and food with poor entertainment. There’s much better options out there.

Ellijay, the «Apple Capital of Georgia» hosts the Georgia Apple Festival every year in the month of October. Tourists and locals alike flock to the fairgrounds, battling traffic, large crowds, and a swarm of stinging insects (wasps) to take part in the festivities.
Being the most prominent thing that Ellijay has to offer, the Georgia Apple Festival is a prime opportunity for locals to raise funds for their various local charities and organizations. The cost of parking near the fairground was $ 5, and admission was $ 5/​person (free for children under 10).
There, several rows of venders were hawking their overpriced wares. A large number of these vendors were offering food: funnel cakes, apple dumplings, fried Oreo’s, chicken pot pie, gyros, BBQ, etc. Others were selling sauces, pickled veggies, apples, cider, spice blends, and fudge. The other vendors were selling various arts and crafts — metal art, gemstones, jewelry, wreathes, paintings, and other assorted novelties.
Other activities sighted there: inflatable slides, a rock climbing wall, a zip line, a bungee trampoline setup, a carousel with REAL ponies, and… wait for it… camel rides. Real friggin’ camels.
Be advised, as I mentioned earlier, there were wasps everywhere. Apparently, they too are attracted to the abundance of sweet apples.
My overall impression: «Meh» — though I’m not sure I would be able to comfortably recommend the Georgia Apple Festival specifically, I certainly can recommend visiting the scenic Ellijay area in general during this time of year.

Do no let the name fool you, this festival has nothing to do with apples! This was a big let down after a hour drive to Ellijay from Metro Atlanta. This festival was more about local vendors and artisans hawking their overpriced crafts/​goods! It’s $ 2 to park and $ 5 to get into the festival. **You park about a mile away from the fairgrounds and can take a shuttle or walk to the festival.** There were a few rides/​activities for kids but you had to pay extra for them (not included in the admission fee). There was also plenty of fried food and overpriced sugary drinks for sale for all your diabetic inducing cravings. I would not recommend wasting your time or money to travel to this festival if you don’t live nearby.

A lot of fun for the family! Plenty of treats and things for the kids to do. It is a «dry» festival so if you want your drinks you better bring your own…

Apples are not the center of attention at the Georgia Apple Festival! I was expecting many more apple vendors and less crafts. 3 apple venders and about 100 craft vendors, plenty of overpriced fried food too. I enjoyed walking around but really wished it was more apple themed.

I went to the Georgia Apple Festival over the weekend and thought it was OK. Let me preface this brief review by saying that arts and crafts festivals really aren’t my thing, especially out in the country. I enjoy festivals like the Atlanta Dogwood Festival (Piedmont Park) and the Inman Park Festival, but the Georgia Apple Festival is all the way out in Ellijay, a good 1.5 hours north of Atlanta.
Ellijay is the «Apple Capital of Georgia,» and I was expecting to see tons of apples at the festival. Instead, it was just another arts and crafts festival. I’m not the best when it comes to appreciating these things. I think the coolest thing I saw was some guy using an old-​school apple peeling/​coring machine (check out my pics) near the entrance. Other than that, there wasn’t anything too terribly interesting about this festival. The only other things I can remember were some guy doing «chainsaw art» (carving sculptures with a chainsaw), old people square dancing and clog dancing, and playgrounds for the kiddies (inflatable slides, rock climbing wall, etc.).
As is common at most festivals, the food here wasn’t cheap. $ 8 for a gyro, $ 6 for a funnel cake, $ 3 for freshly squeezed lemonade, etc. The famous Pink Pig from Cherry Log, GA had a stand set up here. If you go, I’d get food from them.
Admission was $ 5 per person and the suggested parking donation (goes towards Boy Scouts) was $ 2 per vehicle. This is a popular event and there were tons of people there on Sunday. Both on-​site and off-​site parking are available. If you park off-​site, you are shuttled to and from the event in yellow school buses. At the time, I didn’t think think the fees were a big deal, but in hindsight, I wonder why the better in-​town festivals are free, yet this one charges an admission fee.
This festival has been around forever, so it’s well organized. Also, most of the staff and vendors were friendly, so that was cool.
In the end, I give the Georgia Apple Festival 2.5 stars out of 5 (rounded down to 2).

This is a great event for anyone to attend. There are various arts and crafts there, and the food court is amazing. There are many folks that return every year just to have their festival vice food. Mine is the Gyro plate. It’s excellent every year.
You can also catch some decent music acts, or dancers here. I’m not too keen on these, but some people enjoy this.
They have kiddie attractions also, so parents don’t have to drag the kids along without entertaining them.
Make sure you grab a bag (or two!) of apples, and get a spiral sliced caramel apple too!

The Apple Festival is a tradition for a lot of people. The streets of downtown Ellijay are always crowded this time of year. Everyone coming to catch a glimpse of the new arts and crafts this year and taste the many different apple treats and sweets.
For those of you that don’t have that tradition… if you’ve been once, you’ve seen it all already.
This event is definitely one for family. Everyone should at least come once, and make to sure to visit the apple houses out HWY 52 East.