Community Corner

Rose Lawn Festival Draws Record Number of Artists

Admission to the arts festival that takes place in Cartersville Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. is free.

A record number of more than 90 artists were selected for the 36th-annual Arts Festival at Rose Lawn set for Saturday and Sunday. 

“In our 36th year, we have added three new rows of artists filling the 3-acre property to capacity for the Arts Festival at Rose Lawn,” Rose Lawn's Executive Director Jane Drew said in a press release. 

The show is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. on the grounds of historic , the home of evangelist Sam Jones and admission is free.

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“Pottery is a real showcase at our festival with 14 potters displaying in the event, yet the diversity of this medium makes each display unique,” said Drew.

While the Arts Festival at Rose Lawn is well known for its potters, it also hosts jewelry artisans, wood craftsmen and painters, photographers, and a number of glass and fabric creations. Artists from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee were chosen to exhibit in the show.

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More than 35 juried artists will compete for $1,000 in prizes. The Best of Show award along with first-, second- and third-place winners in both Fine Arts and Heritage Crafts will be presented on stage Saturday at 1 p.m. The awards ceremony will also feature the Hospitality Heroes Awards and the prestigious People’s Choice Awards for Best Restaurant, Best Shoppe and Best Attraction, presented by festival sponsor, the .

Throughout the two-day festival, local performing arts groups will showcase their talents on stage. will open the festival with a performance at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Additional Saturday performers include , , Cartersville City Ballet, Spirit of the Dance, North Rome Church of God Singers, and Soloists Carmen Jordan and Terry Jordan. Penn Lester and The Dixie Hot Shots will close the day with a Bluegrass concert from 3:45 to 5:00 p.m.

Sunday performances begin at 12:30 p.m. with Stephanie Culver and Praise Team. Rick McKee of Cosmic Possum Music will perform at 1:30 p.m. Randall Mullinax, whose acoustic performances have included Eddie’s Attic in Decatur and Cartersville’s , will take the stage at 2:30 p.m. Cartersville’s own 3B&JG band will return for the second year to close out the event with music at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to fine arts and crafts, visitors may enjoy Victorian House Museum Tours—at $4 per person—in which they will be introduced to the life and times of Rev. Sam Jones, a fiery Methodist evangelist noted by Wikipedia as “one of the most celebrated revivalists of his day, at the close of the 19th Century.”

Jones is credited with having great influence on Will Rogers and Tom Ryman, the latter of which constructed the Union Gospel Tabernacle, better known as the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, so that Jones would have a fitting place to hold revival meetings.  

Tourists also will discover Jones’ connection to Rebecca Latimer Felton, a Cartersville resident who was the first female to be seated in the U.S. Senate. 

Children will enjoy special programs by the in the Rose Lawn Schoolhouse, which served as Jones’ study and also was where the seven Jones children were educated. 

During the festival, costumed docents will introduce children to toys and games from long ago and will have hands-on craft activities.  Other popular features include the annual Master Gardener’s Plant Sale and AAUW Book Sale. As always, there will be a variety of foods for sale from seven select vendors on both days.

Rose Lawn is sponsored by the and Cartersville-Bartow County Convention & Visitors Bureau.


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