The 4th of July celebration in Watkinsville, GA kicks off on Friday evening with First Friday on Main featuring a free art tour from 6:00-9:00 p.m. The Art Tour includes OCAF (Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation) on School St., Art Masters Gallery & Framing on N. Main, Sunshine Village, Main Street Gallery, C. Allee Studio & Gallery, Chappelle Gallery on S. Main, Emma Laura, Weber Photography & Design and Side Street Beads. There will be a shuttle to ease your trip around town, just park at Rocket Field a couple of blocks behind the Eagle Tavern. Restaurants that will be open are Chicken Express, Jittery Joe's coffee, Girasole's, Mirko Pasta and Barberitos.
Children won't be left out as there is Kid's Zone at the Courthouse Annex downtown where they'll be entertained with a sing-a-long with Happy Sam, Sidewalk Chalk, Bubbles and free rickshaw rides.
But get ready for the 4th!
From 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Eagle Tavern will be an Old Fashioned Fourth of July!
There will be free watermelon, popcorn, lemonade and cotton candy. Also available will be bar-b-cue and ice cream.
Kids can enjoy sidewalk chalk, a petting zoo, bubble blowing, dress up, coloring contest, hay rides, city police car and a fire truck.
If you're feeling a bit brave, sign up for the watermelon eating contest at high noon! Just how much can you eat?
Just to keep you from being bored, the James Hunter band will provide music.
And, to top it all off, is the Van Morrison Tribute Concert at Ashford Manor. Sorry, this one's not free, but adult tickets are only $15.00. Bring your blankets & chairs, a picnic and enjoy a summer concert on the lawn. For more concert information contact Ashford Manor at (706)769-2633 or amconcerts.com.
Every Saturday morning from May until October or so some 20 vendors of fresh, home grown vegetables, herbs, farm fresh eggs, fresh baked goods, salsa, jams, fresh flowers, decorated gourds, soaps and various other items gather behind the Eagle Tavern off Main Street in downtown Watkinsville to sell their products.
You might enjoy a cup of coffee while browsing the various tables and sample some goodies while visiting with friends and neighbors.
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You can often find heirloom varieties of fresh picked produce and much of it is organic.
Cheyanne, Camaryn & Trae Candelario make their own pies, cakes & breads to sell at the market.
The sweet potato pie looked especially yummy.
You'll find Gail & Eugene Moore at the market every Saturday. Eugene grows a variety of vegetables and Gail keeps her kitchen hot with jam, preserve and jelly making along with several types of baked goods.
Early spring vegetables include new potatoes.
Joy Nellans of Watkinsville decorates and sells gourds every imaginable way!
The Powell's from Bostwick offer up farm fresh eggs (including a green one!) plus some refreshing lemonade.
If you're wanting to start a backyard garden, you can even purchase a raised bed box that folds up for storage after the growing season.
Carrie Norris sells fresh mint, jellies, spring onions and some collard greens.
David has early tomatoes and squash at his table.
Karl Berg looks over David's early tomatoes and squash.
Karl has taken over running the farmer's market this year from Debbie Beese, who was instrumental in forming the market.
If you'd like more information about Oconee County, Watkinsville or housing in the area, please contact us at 706-296-7507 or e-mai Diane at diane@BoykinTeam.com.
Today was the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting for the Georgia Aquatic Center in Watkinsville, GA.
The center is a privately owned year round club that actually opened about 2 years ago with one pool and has since added two more with a fourth huge new outdoor pool under construction.
The first pool to open is this indoor competition sized pool. It is regularly used for workouts year round.
There are 6 schools that hold their swim practices here, making October through January one of the busiest times for the center according to the club owners.
This indoor/outdoor pool can be used year around. The sides of the bubble are open in the summer.
(Even though this is mid-May, we are having a "Blackberry Winter" and it has been very chilly for Georgia in May).
The outdoor pool can be rented for parties by club members or non-members.
Doesn't the giant slide look like fun?
Workers are putting the finishing touches on the huge new outdoor pool before it opens for the summer.
The new pool features a beach entrance with a bench on the side so moms can sit and watch small children play in the water.
The GA Aquatic Center offers swim lessons for both children and adults, stroke and turn clinics, an after school swim camp, the Greater Oconee swim club for children kindergarten through ninth grade, the Blue Marlins Summer Swim Team for children from 5 to 18 years. They compete in swim meets with other teams in Oconee County. Additionally, there is USA Swimming year round for serious swimmers.
The mission of the GA Aquatic Center is to "operate a family oriented, neighborhood club that is modern and energy efficient, to offer the highest quality programs, to employ the most qualified, friendliest staff which will afford our members the highest recreation and family entertainment value for their dollar."
The center is located on South Bishop Farms Parkway just off US 441 south of Watkinsville at New High Shoals Rd.
For more information about the center, visit their website at www.georgiaaquaticcenter.com or give them a call at 706-769-AQUA (2782).
It's almost time fot the Ashford Manor Concerts on the Lawn to resume for this year.
It's great fun to meet up with friends and reserve a table or just bring chairs or a blanket along with a picnic to enjoy the music in downtown Watkinsville, GA on a warm summer evening.
The schedule this year is:
May 25th - The Packway Handle Band (bluegrass)
June 8th - Sons of Sailors (sounds of Jimmy Buffett)
June 22nd - The Highballs (70's & 80's pop)
July 4th - Greg Hester's Van Morrison Tribute
July 13th - Lazy B & The Recliners (rhythm & blues)
July 27th - Grogus (Latin, Salsa & Jazz) Interesting combination, don't you think?
August 10th - Randall Bramblett (Southern Americana)
August 24th Mama's Love (funk, rock & organic jam)
September 7th Dirk Howell (Athens' own 60's style r&b beach music) Always a favorite!!
If you don't want to bother to bring your own food, it can be pre-ordered from local Watkinsville restaurants Mirkko's, Bqarberitos, Maison Bleu and Girasoles which will deliver on site.
If you're interested in more information about Watkinsville, GA or would like housing information, please go to our website at www.BoykinTeam.com or give Diane a call at 706-296-7507.
Pictures are courtesy of Ashford Manor Bed and Breakfast.
Last week was the 3rd Grade Ag Day in Oconee Co. (Watkinsville) GA. Sponsored by the Agribusiness Committee of the Oconee Co. Chamber of Commerce and the J. Phil Campbell Experiment Station, every 3rd grade class in the Oconee Co. school system plus Athens Academy (other private schools were invited but did not attend) visited the Experiment Station on Thursday or Friday morning.
There were 8 stations which included a horse. Volunteers spoke to the students about each topic.
There was a beef cow and calf.
Here a volunteer explains about meat and leather
Children learned about wool from the ewe & lamb
Each child was able to hold a day old baby chick. There were also several exotic breeds of chickens there as well.
One of the favorite displays is the farm equipment. After learning about how horsepower is calculated the children are allowed to climb on all of the tractors.
One of the scientists explains how animals are able to eat large amounts of forage. These are real stomachs, folks!
Another scientist explains that it it "soil" not "dirt". He tells about how water soaks into different soils and about soil erosion.
FFA students from North Oconee, Malcomb Bridge Middle and Oconee Middle Schools took turns talking about their horticulture projects at school.
It's amazing at how interested the children are in the displays and how much they learn about agriculture and where their food comes from. Their teachers have units on soils, water quality, etc. prior to the Ag Day.
It's hard to tell who had more fun, the 3rd graders or the volunteers who put on Ag Day. We're already looking forward to next year!
If you'd like more information about Oconee County, GA or would like to search for homes in the Athens, GA area please visit our website at www.BoykinTeam.com
There is a lot going on in Watkinsville these days. This weekend is the Southworks Arts Festival and juried art show sponsored by the Oconee County Arts Foundation (OCAF). There were many artists displaying and selling their work that includes garden art, photography, paintings, sculpture, jewelry, woodworking, weaving and, of course, pottery.
There was a crowd wandering through the booths and listening to music provided by local bands. There is also plenty of food to be enjoyed.
There were several jewelry booth. Always my favorites!
There are many local artists, both from Oconee and Clarke Counties, but there were also a number of out of town/state artists displaying their crafts.
Happy Valley Pottery is located in South Oconee County. They also have a gallery on South Main Street in Watkinsville. Jerry & Kathy Chappelle's pottery is sold nationwide.
I really wanted this for my back porch! Judy Bolton Jarrett from Columbia, SC will be having an exhibition at the Botanical Gardens in Athens from June 4- July 20, 2009.
Glassblower Loretta Eby is another Oconee County artist. She is well known for her hand blown Christmas ornaments as well as garden globes and hummingbird feeders in addition to her other work.
OCAF Members' booth
This beautifully decorated pottery caught my eye.
There is a juried art exhibit as well as arts festival. Besides the official judging, there is a people's choice award.
A sculpture in the art exhibit.
This is just one of the art events in Oconee County, GA which is well known as an art destination.
To search listings in the Athens, GA and Oconee County area, please visit our website at www.BoykinTeam.com.
One of my favorite things about early spring in Athens, GA is driving home down South Milldege Ave. through the UGA farms. Starting around the first of February the ewes in the pasture start lambing and seeing the little lambs gamboling around the newly green pasture always brings a smile to my face.
On a recent afternoon I stopped to try to capture the frolicking lambs but they were not going to cooperate. However, I did manage to take a few pictures to share of the lambs with their mamas to share with everyone.
Sheep Grazing on South Milledge Ave. Athens, GA
There was one nosey ewe that would not leave us alone. She was clamoring for either attention or food and I suspect it was food that she was looking for!
If you would like more information about the Athens, GA area or would like to search listings of homes in the Athens area, please visit my website at www.BoykinTeam.com
Imagine for a moment a woodland garden full of camellias, jonquils and hellebores (otherwise known as Lenten Roses). That is what you will find and more this weekend at Piccadilly Farms' annual Hellebore Days. Hundreds of visitors from all over the country will be there to witness this spectacle as they do each year. Sam Jones and wife Carlene have specialized in hellebores as well as hostas and conifers. This weekend showcases the hellebores which come in several colors including red, pink and white. They are perfect plants for shade gardens and the best news here is that deer don't really like to eat them! Anyone can visit and just enjoy the flowers, but I'll bet you can't leave without purchasing at least one plant.
Piccadilly Farm is located at 1971 Whippoorwill Road in Bishop, GA.
You can visit the farm between 10:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. on March 6 and 7 or at the same times any Friday or Saturday between now and the end of May.
Many people driving north on GA 15 toward Athens wonder why there is a huge statue of a horse standing proudly in the middle of a field, often nearly hidden by corn in the summer. Well, the answer is legendary in the Athens, GA area.
It seems that back in 1954, Abbott Pattison, then a UGA artist in residence, sculpted the horse out of metal. The horse's home was to be in front of Reed Hall, and the first night it was placed there, outraged students sprayed it with paint and a mattress was burned under it. After this, the horse was removed and hidden out. Later, L. C. Curtis, then in the Horticulture Department, offered the statue a place on his farm in Greene County, about 18 miles south of Athens. The statue was to remain the property of the University and was to be returned if ever UGA decided that it wanted it back.
The story goes that it was moved on a flatbed in the dark of a December night in 1959 and has remained on the Curtis farm, now owned by Jack Curtis, L.C.'s son, ever since.
UGA football fans enjoy the horse landmark as they know that they will soon be in Athens for the game.
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Every Saturday morning from May until October or so some 20 vendors of fresh, home grown vegetables, herbs, farm fresh eggs, fresh baked goods, salsa, jams, fresh flowers, decorated gourds, soaps and various other items gather behind the Eagle Tavern off Main Street in downtown Watkinsville to sell their products. 
Miss Gail's Southern Cooking in Watkinsville has an updated menu for summer!
It's almost time fot the Ashford Manor Concerts on the Lawn to resume for this year.
Last week was the 3rd Grade Ag Day in Oconee Co. (Watkinsville) GA. Sponsored by the Agribusiness Committee of the Oconee Co. Chamber of Commerce and the J. Phil Campbell Experiment Station, every 3rd grade class in the Oconee Co. school system plus Athens Academy (other private schools were invited but did not attend) visited the Experiment Station on Thursday or Friday morning.
There was a beef cow and calf. 
There is a lot going on in Watkinsville these days. This weekend is the Southworks Arts Festival and juried art show sponsored by the Oconee County Arts Foundation (OCAF). There were many artists displaying and selling their work that includes garden art, photography, paintings, sculpture, jewelry, woodworking, weaving and, of course, pottery.
There is a juried art exhibit as well as arts festival. Besides the official judging, there is a people's choice award.
One of my favorite things about early spring in Athens, GA is driving home down South Milldege Ave. through the UGA farms. Starting around the first of February the ewes in the pasture start lambing and seeing the little lambs gamboling around the newly green pasture always brings a smile to my face.
There was one nosey ewe that would not leave us alone. She was clamoring for either attention or food and I suspect it was food that she was looking for!
Imagine for a moment a woodland garden full of camellias, jonquils and hellebores (otherwise known as Lenten Roses). That is what you will find and more this weekend at Piccadilly Farms' annual Hellebore Days. Hundreds of visitors from all over the country will be there to witness this spectacle as they do each year. Sam Jones and wife Carlene have specialized in hellebores as well as hostas and conifers. This weekend showcases the hellebores which come in several colors including red, pink and white. They are perfect plants for shade gardens and the best news here is that deer don't really like to eat them! Anyone can visit and just enjoy the flowers, but I'll bet you can't leave without purchasing at least one plant.
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