Downtown Greenspace Photo by Brent Tennyson

SummerFest Saturday

By Leigh Anne Butler

The Tallassee Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Tallassee Community Development Corporation, are hosting SummerFest this Saturday, June 22 at the Tallassee City Hall grounds.

“SummerFest is something that was started a few years ago,” Jerry Cunningham, director of the Tallassee Chamber of Commerce stated. “We didn’t anticipate that much in the beginning because of the heat but it has become a very well attended event.”

Most of the activities will take place at or around Tallassee City Hall at 3 Freeman Avenue in East Tallassee from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. There will be traditional vendors, food trucks, children’s activities, free pancakes, hot air balloon rides, and a fireworks show.

Fifty plus local vendors who are passionate about their goods and services will be on hand. This year’s vendor list is a mix of new and old favorites. There will also be an assortment of food trucks with a wide variety of food choices.

The family-friendly festival has a variety of children’s activities slated throughout the day including a waterslide, rock-climbing, pony rides, face painting, a petting zoo, and balloon artists.

Fun at last year's SummerFest

There are several contests planned for the day. A children’s watermelon eating contest will take place at 10:30 a.m. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and will include three age categories, 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12. A Doggy “Pawgeant” Costume Contest will take place at 11 a.m. Registration will open at 8 a.m. and close at 10:45 a.m. The contest is sponsored by Urban Tails and there will be cash prizes awarded. There will also be a Cookie Baking Competition at 11:30 a.m. Contestants must submit a dozen of the same kind of cookie and complete an online registration by Wednesday, June 19.

This year the annual festival added two new additions to the line-up; hot air ballon rides and fireworks show.

“The owner of the hot air balloon is very excited about coming down and being a part of SummerFest,” Tallassee Chamber of Commerce board member, Joey Wiginton added. “He has a beautiful hot air balloon and we’re going to do tethered rides where they will go up about 50 to 75 feet.”

The hot air balloon rides will take place in the East Tallassee Methodist Church parking lot adjacent to Tallassee City Hall. Rides will cost $10 each and two people are allowed to ride each time.

“Whether you want to ride or not, it’s beautiful watching it go up and come back down,” Wiginton added. “It really feels like you’re floating, and I can imagine the views of the water from up there will be beautiful.”

To conclude the day’s activities, a firework show will take place on Lake Talisi at 8:30 p.m.

A 10–15-minute firework display will take place from a pontoon boat from the center of Lake Talisi. You can view the fireworks from the Benjamin Fitzpatrick bridge or the Tallassee Community Library.

“We have a beautiful lake here in Tallassee and I want to give it exposure,” Wiginton stated. “Not many of us have places on the lake and you just don’t see many boats on it. This could become a good tradition for us and hopefully something we can build on each year.”

If you would like more information about any of the events mentioned, you can visit The Tallassee Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page or call (334) 283-5151.