This Weekend in Georgia

Golfers from near and far compete in the Towns County Chamber of Commerce Annual Lake Chatuge Golf Classic this Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 in Young Harris, Georgia. A portion of the proceeds, from this two-day golf event, will be awarded to a high school age athlete from Towns County. Each year's golf teams do their best to win a number of prizes including money and gifts. Enjoy golf in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains while helping a young athlete. The event begins at 7:30 AM on Saturday. Call the Chamber of Commerce at 706-896-4966 or visit mountaintopga.com for more information.


For a great evening's entertainment, this Saturday, June 13, watch the Red Top furnace crew in action at the Red Top Mountain Evening Iron Pour. See cast iron skillets in the making and make your own piece of unique iron artwork by purchasing a "scratch block mold" before the pour. Blocks will be available starting at 2 PM, and the pour starts at about 9 PM. Come early and hear live Blue Grass music! For more information call 770-975-4226, or visit the Red Top Mountain State Park website. To see Georgia Traveler's David Zelski participate in the Iron Pour at Red Top Mountain, visit the Georgia Traveler website.


The timeless Mark Twain story of a mischievious little boy and his friend, a runaway slave, comes to life before your eyes. Big River - the Musical is an adaptation of the Adventures of Huckbleberry Finn by Roger Miller and William Hauptman, and is opening the season at the Peach State Summer Theatre in Valdosta. Performances this weekend are Friday, June 12 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, June 14 at 5:30 PM. This is one for the whole family! For tickets and information call 229-259-7770, or visit the Peach State Summer Theatre's website.

And those are just a few of the great ways to explore Georgia this weekend. For more information, check out the Explore Georgia website operated by Georgia Traveler's production partners at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

This Week on Georgia Traveler: Old Dixie Highway

On this week’s episode of Georgia Traveler, we explore U.S. 41 from Macon to Cordele. The nation’s first planned highway, U.S. 41 is often referred to as the “Old Dixie Highway”. The team gets great travel advice at the Visitors Information Center in Macon and David sets off for fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café in Juliette. Phil celebrates the state fruit at the Peach Festival in Fort Valley while Keely shoots skeet on her getaway to Henderson Village in Perry. Everyone joins in the outdoor activity of golfing at Lake Blackshear in Cordele and David dives into the local legend of the Grit in Warwick.

Food Find: Whistle Stop Café (Juliette)
Georgia’s own little taste of Hollywood is in Juliette, home of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. Converted from an old country store into the now famous restaurant for the movie, the Whistle Stop Café attracts folks from all over anxious to try the fabled Fried Green Tomatoes. While visiting, David gets behind the counter and takes a stab at being a short order cook, but he decides to leave it to the professionals. The next time you’re walking along the tracks, stop off in Juliette and the Whistle Stop Café. And remember, the secret’s in the sauce!

Family Fun: Peach Festival (Fort Valley)
Georgia may be the Peach State, but there’s one place where the Peach is really king, it’s in Peach County, home of the Peach Festival! Phil takes the opportunity of a visit from the state’s greatest tourism show to the state’s greatest fruit to find great things to eat. And in a festival devoted to peaches, he didn’t have to look far: the Peach Festival is home to the world’s largest peach cobbler! Measuring five feet by eleven feet, and eight inches deep, this confection feeds Phil with just enough left over for the rest of the fair patrons! From the Peach Festival, visitors can take the free shuttle out to the Lane Packing Company, and see just how peaches are grown and turned into, among other things, delicious peach ice cream. If you’re like Phil, the experience will leave you debating the age-old question: peach or peach ice cream???
Link: http://www.gapeachfestival.com/

Getaway: Henderson Village (Perry)
Keely takes a step back in time when she visits Henderson Village, a bed and breakfast resort made up of an array of historic 19th Century buildings. Situated on 19 acres, Henderson Village features cozy rooms, fine dining, beautiful gardens, and a 3200-acre hunting preserve. Keely shoulders her firearm and snags a few clays before deciding she’s more into the quiet and peaceful side of Henderson Village. Whatever your interest, Henderson Village has got it.
Link: http://www.hendersonvillage.com/

Outdoor Activity: Golf at Lake Blackshear (Cordele)
When our Traveler crew pulled up at Lake Blackshear Golf Course at Georgia Veterans State Park, some thought the Three Stooges had arrived. Instead of Larry, Moe, and Curly, it was Keely, Phil, and David, but the hilarious hijinks were on a roll. Join the Traveler Trio as they show their golf skills, or lack thereof, and have a great time putting around at Lake Blackshear Golf Course.
Links: http://www.lakeblackshearresort.com/

http://www.gastateparks.org/info/georgiavet/

Local Legend: Grits Festival (Warwick)
“You can eat it with butter, you can eat it with cheese, you can eat it any time with any old thing you please. As long as it’s grits, baby!” Every year in Warwick, the Grits Capital of the World, grits lovers from all over come down to take part in the Grits Festival. Our David Zelski meets up with such local notables as Granny Grits, Mike McDaniel, who came in first place in the Grits Eating Contest, and even the Grits Queen. By the end of the day, David finds himself submerged in a vat of grits. The only things that were missing were the butter and cheese!
Links: http://www.gritsfest.com/

Georgia Traveler's "Old Dixie Highway," airs this Friday, May 1 at 9 PM, Saturday, May 2 at 7 PM, and Wednesday, May 6 at 7:30 PM on GPB. You can also watch this episode on Saturday, May 2 at 8 PM, and Sunday, May 3 at 8 AM on GPB Knowledge.

This Week: Historic South

On this week's episode of Georgia Traveler, it's off to Georgia's Historic South. Augusta is our destination city, which we visit during the world-renowned Masters tournament. We'll visit the boyhood home of America's 28th President and the State Botanical Gardens in Athens. We discover the comedic duo Laurel and Hardy in Harlem while Phil Proctor finds healthy food for the soul in Augusta. David Zelski undertakes a search for Santa Claus.



Georgia Traveler Episode 105 - Historic South (Augusta) airs this Wednesday, December 10, at 7:30 PM on GPB.

Please note Georgia Traveler will not be seen in its regular Friday and Saturday time slots on GPB this week.

Georgia Traveler 105 - Historic South will also be seen on the new digital channel GPB Knowledge, this Saturday, December 6, at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, December 7, at 8:00 AM.

For more information, check out our website at:
http://www.gpb.org/georgiatraveler/

Georgia Traveler is produced in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Check out the new Georgia Tourism website at http://www.exploregeorgia.org/

Georgia Public Broadcasting is Television, Radio and Education: your PBS station serving all of Georgia; your source for great music and NPR news; and Georgia's source for top-quality multiple media educational products and services.

Watch Georgia Public Broadcasting on these nine stations across Georgia: Atlanta - WGTV/8; Albany - WABW/14, Augusta - WCES/20, Chatsworth - WNGH/18, Columbus - WJSP/28, Dawson - WACS/25, Macon - WMUM/29, Savannah - WVAN/9, Waycross - WXGA/8.

Peach Festival this Weekend!

Celebrate Georgia's state fruit this weekend in Fort Valley at the Peach Festival. To find more about upcoming events, visit the Peach Festival website. If you want to eat part of the World's Largest Peach cobbler, check out the events page- serving starts at 2 PM Saturday, June 21!

The Peach Festival is featured on tonight's episode of Georgia Traveler as we explore U.S. 41 from Macon to Cordele. The nation’s first planned highway, U.S. 41 is often referred to as the “Old Dixie Highway”. The team gets great travel advice at the Visitors Information Center in Macon and David sets off for fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café in Juliette. Phil celebrates the state fruit at the Peach Festival in Fort Valley while Keely shoots skeet on her getaway to Henderson Village in Perry. Everyone joins in the outdoor activity of golfing at Lake Blackshear in Cordele and David dives into the local legend of the Grit in Warwick.

Georgia Traveler's "Old Dixie Highway" episode airs tonight at 7:30 PM!

You can also watch this episode online.

Behind the Scenes: Pine Mountain Passages

Georgia Traveler's Pine Mountain Passages epsiode airs tonight at 9 PM, tomorrow at 7 PM and next Wednesday, June 4 ay 7:30 PM. We thought it would be an ideal time to share some behind the scenes moments with our viewers from our shoot at Callaway Gardens.

Now, you may know about the lush gardens, beautiful walking trails and all the water fun at Robin Lake Beach, but do you know about the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center?

Co-hosts Keely Muse and Phil Proctor visited the center during their stay and had a butterfly identification contest. These beautiful residents of the Center were captured by our Executive Producer Ashlie Wilson. The day we visited the Butterfly Center actually started at the new Spa Prunifolia at Callaway. Here's a behind the scenes picture of co-host Phil Proctor preparing for a pedicure. That's Associate Producer Jennifer Houston Wood standing to Phil's left and Photographer Charlene Fisk pointing the camera at Phil's feet. Unfortunately for Phil, out production schedule didn't actually include enough time for him to get a full pedicure, so, he actually just kind of got his feet washed.

He was fine with that decision as soon as he learned that the next stop was a golf course! The Mountain View Championship Golf Course is just one of Callaway's courses that provide different challenges and scenery to golfers of all ages. Bud Robinson, Director of Golf at Callaway Gardens came out to give Phil a few tips about playing that first hole at Mountain View, which has been a site on the PGA tournament. Phil and Bud are standing on hallowed ground for the golf world. Tiger Woods, Phil Michelson and Sergio Garcia have all walked this green. Here's another behind the scenes pic featuring Phil, Bud and Photographer Charlene Fisk.

While golf has almost always been a part of Callaway Gardens, one of the newest additions is the Lodge at Callaway Gardens.
This is where the production crew stayed overnight during our visit and we were very pleased with the accommodations. In order to get some nice "tracking shots" which are smooth pans of particular features, our crew borrowed a luggage cart from the Lodge staff and set about to substitute the cart for what would have been a dolly and track situation under more exacting film circumstances. Always excellent stewards of the donations from GPB members, we often get creative! That's Jennifer Houston Wood pushing our "dolly" and Charlene Fisk with the camera. Here's a close up of Charlene when she's not looking through the viewfinder eyepiece.
Just look at that concentration!

And that's a glimpse behind the scenes of our "Getaway" shoot at Callaway Gardens! We would like to thank Rachel Crumbley down in Pine Mountain. She's the Corporate Relations Manager for Callaway Gardens and we're happy have met her and her staff. We all feel like we made new friends in West Georgia. Callaway Gardens is located near Columbus.