-- —
Hard to believe that Hahira started its annual Hahira Honeybee Festival in the early 1980s. The Americana tradition of the festival’s parade, arts & crafts show and more hark back to an earlier period in American history.
But Hahira forged this tradition in an era when many small-town festivals started to die. The Hahira Honeybee Festival started in an age when new entertainments were taking root across the nation and in South Georgia.
Culturally, the early 1980s will be better remembered as the beginning of MTV, the rise of video games, cable television, the ability for a family to rent a movie to play in their homes, and any number of entertainments that could easily distract folks from attending an old-fashioned parade or festival.
But not in Hahira.
Hahira started a festival in the midst of all of these technological entertainments which have only grown more elaborate and more popular in the past few decades. Yet, Hahira’s Honeybee Festival has not only survived. It has thrived.
Tens of thousands of people regularly attend the annual parade which is scheduled to return Saturday, Oct. 6, to Downtown Hahira. They leave behind their cable TV, Internet, video games, central air-conditioning, DVDs, and CDs to come to the Hahira Honeybee Festival.
Or, at least, they bring many of those things with them in their smart phones, but they come to the festival anyway.
They come to celebrate a town and their neighbors and a hopefully golden Saturday afternoon with a bit of cool in the air as a parade passes by.
They will do so this weekend again for the 31st Annual Hahira Honeybee Festival, and if Hahira remains true to the festival’s roots, people will likely still attend in another 31 years or even to the year 3131 despite the technological advances of other entertainment.
What We Think
Why we love the Honeybee Festival
- What We Think
-
-
Thoughts on graduation
Graduation ceremonies reflect how life marches on. For the students receiving their diplomas and degrees, graduation is a culmination of the majority of their lives’ work.
-
Thumbs up, thumbs down
THUMBS UP: To Dr. John Gaston, retiring dean of Valdosta State University’s College of the Arts. For the past 10-plus years, Gaston has worked to build a more interconnected program with various artistic and communications departments working together. Given that you are likely to see one College of the Arts department collaborating with another during events is proof of Gaston’s success.
-
On the go this weekend
Take a breath.
-
Sharing the roads with motorcycles
With the recent pleasant temperatures and sunny skies, the number of motorcycles on area roads has increased.
-
Thank your local law enforcement today
Today, May 15, was designated Peace Officers Memorial Day back in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy was in office.
-
Visit musical roots this weekend
Beginning Saturday, May 18, Nashville, Ga., will be hosting a special Smithsonian exhibit, “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.” The exhibit will continue through the end of June and Nashville has done a tremendous job in promoting and planning for the exhibit.
-
Happy Mother’s Day!
A few years ago, a television commercial asked, Who first believed in you? Many folks may have instinctively answered by simply saying, Mom.
-
Thumbs up
THUMBS UP: To mail workers, volunteers and food bank staff for gathering food for the annual Stamp Out Hunger postal food drive today. A plastic bag designated for canned goods and other non-perishable food items should have arrived in your mailbox earlier this week. If you haven’t already, take a few moments to fill the bag with food and hang from your mailbox. If you didn’t receive the special Stamp Out Hunger bag, any plastic bag filled with food will do. This food drive helps feed thousands of South Georgians annually. Valdosta-Lowndes County often donates more food than nearly all other cities and counties in Georgia.
-
Celebrating nurses
She is considered the founder of modern nursing so it seems only natural that National Nurses Week would include Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
-
Helping the hungry: Mail it in!
Valdosta-Lowndes County continues revealing its generous spirit.
- More What We Think Headlines
-
Thoughts on graduation
