Drumline Battles To Highlight September Saturdays Festival

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA – The Douglas County 16th annual September Saturdays Festival presented by Google kicks off this Saturday, September 22nd at 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with lots of food, music, carnival rides, and nearly 200 vendors and exhibits on the grounds of the Douglas County Courthouse, located at 8700 Hospital Drive.

The festival is free and features some firsts for the general public. “We are excited to offer free admission, free parking, free rides, and free shuttle service from the Transportation Center parking lot,” Rick Martin, director of communications & community relations said. “For the first time in addition to Douglas County’s school chorus groups, we will showcase additional talents of the Douglas County School system with the award-winning drumline bands from Douglas County High School and Lithia Springs High School.”

“We are honored to have for the very first time, the Douglas County High School “Blue Steel” Drumline,” Martin said.

The “Blue Steel” Drumline consists of student percussionists and operates both independently and as a part of the Incomparable Marching Tiger Band from Douglas County High School. “The “Blue Steel” Drumline boasts several “Best In Class” awards from various marching band competitions held in the past two years,” Torre Goodson, band director said. “As an independent unit, the “Blue Steel” Drumline is the current champion of the CADENCE percussion challenge and can be seen competing at the 2018 CADENCE Challenge at Douglas County High School on November 4th,” Goodson said.

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The front steps of the Douglas County Courthouse will be transformed into a stage, and just steps away from the stage will be the Food Court where ten food vendors will be offering various delicacies from hot pizza to funnel cakes to barbecue.

The festivities for the day will kick off with the presentation of colors by the US Navy Sea Cadets Warrior Division and the National Anthem sung by the choral group from Beulah Elementary school. Other choral groups scheduled to sing include students from South Douglas and Sweetwater elementary schools and Factory Shoals Middle School with their brand new chorus teacher Mr. Lucas Tarrant.

The theme Family Fun Day was established to give everyone in the community an opportunity to let their hair down so to speak and have fun according to the Douglas County communications and community relations department. Similar to years in the past, the Courthouse will have people from all over the area walking through and visiting booths from many schools for the School Expo. “With Google being a presenting sponsor, it’s crucial to celebrate technology and our students with our School Expo,” Douglas County Chair, Dr. Romona Jackson Jones said. STEAM (science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and math) demonstrations of robots will be on sight in addition to a cake walk, face painting, and other school displays.

Communities In Schools of Douglas County and the Douglas County School System continue to convey their appreciation as co-organizers of the September Saturdays Festival.

“We appreciate the partnership we have with the Board of Commissioners and the Communications and Community Relations Department for the commitment to our children and families,” Mitzi Teal, executive director of Communities In Schools said.

“The event proceeds benefit our After School Programs, REACH scholarship and MATCH Mentoring Program, and all three of these programs help encourage our students to stay in school and gain necessary skill sets to be successful in life,” Teal said.

The school-level Teachers of the Year will be presented to fanfare at 2 p.m. on the Courthouse steps and will be congratulated by a line of locally elected officials, School Board members, and other dignitaries in a show of support for the vital work performed by teachers.

Other festival features include free and confidential HIV testing, cheek swab, no needles, results in 20 minutes; free hearing testing; free computerized child ID program; and used book sale. Douglas County Commission Chairman Dr. Romona Jackson Jones will host her ‘Walking the Talk’ listening session in a tent adjacent to the Food Court. Other government agencies with tents will include Solicitor General Matthew Krull, Douglas County Libraries, the SPLOST program, tax commissioner, juvenile programs, and ConnectDouglas formerly known as Rideshare.

September Saturdays has sponsors like Coca-Cola Bottling Company United which will be offering free sample tastes of its product. John Thornton Chevrolet will showcase several of their vehicles on site as well including some of the latest pickup trucks available on the market. Georgia’s Own Credit Union, GreyStone Power, SunTrust Bank, West Georgia Technical College, T-Mobile, Troy University, Jones-Wynn Funeral Homes & Crematory and Resurgens Orthopaedics all are supporting the 2018 September Saturdays Festival.

Photo of Douglas County HS “Blue Steel” Drumline courtesy Douglas County