This festival was a blast! If you love Bluegrass you must…read moreattend this next year. The festival runs from a Friday to sunday. Friday evening you check in at the main stage tent. For 5.00 you get a bidding paddle for live and silent auction. All the food you can eat, this year provided by Bourbon Street. Shimp, cornbread, deserts. Fab! All the wine you can drink. Yes you read that correctly! Plus you can purchase your Bear on the square tshirt! Bid on wonderful items! Listen to live music. I got to meet Ugly Cousin! Definitely go to the festival on Sunday. This is when the gospel music is until around 1pm Then, this year headlining the event was Becky Buller. Amazing song writer, singer and fiddle player. I got to meet her also and she signed all my stuff! Food, food, and more food. Everything you want. I got a gyro. It was awesome. A bit pricy but it's a festival. Basically if you enjoy Bluegrass go to this festival. You will get to meet some amazing artist that are very willing to speak with you and appreciate that you are a fan. Definitely going back next year.

WHERE IS THAT BEAR?…read more This is the twentieth year for the "Bear on the Square" Festival and I thought that it would be interesting because of the emphasis on Appalachian music and culture. We love all genres of music and enjoy being able to hear something different and speak with the various artists. Storytelling, workshops and demonstrations were also featured. This festival is a huge favorite of the locals and the highlight on a Sunday morning is the gospel jam which is held in a tent overflowing with attendees. This jam should have been held in the local park because of its size and the interest that it generates. During the Gold Rush Festival, the Sunday service is held in the park and it is wonderful and accessible to all. As a rule, we always attend the festivals on opening day (Saturday), because it has a fuller and more varied schedule. On this day, many of the acts were not scheduled to perform until later in the day around 1pm but since we were there at 9 am, we would love to have seen musical acts performing at that hour. The cool aspect of this festival was being able to talk to artists such as the resident weaver who were working this very sophisticated weaving machine that was making cotton wash cloths. She had been weaving since the age of seven and had definitely discovered her passion. I also enjoyed talking to the dulcimer artist who carefully constructed custom dulcimers one or two at a time. The craftsmanship was impeccable and it usually takes a minimum of three months to create one from beginning to end. You get to totally customize your own design and whatever you want, he will make an effort to execute it. There were plenty of vendors who were showcasing personal wares such as jewelry, pottery, leather, wood products, instruments, clothing, food items and more. This was just a beautiful day to walk around, explore and mingle with vendors and visitors. It was also a great way to cap off the weekend after spending all of Saturday working in the yard. Next year we will be sure to arrive on Saturday so that we can take advantage of the full schedule.

Dahlonega is an historic city in the North Georgia mountains, famous as it's the site of the first…read moremajor U.S. gold rush in 1828, which led to the establishment of a U.S. Mint and a rich mining history. What an adorable and charming little town with so many wonderful features. The downtown square is a must. An historic, walkable area with lots of shops, restaurants and galleries. I haven't been to the wineries in this area but I'm already making a list. Lol And there are plenty of outdoor activities to enjoy. Like hiking (beautiful trails), panning for gold and quite a few waterfalls with Amicalola Falls being my favorite. They have some of the biggest Art and crafts fairs I've ever seen, closing off all the streets in the town. It's such an adorable town with a beautiful town square and small town atmosphere that several Hallmark movies have been filmed there including, Christmas in Homestead, Christmas in the Smokies, and A Taste of Christmas. But my highlight is the way they go all out to light up the town for Christmas. You would swear that you were dropped into a "Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life" movie. Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas music playing, people bundled up and the horse drawn carriages. So beautiful. Always a fun and enjoyable time when visiting Dalanaga.

We came to Dahlonega, GA on vacation. We planned our trip to coincide with their Annual Bear on the…read moreSquare festival. Lots of bluegrass music is played all around town. Just walk through the historic town square and you'll find many groups of up to 15 - 20 musicians who just show up to play together. People are very friendly and welcoming here. At the festival there were also many vendor booths with food, jewelry arts and crafts. Lots of talented artisans and good deals to be had.

Such a fun spot for a tasting! With in an art gallery, I believe she said they had 25 different…read moreartist on display. Then the gifts they have our so cute, fun and playful. The strawberry mango wine you must try it was so good!

First off, I apologize for lack of photos. When we walked into this place, it was for the Wine…read moreTasting, so didn't even realize they had other things to purchase. It's not super easy to find! Dahlonega has lots of interesting twists and turns and back alley shops and some shops blended in so well with other places, that a random door opens up to more unique experiences. So, that's how we found this place. We were waiting to get our names in for Bourbon Street Grille, and this random door behind us boasted wine tasting. I thought it was just a one room deal behind us. When you see the door and the shop, you'll fully understand. If you like wine, this is worth it and a MUCH better deal than the Wine Festival (which is what we came for). It's not a big place and technically only has about 8 seats at the bar for tasting. Thankfully, it seemed all the festival goers didn't know about this place (bc it's totally a Harry Potter hidden type of deal) so we got 4 seats. The kids roamed around the shop while we tried wine. The flights are $12/$16 based off the wines you want. They have white, red, blended and rose. Oh, check in on Yelp and receive one free taste of any wine (I used mine)!!! I did the Rose, Merlot, Vidal Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and the Petit Manseng. Loved the Merlot (had a spicy after taste) the most! Then the Pinot Grigio. The Petit Manseng is their strongest wine but was my least favorite. However, I tasted the Trillium from someone else's in our group and LOVED IT. We ended up buying a bottle of Mtn Harvest Red plus the Apfelwein (the lady described it so well and made us want to get a bottle). I can honestly say I had such a buzz from the flight that I stopped drinking when we went to go eat. The wine was really good and certainly hit, so be careful! Totally worth checking this place out, if you can find it!!!

Had a great time at the Lavender Lamb Farm. Picked a bunch of Lavender and bought some lovely gifts…read moreat the gift shop. Amazing viiew.

They are usually close on Sundays, however, we called and they opened for us. We got an…read moreinformative, impromptu lesson on lavender and the various uses the shortbread cookie. Samples were delicious and it's pretty scenic. We ended up buying a few home made lavender based products.

What could be better after a hike on beautiful Yonah Mountain than a visit to nearby Yonah Mountain…read moreVineyards? A lot of things as it turned out. Although the setting is admittedly spectacular, acres of hilly vineyards with views of the mountain behind, and the patio was certainly fancy, the tables each with fire pits in the center providing cheery warmth, the tasting experience itself was sub-par and overpriced. It lacked the authentic feel I've seen in other wineries and seems more of a tourist destination. First thing I noticed is the shockingly high tasting fee of $35 for a flight of 4 2-ounce pours of their choice. No substitutions allowed! Either these are some spectacularly great wines or this is a major rip-off. I passed. But since I was here I decided to have a glass. I got one of their estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. It was around $16 but since I was here. It was good, but certainly not worth the $48 they charge for a bottle. For the $35 do you get individual attention, descriptions from the bartender about the wines and about their winery? No. You get 4 labeled glasses to take back to your table. Not worth it. Find another place less touristy, more authentic. That shouldn't be hard. There are like 65 wineries in the area!

"Wine enters through the mouth, Love, the eyes…read more I raise the glass to my mouth, I look at you, I sigh." William Butler Yeats With the beautiful backdrop of the rolling hills of North Georgia, Yonah Mountains Vineyards delivers real wine and real romance. Whether it's for an afternoon date, or a full out wedding among the rows of vines, it's hard not to feel love in the air. Great outdoor seating, both covered and uncovered, place you right above the beautiful vineyard and allow you to take it all in. Yonah Mountains Vineyards separates itself from the others by providing familiar wines such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay etc as opposed to the traditional Muscadine wines of the south. The wine itself is decent, but definitely not near the quality of the west coast wines, but all were enjoyable. I particularly liked their Genesis 12, a red wine blend, and their Viognier, an impressive white. Wine flights are around $60 with a choice between white, red, or mixed. Bottles run around $40-100. A little pricey for the product, but then again, it's the whole experience that you are buying, and it's money well spent. Yonah Mountain Vineyards strikes the perfect balance between classy and casual. You'll be just as comfortable in jeans as in a tux or a horrid bridesmaid dress. Cheers!

Wow, a lavender field and a beautiful variety of other colorful blossoms growing so that you can…read morepick flowers to make your own bouquet!! Walk the fields soak in the nature, watch the bees and butterflies that love their habitat in the Dahlonega mountains! When you enter the gift shop the lovely scent of lavender will immediately be apparent! There's a gift shop that is what I would label, "Everything Lavender!" Eye masks, balms, lotions, air freshener, dried flower bouquets, wreaths and much more. It's a dainty, cute shop sure to make you want to purchase something. I bought a special tea with all natural ingredients that I am look forward to drinking on a cool fall morning!

You can find me at all the flower fields this summer. Wow, what a stunning property to walk around…read moreand take in all the beauty summer wildflower blooms have to offer. Dahlias are my favorite, but it was hard to choose among the rainbow of colors and flowers in the gardens. There is a small parking fee, but well worth it. Their lavender fields are in full bloom beginning in June, so I have got to go back in a couple of weeks to see those! They offer one of the largest lavender fields in the southeast covering five acres. If you want to pick your own lavender, you must purchase tickets ahead of time on their website to reserve your spot. They also offer fresh flower bouquets for purchase in the cottage shop, as well as tons of handcrafted lavender products (made in house straight from field to jar). I wanted to buy everything as I am a huge proponent of clean, natural skincare ingredients and theirs are only made with the purest, highest quality ingredients. Can't wait to take another drive up to Dahlonega for a second visit!

The festival always has plenty of vendors and their tents setup to keep people busy. Cars are…read morebeautiful and interesting to view at leisure. The foods are always delicious.

Great car show, good vendors with some food options. It's an area tradition. Our first time and was…read morevery impressed they had an electric scooter rental which makes the day "do-able" if you have endurance or walking issues. My fav Vendor was "The Zoo: Groovy Yard Art" from Mineral Bluff, GA around the Blue Ridge area. Bought a sweet little cat us sculpture for the front years traditional green with blue flowers and definitely will be f going to their 7 acre property to check out the rest of the selections. They had all your seasons covered along with some pretty interesting and unusual pieces. I want to add a couple large cactus to our new collection A surprising lack of actual moonshine, which I guess with liquor laws, children of all ages etc. understandable. Just thought maybe they'd play up the name. The dog got to try some

Beautiful setting, interesting artwork and relaxed surroundings. The owner is hands on and shared…read morethe history. A large variety of wine, however our focus was on the reds. Really enjoyed the Joe Pye red and Cabernet Franc. Distinctively different and would pare well with the owners description. Fat Boy was slightly on the sweet side for our palate, but would appeal to those who like a sweeter wine. Very enjoyable experience!

We really wanted to love this place. Pros: cute place, GREAT staff, chill vibe. Cons: the wines…read morewere not to our liking. Sad face.

So I was up in this part of Georgia and did a couple of wine tours and this was one that I stopped…read moreat. It was pretty cool and the venue itself was really nice. You'll come in after you park and then go straight to the building and there's a huge bar top area but there's a dining room area all around so you probably can rip this space out because there's plenty of seating. I was trying to do the flight so that I could get a full taste of what they have and they have multiple options. A lot of them are reds though, so just keep that in mind. If you don't like the dry reds, you may want to check for something else but they do have plenty of options. What I liked about this one was that the flight that I ordered was actually a full glass of wine and not small tastings. I got a full perspective of what it would look like to have a full glass. Just know that the wine will get you there lol. It's okay. Three glasses of wine over a good view, you can't beat that. They have an indoor, like I mentioned, but everybody was actually sitting outdoors on the patio area. The patio area was covering the view of all the greenery and all the vines and the backdrop of being in nature. It is a really good view. Everybody there was super cool and very helpful when we talked to them about that and they gave good explanations to the specific whys because if you don't know, you don't know. You check the pictures and you know what I mean but it's a really good view so I would definitely give this a shot!

We planned our day trip to the North Georgia wine country specifically to visit Frogtown. Very…read moredisappointed that they were closed on our 11/30/24 visit. Nothing was posted on their website mentioning this fact. We arrived to a deserted winery and after walking around to see what was happening, we were met by a gentleman who worked there, but said that they close every year for Thanksgiving week to visit their family in California, which is where we travelled from. On top of this, a couple weeks earlier, we met their daughter (Jordan Fiorentini, winemaker at Epoch Wines in Paso Robles, CA) and told her that we were going to visit Frogtown during Thanksgiving week, and she also didn't say anything about them being closed. They really need to work on their communication...

Apollo is so so sweet!! And I love my drink she made and so did all my friends!! This place has…read moregreat flavors for lattes and teas. My favorite is their wildflower in just about anything and I highly recommend trying them if you love a good spread of interesting flavors in your drinks!

Want a cool vibe and great coffee - THIS IS THE PLACE !!! Owner Holly is so welcoming and…read moreFANTASTIC!! The Roots part of the building is a cool vibe place to listen to real music !!! Enjoyed Hughes Talyor this evening - what a guitar and vocals !! Love them !!! Again - support the locals - this one is special !!!!