CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ga. — Saturday, you can pop over to Roberta in Crawford County for their pottery show.
It's called the annual Jug Festival and Old Knoxville Days.
This year, some young folks learned a skill that dates back hundreds of years.
Red clay that’s mined off the banks of the Echeconnee Creek is golden to folks in Crawford County.
High school students from Stephen Johnson's art class made about 85 pieces for the Jugfest this year.
They hoisted them into the kiln named "the Groundhog" because half of it sits underground.
Lundyn Castrobillari had the tallest piece in the group, wrapped with expression.
“It has 19 faces and it took a week-and-a-half to make,” she said.
She figures she can earn $250 for the creation, and it's not lost on her that she did what her forefathers accomplished.
“I saw videos of them making it in the old days and I thought that was very fun,“ she recalled.
“It wasn't done for art, it was done to survive. They were making dishes and crocks,” Johnson said.
Patti Temple is with the Chamber of Commerce.
“Farm people know they get one crop, so they wanted something that would sustain them longer, so they began to work with the pottery,” she explained.
In fact, Temple helped the Kiwanis Club get the festival off the ground in the late 1990s.
“I said, 'Let’s get this thing going. Let's have this pot show,' and they all laughed and said, 'We can't call it that,' and that's how it became the Little Brown Jug Festival,” she exclaimed, which turned into the Georgia Jug Festival.
It's a celebration of the rich pottery history in the area.
“It has given Crawford County an identity,” Temple said proudly.
That identity is a link to the past, not forgotten and passed on to new generations.
Everything gets going in downtown Roberta Saturday.
They will have a kids area, a firefighter truck pull, and, of course, lots of pottery for you to enjoy. You will also be able to chat with the artists.