Hemlockfest, hosted by the Lumpkin Coalition since 2005, is an three-day annual music festival held the first full weekend in November. The festival promotes public awareness of the invasive species devastating our Eastern and Carolina Hemlocks. Proceeds from the festival provide financial support for the biological control research programs at the University of Georgia, Young Harris College, and North Georgia College and State University. These labs are developing protocols to rear and distribute predatory beetles to combat the destructive hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an aphid-like insect native to Asia. Festival proceeds also support other regional environmental efforts, including restoration of the American Chestnut.
Hemlocks are a keystone species and are of great importance to wildlife, water quality, economy, and basic quality of life.
Festival activities include live music, camping, local arts and crafts vendors and demonstrations, kids activities, a silent auction, and interactive presentations and exhibits. Experts are on hand to answer your questions about the hemlocks, the American Chestnut, and other forest ecology issues.
Vendors provide food & drink (including beer and wine with proper identification), jewelry, pottery, wood, stone and metal sculptures, Native American crafts, paintings, watercolors, photography, clothing, herbs, furniture, and festival merchandise for sale. This list is not comprehensive and tends to grow each year!
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The University of Georgia Dept. of Entomology would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the Lumpkin Coalition for their strong, well-balanced approach towards grass-roots participation in an emergency effort such as the HWA Control Project. Your organization was one of the first to respond in an organized fashion, and has staunchly supported everything that we – the southern labs – have tried to accomplish. Your tenacity in staying on-point is remarkable, as this has become a long-term struggle for survival of hemlocks as a component of our climax forest in the Southern Appalachians. Please know that your efforts have indeed made a difference and are appreciated by all. And Hemlockfest…….what an incredible, productive event that has become!! Truly outstanding and a model for any other groups trying to spread the word and raise funding for worthy causes. Congratulations and many thanks for all you do. Stay the course, and remember that beetles save needles. Cheers!
M. Dalusky; Research Coordinator
Forest Entomology, Univ. of Georgia
