Could four-decade Powers' Festival tradition be no more?

Sunday, December 11, 2011
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alt — Powers’ Festival, the arts and crafts fair held on grounds once farmed by the Powers family in west Coweta, has been a Labor Day tradition since the early 1970s.

By JEFF BISHOP jbishop@newnan.com Could the Powers' Crossroads Country Fair and Art Festival -- a four-decade tradition in Coweta County -- be no more? That appears to be the case, and five members of the Coweta Festivals Inc. board of directors resigned this week in protest.

Although Coweta Festivals representatives have not yet responded to several requests for an official statement, resigning board member Barbara Wetherington, former vice-president of the group, said that "the reason for our resignations was the non-profit owner's decision to not hold the festival," which has been held every Labor Day weekend on the western Coweta County border since it was begun by local artist Tom Powers in 1971. "I have resigned from the board of directors, as has Jim Wetherington, Bill Tomasi, Debbie Glover and our president, Karen Jones," said Wetherington. "We will no longer be donating our many hundreds of hours as volunteers or lending our financial support in any way to Coweta Festivals." That leaves the two representatives from each of the five owner groups: the local Pilot Club, the Newnan-Coweta Art Association, the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce, the Jaycees, and 4-H. Also still on the board are Pam Mayer, former director of the Coweta County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Mike Barber. Holly Hammonds serves as the executive director of Coweta Festivals, Inc. Hammonds said that she could not release any details about the recent meeting, but that a press release with more information will be issued early in the week. "There will be a press release from the Powers' board," she said. "They met and they will have some exciting news coming for 2012, and the events that will be held at Powers' Festival." The reasons for the apparent decision to shut down the festival next year are unclear, but the festival has struggled to make a profit in recent years. Three consecutive years were unprofitable, after the 2007 recession, although the festival did manage to turn a small profit in 2010. Tornados and rain disrupted the event this year. Artists posting about Powers' Crossroads on the "Arts Fair Insiders" blog say that their general impression was that the fair had been turning a corner in recent years, in spite of the struggles. "When Tom Powers started the Powers' Crossroads Country Fair and Art Festival 41 years ago, he started it with a bang no other Georgia Festival matched," said artist Camille Ronay. "Festivals were funky and fun. And Tom Powers KNEW how to make funky and fun. Tens of thousands traveled to the rural plantation grounds each year to see stellar art and craft. "Coweta Festivals, a non-profit umbrella organization consisting of several local non-profit groups, assumed responsibility for the show. Harriet Alexander was an iconic festival director. She had dozens of local volunteers supporting Powers' Crossroads. And everyone knew they were working with something very, very special. "The art and craft was exceptional. Jim Hardin, the marketing guru, liked to say that 'Powers' artists come from across the United States, border to border and coast to coast!' And the artists actually DID come from border to border and coast to coast because they could make serious money there," she said. "Powers did well through the '70s and '80s. It was the best of times every Labor Day weekend, even though storms made their appearances fairly regularly. "In the '90s, the aura began to fade. Powers' became only a shadow of its former glory during most of the 2000s. Then several local ardent Powers' advocates decided to do something about it. And, by God, they did ..." "This festival had declined a few years back and was full of buy-sell, but there has been a deliberate effort to sort them out and bring in higher quality art," said artist Michael Skeen. Skeen said that the Coweta Festivals committee had been "doing a good job of turning this one around and making it a really nice event." According to the official website of the Powers' Crossroads, http://powersfestival.org/, Powers' Crossroads Country Fair and Art Festival was formed in 1971 by local and well-known artist Tom Powers on the grounds of the Powers family plantation. "The Festival was a huge success from its beginning and involved all the communities of Heard and Coweta counties," it is stated on the festival website. Tom Powers operated the festival for more than three years with much cooperation and assistance of the Coweta and Heard communities and their civic and church organizations. For various reasons, health and otherwise, Powers had to give up the operation of the festival and in the middle of that last year the festival fell under the supervision of the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce. In 1975, Coweta Festivals Inc., was formed as an umbrella organization of what was then a group of six non-profits: Newnan- Coweta Chamber of Commerce, the Newnan-Coweta Art Association, Newnan-Coweta Jaycees, Pilot Club of Newnan, Newnan-Coweta chapter of Professional Secretaries International (later changed to International Association of Administrative Professionals) and the 4-H Boys and Girls of Coweta County. These non-profit organizations purchased the festival site a few years later when the land became available. The 86 acres now belongs to Coweta Festivals Inc. The festival became well known throughout the nation and was selected several times by the Southeast Tourism Society as one of "The Top Twenty Events" for the month of September.

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Could four-decade Powers' Festival tradition be no more?

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