When visitors at the 2008 Mountain Marketplace Heritage Festival hear “Fire in the Hole!” they know to cover their ears. These four words herald in muzzle loader shots and cannon fire that can be heard throughout downtown Blairsville. The sounds of fiddles, guitars, roosters, oxen, and friendly conversation add to the atmosphere of the event.

Hosted by the Union County Historical Society and sponsored by United Community Bank, the Mountain Marketplace Heritage Festival celebrates the old-time mountain ways with authentic demonstrations, interesting displays, live music, good food, and plenty of shopping opportunities.

Held at the 1906 Grapelle Mock home, demonstrations include spinning, quilting, basket making, chair caning, tomahawk throwing, and wood carving. There are oxen, chickens, cows, and a mule. Visitors get to walk through the 1861 Payne Cabin where homespun quilts and vintage furnishing are on display. There are Civil War reenactments, a real live frontiersman with axes and primitive weapons, ladies in period costumes, and a vegetable garden.

The Mountain Marketplace is well known for its quality vendors. Visitors enjoy shopping for home-canned foods, fresh honey, jewelry, photography, pottery, wood crafts, hand painted glassware, herbal products, and other fine art and crafts. Most everyone stops long enough to enjoy homemade ice cream, candy corn, chicken on a stick, or freshly made, ice-cold lemonade.

The Mountain Market Heritage Festival is a Labor Day Weekend tradition in North Georgia that continues to delight visitors with its hometown atmosphere and friendly faces. Proceeds benefit the preservation and enhancement of the historic property where the event is held. The Mountain Life Museum is a great asset to the community and is open to the public on a regular basis. For more information call the Union County Historical Society at 706-745-5493 or visit www.unioncountyhistory.org.