The Muddy Spokes Club is a fun way to get fit and enjoy the great outdoors while riding your mountain bike through many of the Georgia State Parks. There are an abundant amount of bike trails ranging from very easy to very challenging throughout many Georgia State Parks and as part of the Muddy Spokes Club, you have every reason to enjoy them! The membership is just $10.

The way the club works is once you join, you will receive a card. Load up your bike, helmet and gear and head off to one of the 11 participating state parks. Ride the designated trail. Once you complete the trail, go to the visitor’s center and get your card punched. Once you have completed the trails and get your card punched at all 11 parks, send it in and get a t-shirt stating your accomplishments to the world!

Visit the Muddy Spokes Club for more details and information on signing up and see the list of participating parks and the descriptions and difficulties of each trail.

Celebrate Labor Day with a one day Bavarianfest at the Helen Festhalle on September 4, 2010 from 6 PM to 11 PM. It’s going to be a great time with live music by The Atlanta Polka Band and performances by a European Dance group, the Euro-Volks Dancers. There will be plenty of food and drink and fun for everyone. Admission is just $5 per person. FREE admission for civil servants and military.

The Helen Festhalle is located at:
1074 Edelweiss Srasse
Helen, GA. 30545
800-858-8027

If you ever had the urge to perform in front of a live audience, now is your chance! On August 19, 2010 from 7 PM to 9 PM you will be able to perform live on stage at the Sautee Nacoochee Center Theater. The doors open at 6:30 with performances accepted on a first come, first serve basis. The show is free with any donations gladly accepted.

Open Stage Night happens the 3rd Thursday of each month so if you can’t make it this month, you may want to put it on your calendar in the future!

The Sautee Nacoochee Center is located at:
283 Hwy 255 N
Sautee Nacoochee, GA
706-878-3300

Visit the Sautee Nacoochee Center and Folk Pottery Museum on Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9 AM to 5 PM to experience the traditions of folk life through the demonstrations of handcrafts passed down through families for centuries, enjoy foods locally grown and prepared from traditional recipes, and listen to mountain music during the Folk Life Festival. Here you will be able to see woodworking, blacksmithing, cooking, and pottery all influenced by the Native American, European, and Appalachian cultures. There will be several potters demonstrating and selling their art. You will also see the continued progress of the restoration of an 1850s slave cabin, the only one known to be in existence in the mountains of Northeast Georgia. Admission and parking to the festival is free.

Get your tickets for a show featuring the Old Time Appalachian String Band, Curley Maple, performing at the Sautee Nacoochee Center at 8 PM in the evening on August 7. Tickets are $20 plus tax per person and can be purchased at the Center’s box office or online.

Sautee Nacoochee Center and Folk Pottery Museum is located at:
283 Hwy 255 N
Sautee, GA  30571
706-878-3300

It’s going to be a great weekend celebrating the 4th of July, 2010 at  Unicoi State Park near Helen, Georgia. The weekend starts on Friday, July 2, 2010 at 8 PM and ends at 9 PM on Sunday, July 4th. There will be lots of fun for the whole family with activities like sack races, watermelon seed spittin’ contests, music, and a hoedown.  Come for a day or camp for the weekend and take advantage of all the great entertainment. 

Unicoi State Park is located at:
1788 Highway 356
Helen , GA 30545
800-573-9659 ext. 305

Helen, Georgia is such a wonderfully unique town. It sits in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River. Visiting Helen will give you a taste of Bavaria, as many of the buildings are modeled similar to towns you would find in Germany, complete with cobblestone alleyways. There are many shops to wander into where you can find a wide variety of beautiful hand crafted items and collectibles as well as antiques and imports from all over the world.  Dining is an experience ranging from an authentic German meal to true Southern home cooking, and for dessert you can get some of the best homemade fudge around in one of the candy shops.

Finding things to do in and around Helen is certainly easy. You can go tubing down the Chattahoochee River, hike the many trails around the mountains, see the breathtaking Anna Ruby Falls located in the Cherokee National Forest, play miniature golf, or even take a hot air balloon or horse drawn carriage ride. The scenery is so fantastic and there is so much to do that you may want to stay a few days in one of the rental cabins or bed and breakfasts available in the area.

There are many festivals and events in the area throughout the year with Oktoberfest at the top of the list! Come visit any time from mid September to the end of October to experience Helen’s biggest celebration with German music, dancing, food, drink and fun!

Once you visit Helen, Georgia, you may just decide you don’t want to leave!