Join a rousing good time of knee-slapping and toe-tapping at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds during Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention Oct. 19–20.

The Fairgrounds hosts this annual exciting event featuring talented musicians and dancers from around the country during the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, held Oct. 12–21.

For more information about Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention or the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, visit www.GeorgiaMountainFairgrounds.com.

Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention will get underway in the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 19 as "Fiddlin" Howard Cunningham takes the stage at Anderson Music Hall with the Appalachian Tunesmiths and special guests Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper.

In the evening, guests will enjoy an encore performance from Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and the competition will officially begin between the different groups.

Friday’s competition categories include beginning fiddler, harmonica, buck dancing, dulcimer, dobro and old-time banjo. After the performances, winners in each category will be declared "Official Georgia State Champions."

The Convention continues on Saturday, Oct. 20 when attendees will catch the rivalry between senior fiddler, junior fiddler, bluegrass band, finger style guitar, flat pick guitar, banjo and mandolin competitors in the morning.

The winners from each of these groups will also be declared "Official Georgia State Champions."

The competition will culminate in the evening with a highly anticipated "fiddle off" between the junior and senior fiddle winners. The winner of the "fiddle off" will be bestowed the coveted title of "Georgia Mountain Fiddle King." Several musically acclaimed experts will be judging the Convention including Sharon Bounds, fiddler, Rual Yarborough, banjo player, Jake Landers, bluegrass singer and songwriter and James Childers, guitarist. Bounds, Yarborough, and Landers are from Alabama, while Childers is from Georgia.

The general public is welcomed and encouraged to compete in Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention.

A complete list of rules and regulations can be found on the web site.

Potential participants can also find registration and admission forms online and they will also be distributed to past participants in the beginning of September.

Those interested in competing should bring admission and registration forms to the security gate at Anderson Music Hall on the day of their event during the Convention.

The Fiddlers’ Convention is only one highlight of the fun-filled Georgia Mountain Fall Festival.

Visitors can catch a wide variety of great musical acts and shows including clogging, gospel shows and musicians Crystal Gayle, John Anderson, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, and much more.

Guests can also step back in time at the Pioneer Village touring the Fairgrounds’ authentically recreated historic mountain town with a mercantile store, one-room school, log cabin, barn, corn crib and smokehouse.

Families will enjoy demonstrations of "old ways" skills including blacksmithing, moonshine stilling, and quilting, strolling along the shaded pathways while taking in the Festival’s arts & crafts booths, and sampling tasty treats such as smoked mountain trout, turkey legs, and caramel apples.

Attendees should also plan to catch the Hambone Express 2 Pig Races, held three times daily. A complete schedule of events for the Fall Festival and Fiddlers’ Convention, including musical performance times, can be found by visiting the web site.

Tickets for the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival are $8 with $2 parking, and children under 10 are admitted for free (musical performances and Fiddlers’ Convention are included in ticket price).

A discounted three-day FunFest Pass is also available for purchase for $20 (savings of $4) and is valid for any three days of the Festival.

No pets allowed. Festival hours are weekdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds camping and RV sites will also be available for overnight accommodations.

Camping reservations can be made by calling (706) 896-4191. For additional lodging accommodations throughout the area, please visit the Towns County Chamber of Commerce Web site at www.MountainTopGA.com.

The 2007 Georgia Mountain Fall Festival is a project of the Towns County Lion Clubs.

The Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds is home to several popular events throughout the year including the Georgia Mountain Fair, the Georgia Mountain Roots & Music Festival, the Hiawassee Festival of Arts, the Superstar Concert Series, the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival and Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention. The Fairgrounds is located along the shores of beautiful Lake Chatuge in the north Georgia mountain community of Hiawassee and offers 189 beautiful camp and RV sites, most with lake views. Sites are equipped with modern conveniences and are available year round. For more information on the property and campsites as well as a complete listing of events, visit www.GeorgiaMountainFairgrounds.com.