Saturday’s Deep Roots Festival was another success.
Things were well-organized and orderly. The weather cooperated. Downtown merchants saw a spike in sales. Everyone behaved themselves, for the most part.
Organizing the Deep Roots Festival is a fairly large ordeal and a year-round process. The festival’s organizers should be commended and applauded. Deep Roots shows off Milledgeville at its very best – charming, diverse and full of hospitality. It’s difficult to find people who will criticize the Deep Roots Festival. There is not a whole lot to criticize, really. A very small minority of downtown business owners will tell you that the festival chokes parking and interrupts their business. But, that’s about the only criticism you’ll ever hear. Until now.
The festival is nice and everything. We admit that. But, the truth of the matter is that there isn’t really a whole lot to do during the day. Unless you’re a classic car lover. Or a small child. Or a parent with small children.
For the most part, festival-goers at Deep Roots simply walk the streets aimlessly until they see someone they know. Then, they’ll make some smalltalk, say goodbye and start walking some more. At some point they might stop for a corndog or stare at some pottery or something. But, that’s about it.
Perhaps the Deep Roots Festival should become more interactive. The Georgia National Fair in nearby Perry could provide some some inspiration. The state fair always does a great job of involving its visitors. The Georgia National Fair’s lineup includes a ferris wheel and other rides, numerous street acts, animal exhibits and a whole host of games. Perhaps best of all, however, is the Robinson’s Racing Pigs race, where overweight pigs chase Oreo cookies around a track at speeds of 14-18 miles per hour. Who wouldn’t want to see that? Seriously!
The Deep Roots Festival obviously operates with a fraction of the Georgia National Fair’s budget. However, that doesn’t mean that Deep Roots couldn’t start small. They could at least come up with a dunk tank or a Gravitron or something! That may sound a little “redneck-y and smalltownish.” But, at some point you should give the people more of what they want instead of telling them what they SHOULD be wanting.
Overall, however, the Deep Roots Festival is a wonderful community event and one of the best things going in Baldwin County. It’s a day when many local people feel proud to live in Baldwin County.
However, we just hope that the Deep Roots Festival doesn’t grow stagnant. After all, there’s no need for Deep Roots to become too deep-rooted in its current way of doing things.
