The area in and around Dahlonega's historic Public Square will be filled this weekend with music and art during the 12th annual Bear on the Square Mountain Festival.
The festival opens on Friday, and the featured event that day will be the Live Country Auction beginning late that afternoon in the Mainstage Tent at Bear Central in Hancock Park.
Highlighting the musical performances on Saturday and Sunday in the Mainstage Tent will be appearances by legendary old-time musicians Norman and Nancy Blake, who will be on-stage late Saturday afternoon with famed fiddler James Bryan and his daughter Rachel; and a Sunday afternoon performance by the dynamic Carolina Chocolate Drops. The Mainstage musical lineup also includes a number of other well known national, regional and local entertainers. Throughout the three-day festival, there will be jamming day and night around the Public Square by local and visiting musicians, and a series of informative music workshops, some featuring talented festival performers, will be conducted.
Also taking place on Saturday and Sunday will be the festival's juried Georgia Mountain Marketplace, offering handcrafted art based on Appalachian culture. The artists and their work will be available at booths around the Public Square which will be filled with paintings, pottery, handmade baskets, jewelry, candles, furniture,  instruments, jams and jellies, artwork, and much more. Among items available this year are pieces of bear silhouette pottery created for the festival by Etowah River Pottery of Dahlonega.
Doc Johnson's Traveling Miracle Medicine Show, as well as a heritage area demonstrating mountain traditions, and food vendors will also be at Bear Central in Hancock Park during the festival. Special family activities are planned at both Bear Central and at other locations on or near the Public Square.
Full details of the 2008 Bear on the Square activities, including events, times and locations, are available at www.bearonthesquare.org .
Members of Dahlonega's business community are also participating in the festivities, with special showings at the art galleries on and near the Public Square. In addition, a number of local musical venues have scheduled performances that weekend.
Bear on the Square Mountain Festival, Inc., which stages the show each year, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit cultural arts organization whose mission is to preserve and celebrate the culture of the Southern Appalachians through the presentation of music, traditional craft, and folkways. Tax deductible donations are welcome and can be sent to P.O. Box 338, Dahlonega, GA 30533. Co-sponsor of the festival is the Convention & Visitors Bureau of the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce.