All year, every year is “kaolin season” in the ‘Kaolin Capital of the World.’ But as the football and fall seasons near, they serve as a friendly reminder that the highlight of the year – the Kaolin Festival – is right around the corner!
Annually held during the second weekend of October, the Kaolin Festival will be a one day, all day event in 2023 on Saturday, October 14.
This year, festivities will return to the Courthouse Square in Downtown Sandersville.
On Tuesday, August 8, Washington County Chamber of Commerce President Katie Moncus enlisted the assistance of the Washington County High School Golden Hawks football team to reveal the Grand Marshal of the 2023 Kaolin Festival.
In a video released to social media, the current State Championship hopeful Hawks excitedly announced the 1994 GHSA AA State Champs as those to be honored during this year’s Kaolin Festival Parade, which celebrates the final decade of the 1900’s with a “We Dig The 90’s” theme.
The 1994 edition of the WACO Golden Hawks football team brought the first ever state football championship to Washington County and kickstarted a stretch in which the team won 3 of the next 4 state titles in AA.
In the decade, Washington County also won 5 Region Championships and won 107 of their 129 games, including a 78-win, 7-loss stretch from 1992 to 1997.
Led by the winningest coach in school history, Rick Tomberlin, the 1994 team set a GHSA all-classifications record for points scored in a single season with 630. The undefeated and unchallenged Hawks went 15-0 and won games by an average score of 42-6, pitching 5 shutouts and winning their closest game by 16 points in a State Tournament Quarterfinals Round matchup versus powerhouse and title favorite Mary Persons.
Playing in front of a packed House of Pain each Friday night, the team planted 15 tombstones in the “graveyard” and is considered by most Georgia high school football historians and fans as one of the greatest and most dominant teams in state history.
The Washington County Chamber of Commerce is asking members of the 1994 Washington County State Champion football team to call 478-552-3288 to register for participation in the 2023 Kaolin Festival.
For parade, food vendor, market vendor, street of dreams, and class reunion row applications, interested individuals may visit washingtoncountyga.com/festival-forms.
