The annual Speir’s Turnout Festival of Bartow in neighboring Jefferson County has been cancelled this year.
“We’ve experienced a perfect storm of events that, together, made it necessary for me to recommend to the Board of Directors that we forego this year’s festival,” said Susan Smith, President of the Bartow Community Club that hosts the Speir’s Turnout each year.
According to Smith, the festival’s Board of Directors recently lost three members, making it difficult for the remaining members to piece together plans for the upcoming event set for Saturday, October 26.
“In the past month, we lost the coordinators of our vendors, logistics, and kid’s activities,” said Smith. “Without these key and integral volunteers, two months was not enough time to replace them and the manpower they brought to bear on the operations of the festival.”
In a post directed to concerned citizens on Facebook, Bartow Community Club President Smith promised that the event would return next year.
“You have my pledge that every effort will be made to have a festival in 2025. After the outpouring of disappointment expressed from our community, I have a great beginning list of volunteers to work next year’s festival and ensure that we bring back what has become an institution for Bartow and southern Jefferson County.”
Prior to cancellation, the Speir’s Turnout Festival was anticipating their 32nd annual installment of the event.
Held each year on the fourth Saturday in October, the festival has grown to become an anticipated gathering and homecoming for many in and from Jefferson and surrounding counties over the years.
During the day, live entertainment, home cooking, arts and crafts, children’s activities, raffles, bake shops, and tours of the Bartow Museum are offered to festival-goers.
The Speir’s Turnout Festival is dubbed for the original name of the town of Bartow. Initially known as Speir’s Turnout, the town’s name was later changed to honor Colonel Francis S. Bartow, who was the first high-ranking Confederate officer from Georgia killed in the Civil War – at the Battle of Manassas in Virginia on July 21, 1861.