OUR STORY:
On a Sunday afternoon drive in 1970, the Alderman family stumbled across the dilapidated Prater’s Mill near Dalton, Georgia. For Judy, it was love at first sight. She thought someone must Save the Mill, so she and Barry Miller, their families and volunteers, staged the first Prater’s Mill Country Fair on Mother’s Day Weekend, May 8 and 9, 1971.
It’s still going, 50 plus years later.
The fundraising event is a North Georgia tradition of Appalachian culture. The fair features the work of talented artists and craftsmen, live entertainment, and the best Southern food this side of heaven. The Fair is centered around its namesake, the restored and functioning 1855 Mill built by John Pitner and inherited by his son-in-law, Benjamin Franklin Prater. The mill still operates and is powered by a Poole and Hunt turbine in the Coahulla Creek. Prater’s Store, plus other historic buildings and educational exhibits, complete the setting of an old-fashioned country fair.
Prater’s Mill Country Fair prides itself in strict regulation of items sold. Crafts must be hand-made of natural materials by the exhibitor, and art must be original art by the exhibitor. Food must be Appalachian-style.
Now held annually on the second weekend in October, the Fair is the primary source of income for the Prater’s Mill Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit (501C3) organization. All proceeds from the event go to protect, preserve, and present the heritage of the Prater’s Mill site to future generations.
