FUMC reviving Browns Crossing grounds for weekend concerts

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

October 03, 2008 09:25 pm

— In 1999, the Brown’s Crossing Craftsman Fair was held for the 30th and final time at the Brown’s Crossing grounds off Highway 22 less than a mile from the Baldwin-Jones County border.
This Sunday, from 2 to 6 p.m., the River of Life program at Milledgeville’s First United Methodist Church will re-energize the grounds with a music festival that promises to bring the property back into the spotlight while raising funds for a program that leaves a positive mark on hundreds in the Baldwin County area.
The River of Life program has occurred in Milledgeville for 11 years through the Milledgeville First United Methodist Church.
Each year brings churches together from across the state for a single purpose in assisting, ministering and uniting the local community.
The 2008 River of Life program brought 285 youth and adults from nine churches across Georgia to work on 31 sites in the Milledgeville area.
Work included the creation of wheelchair ramps for elderly homeowners, roof repairs, landscaping work, painting the interior and exterior of homes and other miscellaneous, hands-on construction projects.
For Sunday’s music festival for River of Life, scheduled performances include bluegrass/bluegrass gospel from Oconee River Boys, gospel from New Apostles, contemporary Christian music from Public Display of Affection and classic rock/jazz from The Rusty Swingers.
“If this is successful, we may try to add some extra attractions next year. It’s taken a lot to get this cleaned up. There hasn’t been an event here in 10 years,” Marty Sirmans, event organizer, said as she surveyed the property Friday afternoon.
Brown’s Crossing remains a subject close to Sirmans’ heart — Carol Sirmans and his wife Carole created the crafts fair in 1969 that somehow kept growing every year in size and popularity.
“We’ve had as many as 13,000 here at one time,” Chip Sirmans, Marty Sirman’s husband, said.
In an article published on the 30th anniversary of Brown’s Crossing Craftsman Fair in The Union-Recorder on October 9, 1999, Carole Sirmans commented on the popularity of the Craftsman Fair and how it had taken on a life of its own in the three decades since its creation.
“We just kind of grew with it. The first fair we had about 3,000 people and we had planned for 700. It scared us to death,” Carole said.
Though Marty Sirmans doesn’t expect to see a crowd as large as 3,000 this Sunday (“We’re hoping to have at least 250 to 300 people here,” Marty said), the Sirmans property that once hosted a Craftsman Fair for thousands and a town of thousands a century prior to that will once again find footsteps walking over pathways that could conceivably lead to donations and dollars for the July 2009 River of Life.
“We tried to come up with something that would involve the community and benefit River of Life. We felt like with this that we could give back to the community and raise some funds for the River of Life program at the same time,” Marty Sirmans said. “We hope there’s something for everybody.”

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