Toccoa is GA's Best of Living History

Toccoa was selected as the Official Best Living History of Georgia. The Official Best Of is a travel website that selects the best tourist sites states have to offer.

Toccoa will be in the Official Best Of Georgia's television special, airing on WSBTV Channel 2/ABC on December 11 and on the Travel Channel on November 17 at 8 am.

The special highlights Toccoa's cultural and tourist attractions and is sponsored by Main Street Toccoa and Stephens county Historical Society.

Main Street Toccoa

Downtown Scarecrow Contest Results

Main Street Toccoa would like to thank all of the businesses that participated in the First Annual Downtown Scarecrow Contest. We were impressed by the effort and creativity that all businesses put into the creation of their scarecrow(s). This was a wonderful way to show seasonal fun in Toccoa and to show off our great downtown.

Following judging this weekend, our judges have selected Jack Green, CPA as the winner of the Downtown Scarecrow Contest. Congratulations to Jay and the staff! Their scarecrow was decorated as Mr. Jack O’Lantern, a distressed CPA, complete with glasses and suspenders. The judges were impressed with the scarecrow’s representation of the CPA business, its emotion and use of hay and pumpkin head. The combination of originality, traditional scarecrow-making technique, and creativity in expressing the financial business created the first Downtown Scarecrow Contest’s winner.

In addition to the top prize, the judges also chose two honorable mentions for this year’s Downtown Scarecrow Contest: Stephens County Development Authority (SCDA) and Ionosphere Travel Agency. Both scarecrow displays were judged highly for their creativity in reflecting their business’ purpose. Stephens County Development Authority’s display included five scarecrows, all representatives of members of the SCDA, and a pumpkin carved to include their logo. This honorable mention was awarded due to the display’s attention to detail and creativity. Additionally, Ionosphere’s scarecrow "Trip" was lounging in a beach chair, sunbathing in a Hawaiian print shirt and flip-flops. All the necessities of a beach trip were included in the display, as Trip had suntan lotion, a boom box, sunglasses and a camera. The judges awarded Ionosphere an honorable mention for its coordination with their business mission and its ability to transport you to another place.

Thank you to everyone for your commitment and support of this downtown contest. We look forward to making this an annual event and are very pleased with the participation this year! As this was our first year, if you have any feedback we would love to hear your comments. We will be revamping the competition process over the next few weeks, so be on the lookout for next year's contest rules and dates in the coming weeks.

Job Fair

The Georgia Department of Labor will host a job fair in Stephens County today. Today's job fair will run from 12 to 3 p.m. at North Georgia Tech's Currahee Campus, which is located on Highway 17 between Toccoa and Martin. It is sponsored by the Toccoa Career Center of the Georgia Department of Labor, the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce, and North Georgia Tech.

SCDA Board welcomes Bob Troup, Dean Scarborough

The SCDA Board has two new faces with which to being 2010 - Toccoa's new Mayor Bob Troup, and the new Stephens County Commission Chairman, Dean Scarborough. They will replace former Mayor Ron Seib (SCDA Assistant Secretary) and Commission Chairman Harold Andrews (SCDA Vice-Chair), who served on the Board in 2009.

SCDA Infrastructure Committee presents watershed research findings

After five years of research into the threats to the Lake Toccoa watershed, the SCDA's Infrastructure Committee presented their findings and recommendations to the City of Toccoa. “Seventy percent of the earth is covered in water … but only .007 percent of all the water in the world is available for us as human beings,” said committee chairman Buddy Lawson to commissioners. “I thought that was significant, and brings home the need for protecting our watershed and water resources.”

The committee made five overall recommendations to protect the water supply which will cover 90-95% of all threats if implemented:

• Prohibit development of any kind on city-owned property surrounding Lake Toccoa.

• Control golf course storm water run-off into Lake Toccoa and control chemicals applied to the golf course.

• Prepare and implement a plan for regional water sales.

• Dredge Lake Toccoa and the Davidson Creek Impoundment.

• Extend water discharge piping from Davidson Creek to Lake Toccoa