Gilmer County Optimist Club

10/09/2026

FYI - Georgia Apple Festival has been canceled for Saturday, Oct 10th due to weather conditions!

🌧️WEATHER UPDATE: SATURDAY’S (10/10) FESTIVAL CANCELED🌧️

After carefully monitoring the changing forecast and reviewing the latest guidance from the National Weather Service, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel Saturday’s (October 10) Georgia Apple Festival.

The safety of our vendors, staff, and visitors is always our top priority, and we appreciate your understanding as we make this decision.

The good news: We intend to move forward with Sunday’s festival as planned! We will continue monitoring the weather and share updates as needed. 🍎

📅 October 11 & 17–18, 2026
📍 Ellijay Lions Club | 1729 S Main Street, Ellijay, GA
🎟️ Admission $10 | Children 12 & under FREE
*Tickets available online & at the festival gates. Online tickets are valid for any festival day - 11th, 17th and 18th!

🐾 Planning to bring your pup? While we love our furry friends, please note that the Georgia Apple Festival is not a pet-friendly event. Please plan accordingly!
**The Apple Festival 5K Road Race has been moved to Saturday 10/17!

10/09/2026

Have You Seen Our Optimist Scarecrows at Harrison Park? Our Optimists have been spreading a little fall fun and Optimist spirit at Harrison Park Ellijay!

A BIG shoutout to our fabulous Optimist Scarecrow Team — Mistil Griffith, Rita Cheney, and Amy Morgan McCarthy! These three talented members volunteered their time, creativity, and a little scarecrow magic to bring our Optimist scarecrows to life!

Now we need YOUR help! If you're visiting the Scarecrow Invasion at Harrison Park, be sure to stop by, check out our scarecrows, and VOTE FOR #19!

10/07/2026

⛳️ What a beautiful day for some golf and an even better day to support the kids of Gilmer County!

We’re kicking off the 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament this morning, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather!

A HUGE thank you to our sponsors who help make today possible, especially our Title Sponsor The Cindy West Team - Remax Town & Country. Our sponsor’s generosity allows our Gilmer County Optimist Club to continue supporting local youth programs, organizations, scholarships, and projects throughout Gilmer County. The money we raise stays right here in our community, making a difference for our kids!

And thank you to all of our golfers, volunteers, and supporters for spending the day with us. Now let’s tee it up!

10/01/2026

We are excited to introduce Danielle Brumfield, our incoming President of the Gilmer County Optimist Club! A member since 2021 and Board member for the past 3 years, Danielle has a true heart for service. She and her husband have four children and have called Gilmer County home since 2020. She manages their general contracting company and also serves as a Naturalist with the nonprofit Len Foote Hike Inn.

Danielle is also an ultramarathon runner, preparing for her first 100-mile race in January, and has taught yoga and deep-stretch classes since 2012.

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in English from Kennesaw State University and numerous continuing education and outdoor certifications. Her Optimist leadership has already been recognized with the Gilmer Optimist Leadership Award in 2024 and the GATEway District Sunshine Award in 2025.

We are excited to see Danielle lead our club into another great year of serving the youth and community of Gilmer County!

09/23/2026

What a wonderful way to wrap up another year of Optimism!

Last night, the Gilmer County Optimist Club gathered for our End-of-Year Banquet, a night filled with great food, fellowship, celebration, and gratitude for another year of serving the children and families of our community.

We were honored to welcome our incoming GATEway District Governor, Rufus Clemmons, Jr., who shared a few words with us and officially installed our new Board of Directors. We are excited for the year ahead and grateful to our incoming leaders for saying yes to serving!

A special thank you to our outgoing Board of Directors for your leadership, dedication, and countless hours of service this past year. And one of our favorite moments of the evening was getting several of our Gilmer County Optimist Club Past Presidents together for a photo!

The top highlight of the evening was recognizing several members whose service and dedication have made a special impact this year. Congratulations to our:

🏆 Optimist of the Year: Carolyn Slavenas
🏆 Director of the Year: Angel Broussard
🏆 President’s Award: Rebecca Anderson
🏆 New Member of the Year Award: Marc Knable
🏆 Service Awards: Randy Hall, Maria Zabala & Candace Gualtiere Sandrini

These awards are so well deserved. Thank you for the time, heart, energy, and commitment you give to our club and our community.

As we close out one Optimist year and begin another, we have so much to celebrate and even more to look forward to! Here’s to another year of friendship, service, and bringing out the best in kids!

09/17/2026

The GILMER High School (GHS) Mentor Program is seeking volunteers who are:

· Support and encouraging,

· Active listeners,

· Interested in making a difference in our younger generation, and

· A positive role model.

Many teens enter high school without any goals and plans. Studies show that mentors can make a positive difference!

Information:
Most meetings are during the students’ school lunch periods at GHS. Each lunch period is 20 – 25 minutes long based on the day of the week and the student’s schedule.

We will have a mentor training meeting on Monday, September 21 at 6:00 pm at the Ellijay Campus of Dalton State College, 103 N Dalton St, Ellijay, GA 30540, room 104. Please contact [email protected] or Julie McLendon through Facebook messenger for more information.
This is a Gilmer Optimist Club sponsored program for our high school students.

09/09/2026

GILMER COUNTY — WE’RE NOT DONE GOLFING YET! ⛳

We’ve had a few people ask, so we want to clear up a little confusion! The golf tournament held at Whitepath earlier this summer was the GATEway District Optimist Tournament.

THIS ONE is the Gilmer County Optimist Club's own 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament on Wednesday Oct 7th at Whitepath Golf Course!

And here’s what makes this tournament especially important to us: the money we raise stays right here in Gilmer County, supporting local kids and our community.

We need our members, local businesses, golfers and friends to help us make our 4th annual tournament a BIG one! Whether you play, sponsor, donate or help spread the word, you’re helping the Gilmer County Optimist Club continue doing what we do best — supporting the youth of Gilmer County.

Breakfast, lunch, range balls, mulligans, raffles, prizes and a great day of golf are all part of the fun! Grab a partner and join us and please SHARE this post!

09/07/2026

Gilmer County Optimist Club Optimists — it’s time to celebrate!

We have had another incredible year of supporting the youth of Gilmer County, serving our community, giving back, and having a lot of fun along the way! Now it’s time to get together and celebrate everything we’ve accomplished.

Join us for our 2026 Gilmer County Optimist Club End-of-Year Banquet on Tuesday, September 22nd from 6–8 PM at El Rey Cantina (off of Maddox, next to McDonalds)!

🌮 Mexican buffet
🏆 A little recognition
💙 Great Optimist fellowship

Whether you’ve been at every meeting or haven’t been able to join us as often as you’d like, we’d love to have you there. This is our chance to celebrate YOU, the members who make all of our programs and community impact possible.

Please RSVP by September 20th so we can give El Rey an accurate count. Come hungry and come ready to celebrate another great year of being Optimists!

09/04/2026

🎃 Can you believe it’s almost Scarecrow Invasion time?
The Gilmer County Optimist Club is getting ready for this year’s Scarecrow Invasion at Harrison Park Ellijay, and we are looking for a few creative Optimists and volunteers to help us bring our scarecrow display to life!

We are sharing a few photos from past years to get those creative wheels turning. Now we need YOUR ideas and helping hands for this year! Whether you are crafty, creative, good at building things or just willing to jump in and help, we would love to have you on our Scarecrow Crew!

Interested in helping? Comment below and we’ll reach out to you!

Let’s create something fun that shows off our Optimist spirit and brings a few smiles to our community!