Busy Weekend in Downtown Toccoa

Toccoa Main Street is preparing for a full weekend with many activities to help celebrate Currahee Military Weekend. The first downtown event is the showing of Saving Private Ryan on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7:00 p.m. at the Schaefer Center.

Saving Private Ryan is based on the story of the Niland Brothers during WWII. Private Ryan never existed as he was portrayed in the movie. The story, however, was based on an actual event that happened to a member of Easy Company from the 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne and trained at Camp Toccoa.

According to Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers, a few weeks after D-Day, Easy Company went into defensive positions south of the French city of Carentan. One day, one of the company's members, a man named Fritz Niland, came down the line to say goodbye to his buddies because he was flying home. The story he related to his friends was tragic and is the basis for the story.

Admission fee for the movie and concessions are $1.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3 – 4, two restored steam engines will be arriving at 12 noon bringing 500 – 700 passengers each day from Atlanta.

These trips are part of the "21st Century Steam" program operating over Norfolk Southern lines using equipment from both NS and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The trips to Toccoa will feature TVRM steam locomotive #4501 (built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1911.) 

This train will be pulled over Norfolk Southern’s Piedmont Division main line (former Southern Railway) on the 180-mile round trip.  Passengers will detrain at the Amtrak platform for a two-hour layover to seek out lunch, shop at local stores, visit the Currahee Military Museum (housed in the Toccoa Railroad Station), or explore the area. 

The Currahee Military Weekend will be in full swing while the trains are in Toccoa. Guests can visit the re-enactors on the courthouse lawn, as well as taste some of the best food that Toccoa has to offer. Food vendors will be set up along Doyle Street and include the VFW Women’s Auxiliary, Just Right Catering, Shirley’s Sole Food, Domino’s, Java Station, Meatn’ in the Middle, Dazzling Sweet Treats, Currahee Vineyards, and the Stephens County Farmers’ Market.

There will be a stage of entertainment with music and dancing starting at 12:00 noon set up on the corner of Pond St and Doyle St.

12:00 noon - 12:30 p.m.              Clemson Jazz Band

12:30 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.              Vintage Vocals

12:50 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.               Habersham County 4-H performers

1:00 p.m.  - 1:30 p.m.                  Clemson Jazz Band

1:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.                  Vintage Vocals

1:50 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.                 Habersham County 4-H performers

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.                  Parade

2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.                 The Dance Studio

Also new this year will be a photo booth set up in front of Troup’s Photo studio. There will be a “one of a kind” backdrop as well as costumes to choose from. Come and have your picture taken in 1940’s dress. 

“Please come and join us for this fun weekend. We want our guests, those who are here for the Currahee Military Weekend and those from the trains, to feel welcomed to Toccoa and like they have stepped back in time to the 1940’s,” says Sharon Crosby, Special Events Coordinator for the City of Toccoa. “We need volunteers who will help meet the train and help our visitors find the different downtown activities.”  

                    

For more information, please contact the Main Street office at 706-282-3309.