Carnesville Celebrating New Community Center With Open House

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

City of Carnesville officials will host an open house this weekend to show off their new community center.

The new Carnesville Community Center was recently completed after a number of years in the planning stages.

Carnesville Mayor Harris Little said the town has been without a community center for some years and this new center is badly needed.

“We have been working on this a long time,” Little said. “It’s something that I believe we’ve needed to do ever since I took office as mayor some ten years ago. Historically, Mr. Gordon Telford Sr. at what was First Bank and Trust, provided a space for the community to have functions. That bank was purchased by First Citizens. Then, Franklin County bought was at the time was the community center so the people of Carnesville had no place to have functions.”

Located next to the new Carnesville Community Park and walking trails, the new community center is built on the site of the old Carnesville High School and Georgia Sewing plant.

“The ladies that worked at the sewing plant still get together once a year,” Little said. “They had their reunion in that new building on the site where they used to work last Saturday. We were tickled to death that we could get it done in time for them to utilize it for that purpose. I think they had 50-60 members attending and it worked out good for everybody.”

In addition to opening the new Community Center up to the public for events, Little said the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Building Authority will be moving their offices there.

“If you’re looking at the building from the street, the Chamber will have the office on the left-hand side and the Industrial Building Authority will be directly adjacent to that. Executive Director Frank Ginn’s office will be in there,” he said. “There will also be a conference room for them to use or for anybody who wants to use it. If you need a small meeting space, we’ve got that.”

The new Carnesville Community Center was built with a combination of city of Carnesville SPLOST funds and a long-term bank loan.

The open house at the new Carnesville Community Center will be Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The Carnesville Community Center is located on Hull Street, next to Carnesville City Hall.