TCC approves Toccoa Train Day Proclamation

The Toccoa City Commission approved a proclamation for Toccoa Train Day during its regular scheduled meeting on Monday.

The Proclamation designates May 7, 2022, as Toccoa Train Day. The proclamation also includes that the city will hold an event at the Historic Train Depot train station on May 7, for the community to commemorate this momentous day in railroad history.

The City of Toccoa is serviced by Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Railway and is one of three stops in Georgia along the Crescent Line. Toccoa Main Street Events Coordinator Sharon Crosby says Toccoa Train Day is an important day.

The proclamation was unanimously approved.

Additionally, the Historic Ritz Theatre will help kick-off Toccoa Train Day with a special Night at the Ritz performance when Bobby Horton presents The Long Steel Rail in America on Friday, May 6, at 7 p.m.

According to Historic Ritz Theatre General Manager Tami Mayhugh, Horton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter who has been featured as the composer for the majority of Ken Burns’ PBS Documentaries. She says his special knack for songwriting and storytelling will bring the history of the railroad in America to life.

The Long Steel Rail in America explores the development of the American railroad system as one of the most important phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. It brought forth profound social, economic, and political change to a country that at the time was only 50 years old. Railroads meant jobs, bridges, train depots, robber barons, and, of course, the majestic machinery of the rail locomotive.

Mayhugh says, Horton celebrates the railroad experience as it grew with the nation.

The Night at the Ritz Series is sponsored through grants from The Georgia Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mayhugh says, tickets are $5 for children 12 and under or students with an I.D. and $10 for adults and can be purchased online at ritztheatretoccoa.com or at the Main Street Office, located at 92 N. Alexander Street, in Toccoa.

For more information contact Mayhugh by calling 706-244-0039.