44th Annual Geranium Festival.

The Geranium Festival was first known as the Henry
County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival. In 1977, the
first Henry County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival took
place at Big Spring Park. Likewise, the 1978 Festival took
place at Big Spring Park, with 17 booths. In 1979, the
Henry County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival was
moved to the downtown Square and had
approximately 54-57 booths.

The following year, the Henry County Chamber of
Commerce decided that they did not have enough staff to
continue doing the Festival and asked the City of
McDonough to find a civic organization to take over the
Festival. Mayor Copeland asked two different civic
organizations but neither organization was interested, as
the funding available for the Festival was only $630.
Mayor Copeland asked the Lion’s Club to take the project
on and, while initially hesitant, they met, and the Lion’s
Club Board supported the challenge. President of the
Chamber, Fred Crumley, and Mayor Copeland worked
together to make the transition. The Chamber transferred
the $630 to the Lion’s Club, and they began to plan.

Lois and Kirk Carney moved, along with their business,
from Pennsylvania to McDonough, Georgia. The name of
their business was Oglevee Products and they sold
plants, primarily red geraniums. They had a 5-acre plan
house in McDonough and decided that they would like to
contribute red geraniums annually to the Henry County
Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival. The first year they
donated 250 red geraniums, the second year around 400
red geraniums, the third year about 600 red geraniums,
etc. Until they were donating more than 800 red
geraniums to the Festival.

in 1982, the name was changed from the Henry
County Chamber Arts and Crafts Festival to the Red
Geranium Festival in honor of the generosity of Lois and
Kirk Carney. Lois and Kirk continued to donate red
geraniums to the Festival until they sold their business.
When the Festival first moved to the Square, all of the
booths were contained in the middle of the Square.
Gradually, each year the Festival continued to expand
from the center outward and now not only covers the
Square, but also the streets that extend from the Square.
This upcoming year, 2022, is our 44th Annual Geranium
Festival.