Georgia 'Rain Dance' Fails to Draw Precipitation, Participation
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When planners decided to hold a "rain dance" to end Georgia's drought, they didn't plan on one thing — the nice weather gave people other things to do.
"Not much of a turnout," landscaper Linda Boyer said Saturday, squinting against the sun and scanning the nearly empty parking lot sprinkled with several tables of water-related activities and volunteers like Dwight Turner.
"There's a lot of festivals going on elsewhere — the Ellijay Apple Festival, the pumpkin patches, haunted houses, Cagle Dairy's Corn Maize Festival... ."
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Cherokee County Water Authority employees were there to hand out pamphlets and water-saving showerheads. A small wishing well gurgling recycled water sat in the center of the parking lot outside the Woodstock Art Center.
And even a Woodstock dance troupe showed up for the rain festival to perform in the tradition of Native American rain dances — albeit for about a dozen people.
"Bottom line, when it's not raining, everybody prays to the Big Guy regardless of culture," said Kendra Cosner, "company mom" for the teen dance group from Dancentre South.
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Boyer said the event was a last-minute decision and organized in the last 10 days.