Helene forces cancellation of Turpentine Festival

At the 2023 Catface Turpentine Festival, retired Georgia Forestry Commission ranger Doug Chassereau gives Jan Schroeder, left, Sandi Voneschen, center, and Jusy Lale a brief history of turpentine production in the Bobby Ronald Newton Turpentine Museum during Portal's annual festival. (SCOTT BRYANT/Herald file)

Turpentine Festival - 2023 — At the 2023 Catface Turpentine Festival, retired Georgia Forestry Commission ranger Doug Chassereau gives Jan Schroeder, left, Sandi Voneschen, center, and Jusy Lale a brief history of turpentine production in the Bobby Ronald Newton Turpentine Museum during Portal's annual festival. (SCOTT BRYANT/Herald file)

Due to the lingering effects from Hurricane Helene, the 2024 Catface Turpentine Festival in Portal has been cancelled.

Scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5 at the historic Carter Turpentine Still, organizers said “area residents continue to deal with too many issues caused by Helene, so we thought it best to cancel. We know many of you are disappointed and look forward to the festival. We’ll be back next year.”

Each year, the Turpentine Festival focuses on learning about and celebrating turpentining. Turpentining was a natural resources-based industry that was one of Bulloch County’s economic mainstays for decades. In fact, a pine forest in Statesboro was the site of experiments by Charles Herty, which revolutionized the way pine gum (fresh tar) was extracted and collected.

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