This year, the Willow Hill Heritage Festival rolls out a new activity, cycling, with the Thrill on the Hill, a pair of bike rides measuring 13.7 and 36.4 miles. The rides are set to start this upcoming Labor Day weekend at 8 a.m. on Saturday at the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center off U.S. Highway 80 near Portal.

The festival's traditional kickoff, the Prayer Breakfast, follows from 9 a.m. till noon. Pearl Huff Brown, president of the Bulloch County branch of the NAACP, will give the keynote remarks. Organizers ask that breakfast attendees make a $15 donation, with proceeds to help fund the center's youth programs.

The rides and breakfast launch a day of activities, such as a Lego robotics demo and public speaking and music contests, lasting into the evening. The annual festival celebrates the history of the Willow Hill School, founded in 1874, and spotlights the Renaissance Center's ongoing role in the life of the community.

In fact, the cycling event is part of a mission to promote active, healthy living, notes Dr. Gayle Jackson, the center's development director.

"A lot of what we are doing was motivated by health assessment that was done by the public health students in terms of looking at the Willow Hill community and Portal and seeing what were the needs," Jackson said. "There were issues with obesity, issues with nutrition, with lack of physical activity."

The Willow Hill health assessment, undertaken by Moya Alfonso, Ph.D., and her graduate students in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University, led to a recently published article in the Journal of Community Health.

To put on the Thrill on the Hill and the rest of the 2015 festival, the Willow Hill Center has teamed up with the JPH College of Public Health, the Dublin branch of the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia Dream Team and the Bulloch County fire and sheriff's departments.

Ride details

For beginning distance-riders, there will be a 13.7-mile ride, from Willow Hill to the Portal turpentine still and back. The 36.4-mile route, for more experienced riders, will incorporate some bike trails.

Students must have a bicycle and helmet to participate. The BRAG Dream Team group will lead the riders on the route and provide mentoring on ride safety. The fee is $10 for students, $25 for others, which covers the cost of the T-shirt. A pre-registration portal can be accessed through the Willow Hill Center's Facebook page.

Afternoon activities

Youth-oriented activities are scheduled from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

Safe Kids: The sheriff's department and fire department will talk with the children about safety issues and create children's IDs at parents' request. Participating students will receive a free "health bag."

Lego Robotics Demo: Students will be introduced to engineering challenges by watching the construction of Lego-based robotics to complete tasks on a thematic surface.

Spelling Test: Students in grades 4-12 will attempt to spell 100 words from a word list.

Bible Bowl: Students will answer questions that test their knowledge of the Bible.

Oratorical Contest: School-age orators will present their own speeches, less than three minutes, on the theme "Heritage or Renaissance." The speech may be about themselves, family members or the future of the community.

Individual Music Competition: Individuals will perform from one to 3½ minutes from memory. Music may be of any style.

Groups Music Competition: Groups or ensembles will perform 2½ to 5 minutes from memory. Music may be of any style.

Talent Show: Students may perform as individuals or groups in performance arts including music, dance or comedy. This will be non-competitive.

Gospel evening

The Gospel Extravaganza, 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., will conclude the festival, with various local singers and groups performing.