Callaway Gardens offers fun filled Fall

Spend your Labor Day weekend watching the sky as it fills up with color at the second annual Callaway Gardens Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival, Sept. 1-3.

A Friday evening balloon glow and an extraordinary vision of balloon flights highlight this festive, old-fashioned weekend. The days are filled with entertainment, family activities, exhibits, demonstrations, musical performances and more. All activities are weather permitting.

Admission to Callaway Gardens is $10 plus tax per adult, $5 plus tax per child (6-12) and children ages 5 and under are free. Activities are from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Tradition continues as the oldest triathlon in the South happens again at Callaway Gardens Sunday, Sept. 3. Registration for the Hughston Sports Medicine Center Fitness Series at Callaway Gardens Triathlon will be in the Callaway Gardens Menaboni Ballroom lobby Saturday, Sept. 2.

Triathlon events will begin at 8 a.m. The swim event takes place in Robin Lake followed by the bike event, which covers portions of the Scenic Drive, Robin Lake Circle and the Discovery Parkway, finishing with the run event on the Discovery Bicycle Trail and Robin Lake Circle. A 5k run begins at 7:50 a.m. for those who prefer less strenuous competition. For information, contact Dave Johnson Enterprises at 770-565-5208.

A collection of 40 copper sculptures created by environmental sculptor Trailer McQuilkin representing rare and/or threatened or endangered Southeastern plants will be display in Callaway Gardens’ Virginia Hand Callaway Discovery Center Sept. 9 to mid-November. Deen Day Smith donated this collection to Callaway Gardens.

Specimens include the least trillium, Georgia aster and monkeyface orchid. Also featured is the prunifolia azalea, the native azalea rescued from extinction by Gardens founders Cason and Virginia Callaway, and which now serves as the emblem of Callaway Gardens.

Interested in learning about herbs? They soothe, they heal, they season, they perfume the air and you can learn all about them during Herbal Delights at Callaway Gardens, Sept. 9. Three herbal workshops and a guided tour of the herb garden within Mr. Cason’s Vegetable Garden will start you on your way to becoming an herbal expert. A special overnight package is available. For information, call the Callaway Gardens Education Department at 706-663-5153. Space is limited.

If you have a more sporting nature, the Buick Challenge, Sept. 25 through Oct. 1, offers spectators, players and sponsors one of the PGA Tour’s most exceptional events as well as a tournament with a rich history. Competing for a purse of $2.1 million, the 1999 tournament champion, David Toms, defends his title against some of the world’s finest golfers at one of Georgia’s oldest professional golf tournaments. Proceeds from the tournament benefit a number of area youth charities including the Boys Clubs and Girls Clubs.

Since Buick has sponsored the event, more than $1 million has been raised for charities in the area. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the Buick Challenge offices, P.O. Box 2056, Columbus, Ga., 31902 or by telephone at 1-888-4CHALLENGE or 706-324-0411. Daily tickets are $15 each, individual season badges are $70, and group or sponsorship packages are available.

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