The Rich History of Festival Hall
Festival Hall, in the heart of downtown Greensboro, Georgia was originally Greensboro’s auditorium. The building was constructed in 1939 by the Federal Works Agency as a Public Works Administration project. The 8,000 square foot building housed a basketball court, wooden bleachers, and a stage that were used for multi-purpose functions for Greensboro High School until 1976. The Greensboro Auditorium functioned not only as a school gymnasium and auditorium during this time period, but also a space that was very much a central gathering place for community events.
The dream to acquire and restore the auditorium unto a cultural center started more than ten years ago when a group of organizations combined their efforts to write a letter to the Greene County Commissioners requesting that should the building ever be vacated, they would like the opportunity to renovate it and make it into a cultural center.
Groups and organizations from across the community were involved in making these initial requests. Early partners were Greensboro Better Hometown, Greene County Chamber of Commerce, Greensboro Downtown Development Authority, Greensboro Art Alliance, Greene County Historical Society, Greensboro Historical Preservation Commission and Greensboro Business Association.
In 2005, the county offices moved into new locations, and the Greene County Board of Commissioners deeded the building to the City of Greensboro’s Downtown Development Authority in 2006 for the creation of a cultural center.
The $2.5 million dollar renovation of Festival Hall is the result of partnership between businesses, government, local civic groups and citizens. The funding partners are The City of Greensboro, Greensboro Downtown Development Authority, Greene County, Reynolds Lake Oconee, The Oconee Performing Arts Society (OPAS), and One Georgia Authority.
The community indeed grasped the golden ring of Festival Hall and the heart of downtown Greensboro is once again the gathering place for community and regional events.
