After the end of World War II, forest fires in Emanuel County were frequent and devastating. State law allowed the free range of livestock and many fires were deliberately set to encourage the growth of grass at the expense of forests.
Civic leaders, convinced that the pine tree was the basic source of local prosperity, realized that something must be done to stop the destruction of the county’s most valuable resource.
The first Pine Tree Festival was organized by the Kiwanis Club of Swainsboro. The festival held early in May of 1946 was an effort to call attention to the enormous waste caused by burning and to pay tribute to the forestry industry. Forestry, in those days, was divided into three segments: saw timber, naval stores (turpentine and resin) and pulpwood. Devotees of each of these three segments loudly debated the merits of one of the three, and the evils of the other two. Sawmillers were convinced that “turpentining” would stunt the growth of the trees. Naval store people, on the other hand, gloated over the fact that southeast Georgia enjoyed a world monopoly on turpentine products, and argued that it should be exploited. Pulpwooders saw the prospects of dominating the paper market, so long the sole domain of Canada and northwestern states.
Early Festival slogans, slogans like “Stop Forest Fires, “ ”Keep Georgia Green,” and “Dollars Grow on Pine Trees,” got the attention of the legislature and the free range law was reversed, requiring cattle farmers to fence their cattle. Forest fires dropped dramatically!
People gathered at the annual Festival in great throngs. Television was in its infancy and long-distance travel was difficult. High school bands came from the neighboring schools. Early parade floats were locally designed and locally built, always kept under wraps in secret spots until the morning of the parade.
There has been much variety over the years. Besides the parades, there have been golf tournaments and flower shows, automobile races, pageants, arts and craft shows, boomerang contests, rodeos, political speeches and “Forestry Field Days".
Nonetheless, in recent years, community leaders began discussing and envisioning taking the Pine Tree Festival to even greater heights. With leadership from the Kiwanis, the Chamber of Commerce, the Joint Economic Development Authority, the Downtown Development Authority and the city and county governments, the Swainsboro / Emanuel County Festival Foundation, Inc was formed.
The Foundation initiated a series of widely-attended planning meetings to hear suggestions on expanding and enhancing the Pine Tree Festival. The work of this community-wide and state-wide effort has been reflected in the festivals of the past couple of years.
