The 41st Catface Turpentine Festival will be held in Portal, Georgia, on Saturday, October 29, 2022, after the original date of Oct. 1 was delayed due to Hurricane Ian and a two-year cancellation during the high spread of COVID-19.
"Two years we had to shut down because of COVID, and this is our first year back," president of Portal Heritage Society, Tim Cook said. "We're hoping to have a good turn out and see lots of people."
Although the production of turpentine industry is drifting away, the old E.C. Carter still opens up during the festival to make the treasured sap along with selling stored up sap.
A ’street dance’ interlude will start from 7am to 10:30am, with a live performance from the Southern Outlaw Band. The festival parade will start at 10am, featuring the ’Portal Turpentine’ queens and Dal Cannady, from WTOC, as grand marshal. From the parade, visitors and citizens will trickle down to the still grounds for the remainder of the event.
Cook states that this festival thrives off tradition. “We try to keep everything traditional, and keeping it how we always done it.”
History of Turpentine industry
This festival celebrates the history of turpentine at the historic E.C. Carter Turpentine Still. The turpentine industry in Portal began with F.N. Carter, Sr. and his son E.C. Carter, who owned and operated a commercial turpentine still from the 1930's until the 1960's. While some stills from this period were deconstructed and parts were sold for the copper tubing and iron boilers, the Carter Still endured through it all. In 1982, Denver Hollingsworth and the Portal Heritage Society restored the old Carter turpentine stil, which is one of only three turpentine stills remaining in the State of Georgia.
The process of turpentine starts with harvesting pine tar/gum from "Slash Pine" trees, and as the harvesters cut slash marks into the sides of pine trees, the tar/gum slowly leaks into metal vats located at the bottom of the slash marks. The slash marks look like whiskers on a cat's face, thus the term "Catface Country" was adopted for Portal's annual Turpentine Festival.
After collecting the pine tar, it is cooked down to what we know as ’turpentine.’
Many people travel near and far to see the production of how turpentine is made, become knowledgeable in its history, and get a taste of the ’rosin-baked’ potatoes. The 41st Catface Turpentine Festival will be from 10am to 5pm in Dowtown Portal.
Learn more about Portal’s history at theportalheritagesociety.org.
