Local Artisans Works on Display and for Sale at Grand Opening of Perry Artisan Center

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The welcome center in Perry has a new look, and also has a new tenant.

The Georgia Artisan center, that’s the first of its kind in the state, showcases local artisans and their handcrafted works.

The center, only a hundred feet away from the Georgia National Fairgrounds, had dozens of visitors on its first day.

Inside there’s ceramics, blown glass, art work, paintings and photos…all unique, and all made in the state of Georgia.

“Our goal is to promote the arts, and to help the artisans have a venue to mark their goods, other than just the little craft fairs and so forth,” Bill Loudermilk, the President of Georgia Artisan Center’s Board, said.

He said it took about a year and a half to get everything completed inside of the Perry Welcome Center, and he has plans for more.

“It’s only a baby step, the eventual goal is create a stand alone building that’s about 30,000 square feet,” Loudermilk said.

Perry’s mayor Jimmy Faircloth says there is a great possibility that that happens.

“What better way to show one more segment of the population of what we can do here in Perry it makes us that much more unique, it’s one more reason to come to Perry, and a lot of reasons to stay,” Faircloth said.

Faircloth thinks the center could cater to the large amount of people who visit Perry any given time of the year.

“The more people that put their minds to it, they’re going to figure it out, and we’ll eventually have it, and that’ll be one more draw, not only for Perry, but Houston County, and middle Georgia,” he said.

Loudermilk says since it’s the holiday season, it’s the perfect time to buy something from the Georgia Artisan Center; they have Christmas ornaments there as well. But he says the goal is to have people stop by the center year round.