GILMER COUNTY, Ga. — On the square in downtown Ellijay, this is the moment Peggy and Mel Mueller have been waiting for.
“This was always such an important part of our life up in the Chicago area. Fall is the best season of the year up there,” Peggy said.
It might be the best season down here too.
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“We get calls year around where people ask us when are the leaves going to be pretty,” Gilmer Chamber President Jennifer Grimmer told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.
It so happens that science has the answer.
“When we think about getting those best colors of orange, red, and yellow — we’re really talking about a pattern of sunny and mild days and cool nights.”
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan says it’s happening, and the rainy growing season helped kick it off.
It’s just what Jennifer Grimmer wants to hear.
“You can look around when you’re driving,” Grimmer said. “The leaves are just starting to come. Some golds and reds around the square. I’d say three more weeks and it’s going to be primo.”
Grimmer says tourism is off the charts when the leaves in the North Georgia Mountains really pop.
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The Muellers of Chicago now live in Florida and they miss fall. That’s why they’re here.
“On our way back we’re going to Helen. We thought we’d do Ellijay on the way up and Helen on the way home,” Peggy Mueller said.
For the moment, all signs for a colorful autumn in the North Georgia Mountains point to right around Halloween.
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