When Peter and I moved to Big Canoe in 2002, the only actual concert offered to residents was an annual band or small symphony performance held on the Sconti Golf Course, and the event was called “Concert on the Green.” It was a lovely night of music usually presented in late spring or early summer, and people brought their own picnics and sat on blankets spread on the sloping area overlooking Sconti Lake. It was always a wonderful, well-attended event, but it left music lovers wanting more.
Then pastor Jimmy Allen and Big Canoe Chapel heard the call and generously came to the rescue by donating a beautiful piece of land just outside the gates of the Big Canoe Community. The site already had a large circular marble stage in a flat area surrounded on three sides by gently sloping land, forming a perfect amphitheater under the stars. The slopes were terraced with stone separations for seating, and the location was aptly named The Terraces.
With the new venue, concerts were booked, and increasingly larger crowds began to attend the monthly musical events scheduled from May through September. People gathered friends together, packed potluck picnics, their folding chairs, and tail-gated in the parking lot before the concerts began. Everything was perfect, except when a summer evening pop-up shower would occur. The audience could wait out a short shower with umbrellas, but, without a covered stage, the bands couldn’t protect their instruments. So, in time the Terraces Committee raised enough money from the nominal ticket fees to build a large covered stage for the musicians.
Over the years, The Terraces was able to attract more highly rated performers, and a typical musical lineup now includes groups who play everything from Jazz, to Country to Rock ‘n Roll, and who present Elvis, The Eagles, Jimmy Buffet and The Beatles tribute concerts. Couples and singles from age three to eighty-three cover the marble circle and dance the night away to fast and slow renditions of their favorite songs.
How many communities can you name that have their own amphitheater featuring top talent entertaining with eight concerts a year, where the music reverberates through the pristine North Georgia Mountains on warm moonlit nights. Only in the Big Canoe Resort Community can you experience this. Come see for yourself—you may never want to leave!
