The Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds on the shore of Lake Chatuge is the cultural anchor of the Hiawassee area. The venue hosts the annual Georgia Mountain Fair each July and August — ten days of live music, traditional crafts, carnival rides, and regional food — along with a 10-day fall festival in October. Anderson Music Hall on the grounds runs concerts through the year, from country and bluegrass to gospel.
Within the fairgrounds, the Pioneer Village is a collection of authentic 19th-century Appalachian structures: a general store, a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, and an old mountain house, all relocated from nearby hollows and furnished with period artefacts. It is open during fair periods and some weekdays in between. The Fred Hamilton Rhododendron Garden adjoins the fairgrounds on a sloping hillside above the lake, with over 3,000 flowering plants including azaleas, magnolias, and the rare yellow azalea that Hamilton himself developed.