Most Epworth weekends default south to Blue Ridge out of habit. That's the reflex the map trains into you. Look the other way this year, though, and the eight miles between Epworth and the Georgia-Tennessee line are carrying more of the calendar than usual, from a weekly Saturday market at the Steel Bridge to a three-race running series built around America's 250th.
Why the northbound direction is doing more work this year
The pull of downtown Blue Ridge is real, and nothing here argues against it. What has shifted is the density of things happening on the other end of the Toccoa. The twin towns of McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee are experiencing a revival with new shops, restaurants, parks and streetscapes, and 2026 is the year that revival stopped being a promise and started showing up on a weekly schedule.
The Riverwalk City Block is the anchor. It stitches the two towns together across the steel truss bridge, and it now hosts a rotating cast of anchor tenants, seasonal races, and a Saturday market. For an Epworth resident, that's a 15-minute drive to a full day of programming that isn't a repeat of last weekend.
Saturdays at the Steel Bridge
The Twin Cities Market runs weekly on Bridge Street in McCaysville, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., through the warm season. If you've been living here a while and haven't caught it yet, here are the confirmed 2026 dates worth putting on the fridge:
| Month | Saturdays |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | 8, 15, 22, 29 |
| September 2026 | 5, 12, 19, 26 |
| October 2026 | 3 |
Those dates come directly off the City of McCaysville's events calendar, which lists the Twin Cities Market at Steel Bridge on Bridge Street from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm each Saturday. The market sits directly at the state line, so you're crossing between Georgia and Tennessee to browse the tents.
One logistical note if you're driving in from the Epworth side: C.W. Matthews Contracting Company plans to close a section of Colton Avenue beginning May 4th, 2026, and the closure and detour will remain in place for approximately 21 days. If your Saturday route usually cuts through there, factor in the detour before you leave the house.
The Riverwalk block, decoded
If you've walked the Riverwalk before but never quite mapped who does what, this is the version to keep. The Riverwalk has three restaurants on the river and 11 shops in a revitalized complex of buildings in a "Ponce Market" style, and the McCaysville Visitor Center features old photos and objects exploring the mining heritage of the Basin on loan from the Ducktown Basin Museum.
The tenants worth knowing by name:
- Burra Burra On the River is the surf-and-turf option with an outdoor deck that catches the sunset over the Toccoa.
- Twisted Tomato is the everyday pizza-and-sandwiches anchor, and the same team lends its name to a fall 5K down the road.
- TOONEYS is the live-music venue with a country and southern rock booking policy that leans toward regional acts.
- IGA Hometown Foods is the practical piece: it's the neighborhood grocery when you need staples without driving to the Blue Ridge Walmart.
Cross the steel bridge into Copperhill and the block continues with a brewery, an escape room, and a handful of gift shops. It's compact enough to see in an afternoon, walkable enough to earn a second lap.
The 2026 Riverwalk Run Series
This is the year's most interesting new fixture, and it's the kind of thing you'd want to know about as a local before your out-of-town relatives ask if there's a race weekend they should visit for. In 2026, the Riverwalk Run Series proudly celebrates America's 250th birthday alongside the states of Georgia and Tennessee, crossing the state line on foot in America's only two-state 5K series.
Three events, all 5Ks, all crossing the bridge:
- Burra Burra Trout Trot — April 25, 2026
- WPPL-FM 103.9 Walk the Line 5K — July 18, 2026
- Twisted Tomato McCaysville Bigfoot Boogie 5K — November 14, 2026
Each 5K features a 3.1-mile paved course winding through the twin riverfront towns of McCaysville, GA and Copperhill, TN, following the Toccoa River and crossing the historic steel bridge that unites the two states, and all events are walker-friendly, stroller-friendly, and dog-friendly, with evening start times intentionally designed to encourage overnight stays, local dining, and exploration of the surrounding mountain communities.
The evening start matters. It means the races feed foot traffic straight into the Riverwalk restaurants afterward, which is worth knowing if you're deciding whether to show up as a runner or as someone with a dinner reservation trying to avoid a crowd.
Thursday nights, from Memorial Day through September
If Saturday feels overprogrammed, the sleeper pick is midweek. Horseshoe Bend Park is well known for its Pickin' in the Park on Thursday evenings, May through September. Pickin' in the Park is a weekly jam session of blue grass and acoustic musicians every Thursday from Memorial Day week through September; bring a picnic and your own lawn chairs and enjoy the music.
The park itself does more than host the jam. Horseshoe Bend Park sits on the Toccoa River and is a favorite spot for picnics, fishing, family reunions, even weddings in the park gazebo, and there are several covered picnic shelters, a playground and restrooms in the park. It's the neighborhood green space that Epworth doesn't quite have on its own, and it's close enough to fold into a weeknight without treating it as a trip.
On-water afternoons
The Toccoa runs slow enough here to be a genuinely lazy river, which is the point. McCaysville is home to Rolling Thunder River Company, which offers whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River a 10-minute bus ride away, and Rolling Thunder and Toccoa River Tubing Company offer tubing and kayaking on the Toccoa River.
That split is worth understanding. If you want a Class III-IV whitewater afternoon, the outfitter is here but the river is over the Tennessee line on the Ocoee. If you want a float where the group ranges from a nine-year-old to a grandparent, the Toccoa in front of town is your put-in. Same booking office, two very different days.
Two rivers, one town, and a state line running down the middle of Main Street. There isn't another corner of North Georgia that geographies quite like this one.
The other direction still counts
None of this is an argument against Blue Ridge on a Saturday. The Blue Ridge Farmers Market runs weekly from June through October, in the city park across from the Fannin County courthouse every Saturday from 8 to 12, with local produce, fresh jams and jellies, homemade bread and pastries, local art, and more. If you're an early riser, you can hit that market at 8 a.m. and still make Twin Cities Market by 10:30.
The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway runs through downtown and welcomes people aboard at a historic depot, and from March through December, this vintage mountain train brings passengers on a picturesque journey through the hills of Appalachia; local breweries and the Downtown Park host community events and live music shows all year round. That's the version of Saturday most people already know. The version most people don't run is the double-market day, north then south, with the Riverwalk as the pivot point.
Late summer at Mercier
The seasonal footnote that shapes September and October: Mercier Orchards. Mercier Orchards is a delightful destination for visitors to Epworth, and known for its fresh produce, the orchard offers visitors an opportunity to pick their own apples from late summer into fall. If you've been here through a few autumns you already know Mercier gets busy. If you haven't, the local move is a weekday morning visit rather than a Saturday-after-brunch attempt.
The map, redrawn
Living in Epworth means sitting in the middle of a corridor most guidebooks treat as two separate destinations. The Blue Ridge story gets told; the McCaysville story is only now getting told at the same volume. In 2026, with a weekly market, a three-race series, a Thursday jam, and a Riverwalk block filling out its tenant list, the northbound drive is the one that keeps producing new Saturdays.
If your next move involves a home closer to that corridor, a lakefront somewhere along the Toccoa, or land with river access on the Fannin County side, Lucretia Collins and her team know these back roads and boundary lines as well as anyone working this market. Let's Connect when you're ready to talk through what's available and what fits.
