Talore Ruedt, Director of Special Events for the City of Winder, talks about planning community events, supporting downtown businesses, and what’s coming next — including a major celebration planned for 2026.

Q: Tell everybody out there about Talore.

A: I have been with Winder for about a year and a half now. I started in May of last year. I'm originally from Wisconsin, born and raised there, moved to Georgia about a decade ago. And I've been in Gwinnett County the whole time. I've got a couple of dogs and cats. You probably saw Hazel if you watched our most recent Spooktacular promo; she was the very ferocious lion this year. 

Q: How did Talore get to Winder?

A: I was recruited by the previous events director. I used to work with her in City of Duluth.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your experience so far in Winder and what you've seen. Where do you see us going in terms of events, and how we can capitalize on what we have?

A: It's been a lot of fun. I think we've seen a lot of growth in event attendance over the past year and a half. As the downtown continues to develop and grow, we just expect that to grow even more as our event lineup continues to grow.

Q: Tell us a little bit about those [upcoming events].

A: A fun fact about Spooktacular is that we have purchased 58,850 pieces of candy to pass out. And we will probably run out before the end of the night, thanks to our Fire Department because they like to hand out handfuls at a time. So don't miss the Fire Department booth!

We've got about a thousand clown noses to pass out. I feel like our council members are going to have fun giving those out to the kids. And we've got about 50 trick-or-treat vendors in total that are going to be there that night.

The theme this year is Winder’s Three Ring Circus. So we'll have circus performers walking around. We'll have a circus show at 7:30, costume contest, and other fun stuff.

Q: What’s next after Spooktacular?

A: Next up, we've got Jug Tavern Festival on Nov. 8th. That's going to be a big one. We've got a car show, and new this year is a children's entrepreneur market — where kids will come in from 12-3 p.m. and set up their own booth, selling handmade goods, arts and crafts type things.

We also have the hot air balloons coming back. As long as the wind plays in our favor, that will be from 5-8 p.m. Swingin’ Medallions are returning that day as well.

And then on Nov. 20, we have our Tree Lighting that is moving down to Jug Tavern Park this year. It'll be a little bit larger than last year. We'll have Santa and some few other fun activities. So that's from 6- 8 p.m. at the park.

Applications are still open for that, so if you're interested in coming out, those will close on Nov. 17th.

The last event of the year is our Christmas Parade on Dec. 13th from 2-5:30 p.m. We only have about 20 spots open for the parade right now, so if you're interested in joining us for that, make sure you apply soon.

Q: How many floats or entries do we typically have for that Christmas Parade?

A: Depending on the number of vehicles each approved applicant has, we have anywhere from 50 to 60 floats.

Q: For the public listening that doesn't get to see what you and all the volunteers do leading up to that event — can you walk them through the process?

A: Months or even a year of planning goes into most of these events. I'm actually going to be taking our 2026 lineup to council here in the next week or so. Once they approve that, we get started right away planning next year. There's a lot of stuff on the back end, like creating applications, trying to recruit vendors, securing all of the entertainment. Some of that you have to do pretty far in advance. We tried to get Swingin’ Medallions for our show this year and they were booked up. And we actually tried to book them for an event next July and they were already booked.

Q: How do you deal with being a victim of your own success? What do you do next year when people expect more?

A: I'm always trying to grow and come up with new ideas. I've got an ideas list just always running, always adding ideas to the list. Because the community always wants something new, even if it's the same event. You have to do something fresh.

Something that we do that's a little bit more formal is we do after-action reports after every event. And we kind of detail what it took to create that event, and then we put in some actions for improvement. That comes from not just myself but other staff members that are working. It comes from the community. People come up to us at the event and say, we love this, but we’d love to see this. We always take note of that and we try our best to implement what we can.

Q: How can someone get involved?

A: We don't have a ton of volunteer opportunities for the general public. If we have volunteer opportunities, they're usually reserved for the schools like the Beta Club or National Honor Society.

We have a lot of staff internally that help run the event. If you have a business or want to be a vendor, all of those applications are online. They usually open 5 to 6 months before the events are held. And we recommend getting your applications in early. We try and limit competition, so if we have one jewelry vendor apply, we're not going to approve two. Get your applications in early!

Q: How do you use technology to show vendors the impact of events?

A: We have access to a platform called Placer.ai and we use that after the events to go in and look and see what kind of crowd we had. That software allows us to see where they're coming from, what their demographics are, about how long they spent in the space, and what businesses they went to before and after. That kind of helps us and helps our downtown businesses plan better for future events.

Q: How do our events help downtown businesses?

A: Events are really a great marketing tool. It gets people down here to lay eyes on your businesses. We keep all the businesses informed as to what the events are going to be, what the themes are going to be. That way they can kind of tie themselves in with specials or activities.

We do our best to highlight them and not block them. So we never put vendors in front of them if it can be avoided.

Q: What’s your dream day — no budget limits — for an event that supports downtown businesses?

A: Probably in the fall. So not too hot — that's a great start. Like Spooktacular.

Closing the roads and really connecting Jackson Plaza to Jug Tavern Park is what makes the downtown feel really connected, in my opinion.

Q: Is downtown parking really that bad?

A: I don't think we have a parking problem. I think we have a walking problem. Maybe at the Christmas Parade, parking was probably a little bit hard. But generally parking is not hard. You're going to have to walk a little bit. There's almost always parking at the Community Center or behind the Cultural Arts Center. And all of our parking is free.

Q: Can you tell us a little teaser about what’s coming for Celebrate America?

A: Traditionally we host a Celebrate Winder event in July. Next year, being the 250th birthday of America, we are going to host a Celebrate America event. It's going to be probably one of the largest events Winder has ever had.

It’ll start with a parade — same route as the Christmas Parade. We’ll have fireworks. We’ve got a big band. It'll be names that most of you will know. We'll be announcing that soon.

We’ll have contests — a hot dog eating contest, most patriotic contest, etc. — so start thinking about how you want to participate. Applications for vendors and the parade open in February.

Q: Will vendor spots fill up quickly?

A: I think they will. I would recommend applying right away. We won't be approving right away, but getting your application in early is key.

Q: What do sponsors get in return?

A: As a sponsor, you get to set up a booth, plus bonus perks. You're on our event page — hyperlink and logo — and on Facebook and the website. You're mentioned in our press release. A lot of our posts will have you tagged in it.

Depending on the level you're at, you might be on print material and in videos. It’s about getting your name out there and showing that you're supporting the community.

Q: Can you talk about weather cancellations and why events aren’t always rescheduled?

A: A common misconception is that we can easily reschedule events. It's not as easy as it may seem. A lot of our entertainment and our vendors are not available to reschedule. Even if it's the next day or next week, their schedules are full. We hate to cancel as much as you hate for us to cancel.

What most commonly happens is we reschedule vendors for another event instead of rescheduling the whole event.

Q: One final teaser… anything to share about the November 5 announcement?

A: Bye bye bye.