Helen’s off-season relies on locals to sustain small businesses

The Bavarian-themed town of Helen, Georgia, sees nearly 2 million tourists during its peak season, which is between September and December, but during the off-season, Helen locals help keep the small businesses afloat.

Chase Hogan works at Bodensee, a German restaurant that is usually packed out during Oktoberfest.

“I know a lot of places in town close down, but the locals keep this place afloat in the really slow times,” Hogan said.

Hogan said that he and other servers work around 200 double shifts straight through the busy season, but in the off-season, he gets a day or two off per week.

The town of Helen keeps adding weeks to its Oktoberfest celebration to extend the busy season.

Johann Ramsey, who lives in Helen, said after World War II, most of the population left Helen because the mine closed and the mill shut down.

Local businessman and artist John Kollock redesigned the town into its current architecture in an attempt to save it from dying.

“That’s what made Helen special. If we refused to die in the 1950s and 60s and we’re doing so again in the off-seasons, it’s that American spirit of saying, ‘We’re not going down, we’re going to keep going,'” Ramsey said.