Why the Marble Festival road race took 2026 off

The Marble Festival Road Race in Jasper, Georgia, did not run in 2026. The Georgia Department of Transportation bought the Jasper United Methodist Church property on Appalachian Circle where the race’s finish line and awards ceremony were held, part of the Highway 53 widening, the Pickens County Progress reported. It would have been the 45th race. Whether it comes back, and who would run it, is undecided.

What happened

Christie Pool’s story in the Progress, “No finish line: Marble Festival Road Race takes a break after 44 years,” ran September 2, 2026. Race director Juanita Tatum told the paper: “GDOT bought our piece of property at Appalachian Circle where our finish line came down to and our awards ceremony.”

The festival listing on Know Pickens says the same thing in calendar language. The race, “traditionally hosted by the Dorcas Circle of Jasper United Methodist Church, is canceled for 2026 due to GDOT road projects and the loss of its historic finish line venue.” It adds that organizers “are using this time to redesign a new route for future festival weekends.” That line is about intent. Nobody has published a new route, a date or a registration page.

The road project behind it

As the Progress reported it in September, GDOT planned to put the Highway 53 widening out for bids in December 2026, with construction expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027. Those are the newspaper’s dates as of that story. We have not seen a GDOT schedule of our own to confirm them, and road schedules slip. If construction does start on that timeline, it will be underway well before the next festival weekend.

What the race was

The last one ran October 4, 2025: the 44th Annual Georgia Marble Festival Road Race, a 5K and a 1-mile fun run and walk (Know Pickens). The 5K started at 8 a.m. and the 1-mile at 9 a.m. In recent years the fields ran roughly 400 to 500 runners, per the Progress.

It was a church fundraiser at heart. The Chamber’s 5K page says it was organized and sponsored by the Jasper United Methodist Women In Faith, with proceeds going to the ministries of the Dorcas Circle (Pickens County Chamber).

One numbering quirk trips people up. The race count runs a year ahead of the festival’s: the 2025 race was the 44th, and so was the 2026 festival. When you see “44th” on a page, check which event it means.

The timeline, in one place

• October 5, 2024: the race date the Chamber’s 5K page still shows, with the 5K at 8 a.m. and the 1-mile at 9 a.m.
• October 4, 2025: the 44th race, the last one held.
• September 2, 2026: the Progress reports the cancellation and the GDOT purchase.
• October 3, 2026: festival Saturday, with the parade at 10 a.m. and no race.
• December 2026: GDOT’s planned bid date for the Highway 53 widening, as reported.
• First quarter of 2027: when construction was expected to start, as reported.

Will it be back in 2027?

Nobody knows yet, including the people who ran it. Tatum told the Progress: “I’d like to think it’s going to be a gap year whether we do it or someone else takes over, but that remains to be seen.” That is a hope, not an announcement, and we are treating it that way.

A warning about one page you may land on: the Chamber’s 5K page still shows the October 5, 2024 race, with the 5K at 8 a.m. and the 1-mile at 9 a.m., and it doesn’t mention the 2026 cancellation. Don’t plan a 2027 run around it. If the race returns, look for word from the Pickens County Chamber, Know Pickens and the Progress. We will update our road race page when there is something real to report, and the festival itself is tracked on our 2027 festival dates page.

What to watch between now and next fall

A few things would tell you which way this is going. One is whether GDOT’s December bid happens on schedule, since the finish-line property went to that project. Another is a route: Know Pickens says organizers are redesigning one, and a published course would be the first real sign of a 2027 race. The last is who runs it. Tatum left room for someone else to take over, so a new organizer’s name would be news on its own.

The road matters to festival visitors too. The Chamber’s directions to Lee Newton Park run along GA 53, both from GA 515 and from Tate. The reporting we have doesn’t say which stretch of Highway 53 the widening covers, so we can’t tell you whether festival traffic will notice. We will look again once the 2027 festival dates are out.

The festival Saturday without a race

For anyone used to the old rhythm, Saturday morning in 2026 started later. The first scheduled things were the Marble Festival Parade on Main Street at 10 a.m. and the festival opening at Lee Newton Park at the same hour (Visit Pickens). Our parade guide and 2026 festival recap cover how that day went.

If you were one of those 400 or so runners, the useful thing now is to keep an eye on the Progress. That is where the fullest account of the cancellation ran, and a likely place for the next chapter.

Questions people ask

Written by the Jasper Marble Festival Guide Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.