DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawsonville City Council heard presentations from the Bill Elliott Dawsonville Distillery, Dawsonville History Museum and Chamber of Commerce during its work session Monday.

Council also considered its meeting schedule for 2017 and appointments and mayor and council board member designations.

Dawson Chamber of Commerce President Christie Haynes gave the Chamber presentation, outlining the organization’s structure and activities in 2016.

The Chamber now has 437 members and held 24 ribbon cuttings for new businesses like The Purple Corn Boutique, Turner and Pooch Grooming and Outside the Lines Art Studio this year. They also conducted seminars and activities to assist local businesses in maximizing productivity and profitability.

Haynes said the Chamber is planning to add one new employee soon and is currently working on plans to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2017.

Representatives of the Dawsonville Distillery said two new products were introduced in 2016 and there will be more releases in 2017. The business now has online sales through a third party and has hired one new ‘moonshiner’ They also are the presenting sponsor for KARE for Kids — an organization whose focus is providing opportunity for every child in Dawson County to have the Christmas they deserve — at the Moonshine Festival and the sponsor of No One Alone, a non-profit organization providing emergency shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

David Sosebee of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame (GRHOF) reported the facility is operating below budget and added, “We held 124 events this year, not including the holiday season that hasn’t begun yet. We’ve had visitors from 46 states and 12 countries including France, Germany, Russia and South Africa.”

Sosebee added that the GRHOF was featured in a CMT special this year and he said there is a major event coming up in January that should attract more visitors to Dawsonville.

“Raymond Parks will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame so we need to see what we can do to pull a little more traffic down here because this is a really big thing for Dawsonville. It should have happened many years ago but it will happen in January.”

Council also began preliminary discussion of a historic preservation overlay district ordinance.