THE STORY OF ‘THE CRIMSON MOON CAFÉ

The Crimson Moon Café opened its doors in October of 2001 as a small one room gallery of eclectic art on the historic Public Square of Dahlonega, Georgia, site of the nation’s first ‘gold rush’, and home of the purest gold in the world. The harvest moon was full and glowing a haunting crimson red on the night of the official Grand Opening. To the proprietress, Dana Marie LaChance, this was the first of many affirmations in the months and years to come that supported her belief and vision that The Crimson Moon Café would be a place that ministered to the growth of the divine and creative spirit that she believed existed in every human being.

Within six months, the floor space taken by some of the original shelves and counters of the c. 1858 Parker-Nix Storehouse that housed the gallery was traded for a hodge-podge collection of tables and chairs. The Crimson Moon expanded its name and identity to include a full ‘coffee house’ serving only organic, shade grown, fairly traded coffees and teas as well as locally made baked goods. "The Moon" soon became a favorite hangout for locals, visitors, and NGCSU students that relished a comfortable and supportive environment for relaxation, study, and/or conversation.

From the owner's love for eclectic music birthed the next chapter of The Crimson Moon Café. She had long dreamed of opening a smoke-free ‘listening’ focused music venue that supported independent performing artists from a broad range of music genres. The first stage (of four different stages to come!) was built, a great sound system was purchased, and a sound engineer hired to assure the artists would sound their best while sharing their gift of song from that tiny 'first' stage in the back corner. Soon, The Crimson Moon Café became known as "the southeast most intimate music venue," hosting a wide variety of regionally and nationally touring acoustic artists as they traveled the Southeastern entertainment circuit - that now includes ‘The Crimson Moon.'

The next several years were spent slowly upgrading the quality of the artists who were booked to perform on stage in the 'venue' sector of the business, while the cafe sector was busy experimenting with new and improved menu additions to the then health focused "deli" menu - all which was originally prepared entirely from toaster ovens, crock pots, and cutting boards behind the Coffee House counter! As more seats for great music and food were needed the third chapter of Dana's vision for The Crimson Moon Cafe became a reality with the addition of a brand new state-of-the-art kitchen to the rear of The Parker Nix Storehouse in 2006. A renowned area chef was hired to create an expanded full service menu, and the second story of the building was renovated to offer cozy private dining rooms that would accommodate folks who might want to enjoy the wonderful menu offerings in a more conversational friendly atmosphere. A comfy sofa filled lounge area was also added to the second story, as well as a New Orleans style 'with a view' dining area on the 2nd story porch that overlooked Dahlonega's bustling and beautiful historic Public Square.

By Halloween of ‘08 the last of the Gift Gallery shelves were removed to make room for a much larger and more visible stage with expanded café/venue seating that had been long needed. The old shelving was then used to build a beautiful bar upstairs, where the sofa lounge area once ‘lived.’ The entire second story was then totally renovated to open the c. 1900 decorated ‘Half Moon Saloon’, complete with a brass spittoon, archival photographs of Dahlonega, a separate entrance off of the Public Square, and more serious ‘libations’ than just wine and beer on the way. With the same great menu served upstairs and down, the new ‘step back in time’ saloon promised to be a Dahlonega "must see and do" dining, drinking and socializing experience – with the live music from the concert hall below often drifting upstairs!

The Half Moon Saloon addition was also the final chapter in the seven year long evolution from a one room, single story art gallery to a 150 seat full service café and nationally acclaimed music venue! The proprietress’s life long dream had been made a reality, and a place of ministry and community was created where the authentic creative spirit can ‘rise and shine’, especially through the offering of live music from a dozen different genres several nights of every week. Ask any local about The Crimson Moon Cafe and they will often describe it as "the coolest, most happening place in North Georgia." Ask any artist who’s shared their music from The Crimson Moon Cafe’s stage and they’ll most likely tell you that ‘The Moon’ is one of their most favorite places to perform in the entire United States!

What many folks do NOT know about The Crimson Moon Café is that nearly all paper products used are made of post consumer recycled products, and the vast majority of all the glass, plastic, paper, paste board, and aluminum cans are recycled! Just one more way that The Crimson Moon Café tries to make the world a better place to be – YOUR better place to be! Thank you so very much for your patronage and support of live music. Please let us know if there is ANYTHING we can do to make your next visit here even better than your last!

The Crimson Moon Exists to Support, Promote & Reward Creativity & Community!