Mayfield Dairy will end tours

After more than 14 years and almost 2 million visitors, the visitor center at the Mayfield Dairy in Braselton will shut down Oct. 31.

The production side of the dairy, which processes milk for distribution, will stay open.

"The dairy is not shutting down but the visitor center is," said state Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville. "That center has brought in a lot of tourism dollars into Northeast Georgia. ... They have about 130,000 people going through there every year, so it's not a huge group, but it's not too shabby."

Over the past decade and a half, schoolchildren, families and ice cream fans have toured the dairy through the visitor center and watched as dairy workers processed and bottled milk for distribution.

"There are hardly any schoolchildren in Northeast Georgia who haven't been on that tour," said Braselton Town Manager Jennifer Dees.

On Sept. 29, Mayfield officials told employees about their plans to close the visitor center and posted this message on the visitor center's Facebook page:

"We regret to inform all of our friends that our Mayfield Visitor Center will be closing on October 31st," the post reads. "We have truly enjoyed meeting, touring and serving all of you, and we hope you will come by and visit us during our last month of business."

Dean Foods Co., the company that owns Mayfield, has said that the visitor center had just become economically unsustainable, according to Jamaison Schuler, a spokesman for the company.

"It really does kind of boil down to economics," Schuler said. "It was a difficult decision, but we did eventually decide that it was economically unsustainable to keep that visitor center open."

Braselton city and state officials have launched a call-in and email campaign and hope to convince Mayfield Dairy executives, and parent company Dean Foods, that the visitor center should stay open.

So far about 35 individuals have left comments on Mayfield Dairy's Braselton Visitor Center's Facebook page.

The entire dairy employs about 180 people, but only three work in the visitor center, Schuler said.

The center's economic impact comes more from luring tourists and visitors off Interstate 85 to visit the dairy and spend money in the Braselton area, said Shane Short, president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

Ginn is working with state tourism and economic development officials to see if they can strike a deal to save the visitor center.

"It's for sure that they're closing at the end of October, but we're trying to see if we can make a situation where they're just closed for the winter," Ginn said.

That's a possibility Dean Foods is considering, as well, Schuler said.

The company is keepi

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