Audi Club Georgia: HelenBack 2019

words: Philip Monk, photos: Audi Club Georgia

Every August for the past 10 years, Audi Club Georgia members gather in Helen, GA for HelenBack. This event started as a one day fun-run beginning and ending in Helen, GA, thus Helen and Back – HelenBack. Helen is a small town in Northeast Georgia that reinvented itself in the image of a German alpine village in 1968 with several German restaurants and German themed shops. Obviously, the German connection is what drew us to the location for this event in the beginning, not to mention its setting at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains

With the generous sponsorship of an Atlanta area dealer, Audi North Atlanta, we were able to expand HelenBack into a two day event several years ago. This is a relatively small event, compared to our Quattro de Mayo event, with a limit of 50 participants due to the size of the venues. Some participants only come for the day since Helen is an easy drive from the Atlanta area. Others make it a weekend, so we reserve a room block in Helen, and organize a dinner on Friday night. This year we had 33 cars and 48 participants, divided into three run groups, all driving basically the same route with different start times and different lunch stops. On Saturday evening we met for drinks and dinner at Hofer’s, a local German restaurant, followed by the awarding of some great raffle prizes, all courtesy of our sponsor, Audi North Atlanta. On Sunday, we enjoyed a more leisurely drive, followed by lunch, and ending at one of our fabulous North Georgia wineries. HelenBack is a great opportunity for members to share in the pleasure of driving some challenging mountain roads and enjoy time socializing with each other.