Dahlonega has withdrawn its bid to become the home of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

In December, the city and North Georgia College & State University submitted a joint package to locate the museum on the university campus.

"Our proposal was contingent upon raising funds to support the construction of the new facility," university spokeswoman Kate Maine said.

However, it soon became clear city and university officials could not make the nearly $5 million financial commitment before the bid announcement in April.

"While we had some potential gifts lined up for that, it was clear after we submitted the proposal that those would not be secured in time," Maine said.

Maine said the university decided to pursue the hall of fame to attract more visitors to campus. It would also give students new learning opportunities.

"Our music and performing arts programs and countless other programs would have benefitted from collaborating and working with the music hall of fame," Maine said.

Because of a confidentiality agreement, Maine cannot release any specifics of the bid. But she did mention the hall would have been built along South Chestatee Street.

"The sentiment of everyone involved in putting this proposal together is Dahlonega would still be a wonderful location for the music hall of fame," Maine said. "We're sorry we don't have the time to secure the necessary resources to make this viable."

The Georgia General Assembly sought communities to take over the operations of the music and sports halls of fame after deciding to discontinue state funding. Both are located in Macon.

The music hall of fame houses 30,000 artifacts such as photographs, sheet music and video and audio recordings.
Athens, Dunwoody and Woodstock have also submitted bids for the music hall.