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As development nears for Blue Ridge, Hall residents remember cattle auctions, fairs and a movie theater
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Rafe Banks III, Dr. Rafe Banks Jr. and David Banks ride a ferris wheel together in the late 1950s at the fairgrounds at what became the Blue Ridge shopping center. - photo from Rafe Banks III
The Blue Ridge shopping center, long in disrepair, still brings back fond memories for longtime Gainesville residents, from its time as a cattle auction site and fairgrounds in the 1950s and 1960s to its transition as a locale for teenagers with a movie theater and a popular pizza joint.