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Sylva's annual spring street festival to be Saturday
By Lynn Hotaling
It's time for toe-tapping music, great food, heritage crafts, a challenging 5K race and more, all backed by small-town charm and beautiful mountains.
In other words, it's time for Greening Up the Mountains, downtown Sylva's annual spring street festival.
Headliner Christine Kane will lead a talented cast of musicians who will perform eclectic offerings ranging from bluegrass to bagpipes from stages at opposite ends of Main Street. Food and craft vendors' booths will line both sides of Sylva's business district, and vehicular traffic will be re-routed all day to allow festival-goers to stroll the street in search of food and fun.
Sponsored by Sylva Partners in Renewal and Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, Greening Up welcomes spring through a unique blend of music, heritage, crafts, food and contests. Saturday's event marks the seventh year for the festival, which began in 1998 as a way to cast off the winter's doldrums. It takes its name from the way spring comes to the mountains by appearing first in the valleys and gradually moving up the slopes.
"This festival is special in that it brings people together for a day of community, fellowship and entertainment," said Sylva Manager Richard McHargue.
Greening Up begins at 9:45 a.m. with the Parade of Many Colors, sponsored by Catch the Spirit. In addition to the participation of all of Jackson County's public schools - a first for the event - the parade will feature a mixture of walking and riding entries ranging from the traditional to the unique. Lineup for the parade, which this year has adopted a theme of "The Environment and Our Heritage," will begin at 8:45 a.m. at Lifeway Church on Railroad Avenue. Once under way, the parade will loop around Meatballs and proceed up Main Street to Landis Street where its participants will disperse.
While the Parade of Many Colors marks the festival's official start, the third annual Greening Up the Mountains 5K road race is actually the first event. Late registration for the race, unofficially pegged the "Savannah Drive Challenge," begins at 8 a.m. at the foot of the old Jackson County Courthouse steps, and the race will begin at 9 a.m.
The first 100 individuals to register will receive Norway spruce seedlings along with the traditional race T-shirt. The overall men's and women's winners will receive 3-foot spruce trees. Ceramic wall hangings, made especially for the race, will be awarded to first- through third-place winners in each age group.
Main Street will come alive at 10 a.m. with music on the WestCare Health Systems Stage at the west (Courthouse) end of Main Street. Also at 10, the Children's Talent Contest on Founders' Stage at the opposite end will get under way, and a festival-record-setting number of booths will open for business along both sides of the street. Most downtown businesses and restaurants will be open as well.
"Music is an important part of Greening Up the Mountains," said festival coordinator and SPIR board member Greg Duff. "And we think this year's lineup is one of our very best."
The WestCare Stage will feature Asheville singer/songwriter Kane, blues act Sugar and Pooch; former Sylva resident Matt Stillwell; Son de Cuba; and Tao Jones.
Music on The Founders' Stage will begin at 1 p.m. with the old-world folk sound of 16-year-old Josh Bulla, followed by the Bravehearts, Wild Mountain Thyme, Cullowhee Valley Cloggers, Yodeling Ramblers, The Fiddling Dills Sisters, The Queen Family and The Muses.
A complete festival music schedule can be found in the Greening Up special section included with this edition of The Sylva Herald.
"As organizers of Greening Up the Mountains, SPIR's board members pride themselves on producing an event that is fun for the entire family," Duff said. "From the Cub Scouts' cubmobile races on Schulman Street during the morning to the face painting and popular Chalk Zone put on by the Jackson County Arts Council to the climbing wall, this festival has something for everyone, young and old alike, to enjoy."
With elements of an old-time country fair, Catch the Spirit's Heritage Walk on the grounds of the new McGuire House restaurant (next to The Sylva Herald) will include a dozen artisans and crafters demonstrating their work and sharing their knowledge of age-old techniques. New this year will be a selection of intimate story-telling and musical performances on the McGuire House porch, renamed "Mrs. Kincaid's Porch" for the duration of the festival.
Keener, Jackson and Evalina Streets will serve as the primary vehicular routes around downtown from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Parking for the festival will be available at the old Ritz Theater parking lot, the town lot on Railroad Avenue and at Jackson Plaza. Signs directing festival-goers will be placed along U.S. 441 and U.S. 23/74.
This year's Greening Up the Mountains celebration will also serve as SPIR's fund-raising campaign kick-off date.
To mark its 10th anniversary, SPIR has set a goal of raising $100,000 for construction of a pavilion in the town's Railroad Avenue parking lot.
Those attending Greening Up will be invited to step into a replica of the proposed pavilion, which will serve as SPIR's festival headquarters. Here, information on proposed Mill Street renovations will be available, as will festival guides, and donations toward SPIR's ongoing downtown revitalization efforts will be accepted. Engraved brick pavers like those lining Main Street may be purchased during the festival and after at SPIR's Hooper House office, said program administrator Linda Gillman.
Local Masons will again use the festival as a way to do their part to keep Jackson County's children safe. Members of Dillsboro's Masonic Lodge will offer parents and guardians free video tapes of their children.
Children can be video taped at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge booth during the festival Saturday to visually and audibly capture their appearance, mannerisms and speech. Their height and weight will also be recorded on the tape.
The Masons will furnish the tapes, free of charge, which will be labeled after recording and immediately given to the parent or guardian. There is also no charge for the recording. Parents who had tapes made at last year's festival may bring them for the addition of a current recording.
"It is hoped that many parents and guardians will accept this service the Masons offer for the children of our community," said member Bob Root.
For more about the 5K road race, the bands scheduled to appear on both stages, the New Century Scholar's Ducks on the Tuck fund-raiser and the CSA Parade of Many Colors, see The Herald's special festival section in this week's edition. Additional information about the festival is available at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce office, online at SPIR's Web site - www.spir.us - or by calling the SPIR office, 586-1577.
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