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WCU’s annual celebration of mountain culture to be Sept. 24
Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day will mark 31 years of celebrating traditional Appalachian culture when the festival gets under way Saturday, Sept. 24.
A combination old-fashioned mountain fair, showcase for authentic Southern Appalachian folk arts and family reunion for the masses, Mountain Heritage Day regularly attracts more than 30,000 people to Western’s campus on the last Saturday each September.
Visitors to this year’s festival will find three stages of traditional mountain music and dance, special hands-on activities for children, shape-note singing, exhibitions of the ancient Cherokee game of stickball, a farmer’s market, and the first performance at Mountain Heritage Day by the Warriors of Ani Kituhwa, a group that is revitalizing the Cherokee dances of the past. There will also be numerous just-for-fun contests, including woodcutting, a 5-K footrace, horseshoes and an antique auto show.
The Mountain Heritage Day arts and crafts midway will offer handmade items for sale, and food booths feature old-fashioned fare. Free hayrides will transport visitors to the nearby Mountain Heritage Center, Western’s museum of Appalachian history and culture, to view its many exhibits.
Mountain Heritage Day is held outside, rain or shine, and admission to the festival site is free. Activities begin around 8 a.m. and wind down around 5 p.m. Close parking is limited, but shuttles operate throughout the day. Pets are not allowed on festival grounds, but service animals are welcome.
As a part of Mountain Heritage Day activities, a pre-festival concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, featuring bluegrass stars Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver at Western’s Ramsey Center.
Variety of
‘just-for-fun’ contests slated
Masters of the chainsaw, horseshoe and homemade pie need to take note. Those who are fleet of foot, others who enjoy driving around in their vintage automobiles, and men who haven’t seen a razor in years should mark their calendars.
Mountain Heritage Day offers a chance for those who fit in the above categories to strut their stuff in the festival’s lineup of just-for-fun contests.
The shape-note singing session always draws a crowd at Mountain Heritage Day, Western Carolina University’s annual fall celebration. The all-day event is set for Saturday, Sept. 24, with activities getting under way around 8 a.m.
The woodcutting contest always draws a large crowd to watch chainsaw and crosscut saw masters compete for the fastest cuts. Registration for that contest will begin at 8 a.m., and competition begins at 9 a.m. More information about the contest is available by calling contest coordinator Norman Parris at 586-2236 after 4 p.m.
Registration also begins at 8 a.m. on festival day for the Mountain Heritage Day 5-K Footrace and 1-mile Fun Run. The Fun Run will begin at 8:30 a.m., while the 5-K is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Participants will check in and register in front of McKee Building on Central Drive on Western’s campus. More information is available by calling Kevin Ayers, contest coordinator, at 227-3549, or by e-mailing kayers@wcu.edu. A race registration form is available on the Web at www.mountainheritageday.com.
Those who fancy themselves as skilled in the kitchen might want to enter “A Gathering In,” the annual traditional foods competition at Mountain Heritage Day. Sponsored by Western’s Mountain Heritage Center and Health Center, and Jackson County Cooperative Extension, the competition includes preserved, canned, dried and baked goods in a number of categories for youth and adults. Entries must be delivered to the Mountain Heritage Center during specific times the week before the festival. Detailed contest information is available by calling the Mountain Heritage Center at 227-7129 or the Extension Office at 586-4009.
Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day always includes an antique car and truck show, plus other just-for-fun contests such as a 5-K run, horseshoes, and woodcutting with chainsaws and crosscut saws. The old-fashioned mountain celebration will be held Saturday, Sept. 24, on Western’s campus.
The festival antique car and truck show, which begins at 9:30 a.m., will give owners a chance to show off their classic automobiles. Then, at 12:15 p.m., men with impressive beards or moustaches will want to arrive at the festival’s Norton Stage to take part in the beard and moustache contest, while women and children who attend Mountain Heritage Day in their best traditional mountain clothes can take part in the costume contest at the same time and place.
The final contest of the day will bring the area’s best horseshoe throwers together for matches. Men’s singles will begin at 1 p.m., and women’s singles and men’s doubles will begin at 2:30 p.m.
‘Meet-the-authors’ event planned
Mountain Heritage Day will take on a literary touch this year as Western faculty members who have recently published books on Southern Appalachian topics are featured in a book signing and meet-the-authors event.
The faculty authors will gather from 10 a.m. until noon in the lobby of the Mountain Heritage Center, located on the ground floor of Western’s Robinson Building.
The lineup includes Ron Rash, the university’s Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies, who has been accumulating a long list of literary awards for his novel “Saints at the River,” including recognition from the Southeast Booksellers Association for the best Southern novel of 2005. Rash also picked up a prestigious O. Henry Prize for short fiction for his story “Speckle Trout.”
Richard Starnes, assistant professor of history at Western, will be on hand with his book, “Creating the Land of the Sky: Tourism and Society in Western North Carolina,” which tells the story of the rise of the tourism industry in the region.
Tyler Blethen, Creighton Sossomon Professor of History at the university, will present a book he co-edited titled “High Mountains Rising,” an overview of the Appalachian timeline, the region’s people and the most significant aspects of life in the region. “High Mountains Rising” was named 2005 Appalachian Book of the Year in nonfiction by the Appalachian Writers Association.
Other authors scheduled to appear at the Sept. 24 event, and their book titles, are Lisa Lefler, visiting assistant professor in anthropology and sociology, “Southern Indians and Anthropologists: Culture, Politics and Identities;” Tom Hatley, Sequoyah Distinguished Professor in Cherokee Studies, “The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians Through the Era of Revolution;” and Scott Philyaw, associate professor of history, “Virginia’s Western Visions: Political and Cultural Expansion on an Early American Frontier.”
The authors’ event is being co-sponsored by the Mountain Heritage Center and City Lights Bookstore of Sylva.
Free hayrides will be available at Mountain Heritage Day to transport visitors between the main festival site and the Mountain Heritage Center.
For more information about any activitites scheduled in conjunction with Mountain Heritage day, call 227-3193 or visit mountainheritageday.com.
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