Region's folk artists keep traditions alive

Along with other crafters, quilters like Laura Nelle Goebel will demonstrate their mountain folk arts during Saturday's Mountain Heritage Day at Western Carolina University. The 26th edition of this festival gets under way just after sunup on the Cullowhee campus. Goebel's "Cherokee Cabin" quilt (below) was inspired by a barn located on Shoal Creek Church Loop. This medallion quilt, surrounded by the traditional Log Cabin pattern, is one in a series of barn quilts currently on display at the Folk Art Center in Asheville.

Those quiet corners are located at WCU's Mountain Heritage Center, where visitors can stroll past the men and women who are singlehandedly keeping the authentic mountain folk arts alive.

Those folk traditions will be demonstrated at the 26th annual Mountain Heritage Day, coming up Saturday, Sept. 30, through the hands of individuals such as Penny Johnson of Franklin, demonstrating how to combine wood ashes, lye and fat to make pure natural soap; Louise and Edward Goings, carrying on the tradition of Cherokee basket weaving; and R.O. Wilson of Cullowhee, demonstrating crosscut saw techniques.

Cherokee Cabin by Laura Nelle Goebel

The traditional artists featured around the Mountain Heritage Center not only include those who maintain the skills of traditional mountain living, but performers also - people such as Doyle Barker and Gar Mosteller, who present a music known as "mountain swing"; the Deitz Family of Sylva with their old-time and bluegrass music; the Snowbird Boys performing old-time Cherokee gospel music; and ballad singer Lena Jean Ray of Madison County.

And there are the storytellers, such as Kathi Littlejohn recalling the legends of the Cherokee, Gilford Williams of Stecoah, and Carey Bradley, an eighth-grader from Blue Ridge School in Cashiers.

Concert to feature Etta Baker

The free event will begin at 8 p.m. in the recital hall of WCU's Coulter Building.

Folklorists regard Baker, who has no formal music training and cannot read music, as one of the finest guitarists in the two-finger picking style that characterizes the Piedmont blues. She was honored in 1989 as one of the first eight recipients of the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award.

Leaving Home

"Were you happy to turn your face toward some distant land, to seek adventure and never glance back? Or were there tears of sadness and longing to turn around with each heavy step that carried you away?" inquired Irene Hooper, association secretary. "Come and tell your story." For more information, call Hooper at 293-5456.

Just-for-fun contests

Some of the contests scheduled for this year's Mountain Heritage Day include: wood cutting, 9 a.m., registration beginning at 8 a.m.; cat and dog shows, 9 a.m.; five-kilometer foot race and one-mile Fun Run/Walk, registration begins at 8 a.m., Fun Run at 8:30 a.m., 5-kilometer race at 9 a.m.; antique car and truck show, 9:30 a.m.; baked goods contest, entries accepted beginning 8:30 a.m., judging at 9:30 a.m.; old-timey fashion show and beard and moustache contest, 12:10 p.m.; and horseshoe pitching, men's singles at 1 p.m., women's singles and men's doubles at 2:30 p.m.

Part of Mountain Heritage Day to move

The music stage formerly located near the Belk Building will be located at the south end of the Outreach Center, with horseshoe pitching, dog and cat shows, and the children's area located between the crafts area and N.C. 107.

WCU's Mountain Heritage Center will continue to serve as the centerpiece for traditional mountain folk arts and music.

To facilitate pedestrian traffic between the Mountain Heritage Center and festival midway, WCU police officers will close Centennial Drive, on the south side of the H.F. Robinson Building, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day of the festival. Also, Catamount Road from the H.F. Robinson Building to E.J. Whitmire Stadium will be closed to traffic traveling toward the Robinson Building, said Gene McAbee, director of university police and traffic services.

Visitors who use the main campus entrance off N.C. 107 will all turn left in front of the Mountain Heritage Center. Just past Scott Hall, crafts vendors, participants in the antique car and truck show and wood cutting contest, shape-note singers, performers and folk artists headed for the Mountain Heritage Center, and individuals with physical disabilities will all turn right on University Way. They will be directed to their assigned parking areas by patrol officers, McAbee said.

General traffic will continue up Centennial Drive to Dodson Cafeteria and be directed south on Forest Hills Road to the stadium lots and the baseball field lot until those lots fill. Then traffic will be directed to other areas of campus, McAbee said.

Visitors who use the south entrance of campus on N.C. 107 at Forest Hills Road also will be directed to the nearest available parking. Local residents who know the way may avoid the traffic at the main WCU entrance by using Old Cullowhee Road and following officers' directions to the nearest available parking, McAbee said.

Admission to festival grounds is free. Close-in parking is limited, and comfortable shoes are recommended. Free shuttles operate throughout the day to transport visitors between parking areas and the festival site. In case of rain, Mountain Heritage Day events will take place inside the Mountain Heritage Center and the Ramsey Regional Activity Center.

For more information about Mountain Heritage Day, call (828) 227-7129.

Mountain Heritage Day schedules

Midway Stage

Bill Nichols, master of ceremonies

Mountain Heritage Center Traditional Stage

Religious Music Stage

Mountain Heritage Center Circle Stage

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