Cakewalk Around the Fountain: A "cakewalk" is a tradition that goes back many years in the history of the mountains. Developed to assist people when hard luck hits, the practice also has become a community event with good food and good entertainment. With neighbors helping neighbors, everyone gets involved - members of local bands donate their time and talent to provide the entertainment; the ladies of the community donate their best cakes; and those who love to sing come out to add their talent. Powell has been an MC for local cakewalks and fund-raisers for more than 25 years.
1904 & 1905 Gas Engines: Dr. William T. Bird will demonstrate these two fascinating cast iron gas engines. Wherever a wheel turned or hand power was needed in the early 1900s, these engines were popular for such things as pumping water, sawing wood, grinding feed, running the washing machine, chopping corn fodder, a power source for a line shaft to operate a lathe or drill press, and last, but not least, to power a vehicle later called an automobile and to power a tractor to compete with steam engines.
Blue Mountain Blacksmith and Traditional Blacksmith demonstrations: 18-year old Bronce Postell and veteran blacksmith Doc Cudd Jr. team up to provide a traditional blacksmithing show. Both forge setups will hold self-contained coal to demonstrate technique, trouble shooting, and original craftsmanship (with original items for sale to the festival-goers). Both student and teacher will be there to answer questions about this revitalizing art.
Vintage Appalachian Hand-Tools display and demonstration: Kenneth Postell will demonstrate the rebuilding of a horse-drawn fertilizer spreader and single-foot plow; he will also demonstrate stone wheel knife and scissor sharpening, plus answer questions on his Appalachian hand tools.
Pottery wheel demonstration: Pottery making is one of the oldest of human crafts. One of the first inventions made by man was the potter's wheel. All the processes used in making pottery - molding, casting, modeling, glazing and firing - are almost the same today as they were hundreds of years ago. The only difference is that the machines, ovens and other devices have changed. Doug Smith will demonstrate clay shaped manually on a revolving, treadle-operated horizontal potter's wheel. He will also have examples of his craft for display and sale.
Red Horse Drums: Demonstration of drum making Barry Boyland, crafter of Native American and African drums, beaters and rattles, will be found in or near his 24-foot tepee, which will be open for visitation. In making drums, Boyland uses traditional techniques such as hand planing to fashion the wood and often works the hide himself. Some of his wood work and animal hides will be on display as he demonstrates drum making and playing.
Treadle sewing machining demonstration: Lesa Postell, local author of "Appalachian Traditions: Mountain Ways of Canning, Drying and Pickling," will be signing books and demonstrating the art of bonnet making on her vintage treadle sewing machine. On display will be an old-time wooden ironing board with a cast iron.
Chair Caning demonstration: David Ammons has demonstrated chair caning each year for the life of the festival and is returning to weave his craft for the public. A working caner in great demand, he will demonstrate the standard weave in the split oak herringbone pattern, while on display and for sale will be other styles of caning.
Corn Shuck Dolls demonstration: Local legend Annie Lee Bryson has been making cornhusk crafts since 1940. Featured many years at the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival in Waynesville and at Mountain Heritage Day, Bryson will share her knowledge and demonstrate the art of corn shuck dolls. These and other of her handmade crafts will be available for purchase.
Quilt making demonstration: Quilt patterns are like ballads - they move constantly from community to community over surprisingly great distances. They are made for people by people. Smoky Mountain Quilters will demonstrate and display this old-time craft of hand quilting on a wooden quilting frame rack.
Appliqueing demonstration: Quilters many times begin with appliqueing - cutting pieces of one material and applying them to the surface of another with a certain stitch or by applying designs through needlework. Linda Vinson, granddaughter of Retter and Tom Ammons, will demonstrate this fascinating art form. An outstanding cook, Linda will also be selling her homemade corn bread, chili beans, iced tea and her award winning rice pie.
Very Special Occasion Cakery demonstration: Judy Teague, a cake baker for all occasions, will demonstrate how to make flowers and leaves, columns and borders out of butter cream icing. She will also have cakes for purchase, including old-time chocolate and yellow alternating layer cake, red velvet and white alternating layer cake, "Death by Chocolate" cake, and "Hummingbird" cake. Judy will sell her cakes by the slice or by the cake.
Homemade Ice Cream demonstration: Geraldine Queen, leader of a group of mothers and grandmothers raising money for the Little Rascals 4-H Club, will demonstrate how to make old-fashioned, hand-cranked vanilla ice cream, while having other electric churns going to produce enough to sell to the festival-goers. Chocolate and strawberry with some fresh fruit topers will also be available.
Heritage-style Kettle Korn: This slightly sweet, slightly salty old German recipe is cooked in an 80-gallon open kettle and stirred with an oar. "The popcorn will shoot straight up in the air, creating a show all its own," says operator Jackie Owens (the one with the oar). Bags of the kettle korn will be sold.
"Strong Comes After" artwork display: Eight 3-foot by 8-foot panels of pastel dust illustrations from the docudrama "Strong Comes After" that were spontaneously illustrated by CSA co-founder Doreyl Ammons Cain on stage during the performance that spotlighted Western North Carolina women of the past and present who have made a difference in the region. The play, written by her sister Amy Ammons Garza, brought area cultures - Cherokee, Caucasian and African-American - alive before an audience at UNC-Asheville and during the subsequent reception at Mountain Heritage Center in March. The docudrama was funded and produced by the Western Carolina Women's Coalition. A table will be set up where tapes and videos of the performance will be for sale.
Heritage Contest Display: Each year Catch the Spirit of Appalachia conducts an area heritage contest open to residents of Jackson County and surrounding counties, judged by agents of and selected by the Jackson County Cooperative Extension. Cash prizes and ribbons are awarded in the following categories: canned vegetables, pickles and relishes, jams and jellies, canned fruits and juices, baked goods, quilting, and handcrafts. All winning entries will be displayed at this booth, plus other selected samples of all contestants.
Next door at the historic Hooper House will be "Just Talkin'": The Jackson County Genealogical Society has invited friends and neighbors to bring their old pictures, old stories, old secrets and to come on down and spend the day sharin', swappin' and jawin'. The group will have order sales information on Volume II of the Jackson County Heritage Book.
Cherokee heritage crafts: Susan Leading Fox will demonstrate beading and the making of Indian dolls. Carolyn Cheatham will autograph copies of her book, "Sleep with the Wolf; Walk with the Bear."
Parade of Many Colors
This year's Parade of Many Colors will float down Main Street under a them of "Things that Fly, Connecting Earth and Sky." Mary Jane Queen has been chosen as this year's grand marshal.
Other parade participants will include the bikers in the Ice Cream Community Bike Ride, Scottish Bagpipe Band, a group of pigeon people who will let pigeons go into sky in the middle of Main Street and the Smoky Mountain High School Jazz Band. The Jackson County Arts Council will premier their Chinese dragon and the Volunteer Center staff will encourage reading with their "Cat in the Hat" display.
The parade will end as always with the king and queen, two Jackson County students so named due to their winning entries in the CSA essay contest.
Entertainment
The festival main stage will be populated by new and old favorites this year, starting with the Highland Pipes and Drums at 9:30 a.m. Then, following the parade, Smoky Mountain Drum'n Bass will take the stage with their brand of old-time mountain music meets modern big city boogie. SMD'n B combines mountain string band sensibilities of the past with elements of modern electronic music. The result is a dance floor frenzy that brings together old-time fans, club hopping dance kids and live music lovers of all kinds.
Their music has its roots firmly planted in traditional Appalachian culture yet branches into new musical genres from around the world. Consider this group an experiment gone awry, a comment on the increasing influence of the modern world in Appalachia, or simply a real hoot.
After about an hour, the Stage Door Cloggers have been invited to perform, followed by Banshees Celtic Band. The Fiddling Dills Sisters, local favorites in everyone's book, will perform at 12:30 p.m.
This year's keynote address will be delivered by Joyce Dugan, first female principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Never in her wildest dreams had imagined a life of politics, Dugan said recently. She loved education and had spent 20 years in the Cherokee central school system as a teacher, federal programs director and superintendent.
As principal chief, Dugan introduced initiatives that brought positive economic and social growth to the tribe, which had long been dependent on the federal government. This growth included a new centralized child care facility, which provided a program to preserve the Cherokee language, a bottled water enterprise, an urgent care clinic, a transit system, a youth center, a dialysis center, and accountability to, and stable programs for, the people on tribal governmental operations. Education of her people has always been utmost in her priorities.
Dugan's address will be followed by a group of Cherokee elementary school children, who will perform traditional Indian dances.
The Queen Family Band is next up, lead by matriarch Mary Jane Queen, who was 79 years old when she received the 1993 N.C. Heritage Award for keeping the music of the mountains alive and passing it on down to her children.
"We have always made music... my dad and my husband's dad... all our family... it's in our blood!" she said recently. "I had watched my dad play the banjo and listened to him all my life, but I was somewhere around 13 before I finally got to play myself.
"My arm had to be long enough to reach the neck before I could pick anything. The banjo I have now is the first one I ever owned myself, my children bought it for me... all eight of them. All my children sing the old ballads; six of them play two or three instruments apiece. Would you believe, none of my children have ever had lessons in their lives. The Lord has been good to them, blessing them with the love of our traditional music of the mountains."
The Queen Family - Mary Jane and her eight children - received the 1999 Mountain Heritage Award at Western Carolina University.
Smoky Mountain Drum'n Bass will close out the Main Stage entertainment from 3:45-5 p.m., followed by a post-festival concert by Jonathan Byrd at Lifeway Church from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The singer, songwriter and guitarist plays both old and new mountain music and has been called the "hottest new talent on the East Coast" by Chris Frank of the Red Clay Ramblers.
Fiber Fair
Sheep and the variety of materials man has produced from their wool will be on exhibit in the parking area next to The Sylva Herald. Joyce Moore of City Lights and invited fellow spinner Margaret Stern of Canada community to help her demonstrate the twists and turns of the art form.
"This exhibit will not a 'no touch' exhibit," Moore said. "Our main objective is to get people involved and learning."
Moore said she hopes to have loom available during the day to demonstrate weaving techniques, and Laura Nell Goebel will teach quilting skills to those who'd like to learn. Jonathan Hearn of Leicester will demonstrate sheep shearing at 2:30 p.m.
|
Photo by Beth Denmon
