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Local artist Silvia Cabrera Williams will lead a teaching session on from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, at Leapin’ Frog Gallery in Waynesville’s Historic Frog Level.
Some basic instruction about paints, values, shapes and color placement will be given as well as how to do transfers onto paper or canvas. Rubbing alcohol, cheesecloth and aluminum foil will also be used in the creation of a piece of abstract art.
Williams has been an artist for many years and loves the experimentation process. Her work is currently on exhibit at Gallery 86 on Main Street, Waynesville, and Gallery 262 in Frog Level.
Cost for the workshop is $50. Call 828.456.8441 to register and get a supply list.
The Haywood County Arts Council will host an exhibition titled, “Main Street Moments in Time,” celebrating 25 years of the Downtown Waynesville Association and featuring photographs from the DWA’s archives, the Historical Society’s SnapShot project, and photographs of the downtown district by local photographers.
The show opens Wednesday, Aug. 3, and runs through Saturday, Aug. 20. The artists’ reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, at Gallery 86 in conjunction with Waynesville’s Art After Dark.
For more information visit the Arts Council’s call 828.452.0593 or visit www.haywoodarts.org.
In March, a group of interested local leaders met to discuss the formation of an affiliate program of the regional the Junior Appalachian Musicians Program.
The meeting set the wheels in motion for the implementation of an after-school program for Jackson County in the fall of 2011, providing instruction and performance opportunities for youth in traditional Appalachian and bluegrass string instruments. Upfront funding was granted by the Jackson County Arts Council, with other grant applications in the works.
Individual contributions of money or instruments are needed. Instrument contributions are coordinated by Ray Menze at 828.293.3407.
Contributions should be sent to Heather Gordon, Jackson County 4-H, 538 Scotts Creek Rd, Suite 205, Sylva, N.C., 28779.
For more information contact Ray Menze at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Pam Dengler at 828.506.8802 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
As part of a Summer Music Series, the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City will host acoustic country musicians Ron and Julia Thompson at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 28. The program will be presented on the front porch of the library, and snacks and refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Marianna Black Library.
Ron and Julia have been playing music together for 20 years, and Julia has been singing the country melodies of singers like Loretta Lynn since she was a little girl. In the years that they have been playing together, they’ve performed in most of the Southern states, as well as many local venues.
For more information call 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.
Groovin’ on the Green, Cashiers’ summer concert series, continues at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evenings through September at the Cashiers Commons.
July into September featured bands are Velvet Truckstop on July 29; Les Freres Michot on Aug. 12; The Fishsticks on Aug. 26; Angela Reign and Band on Sept. 2 and The Carol Strickland Band on Sept. 16.
Food is available for purchase from a featured local restaurant at every concert or concertgoers may bring their own picnic-fare, beverages and snacks along with blankets or chairs.
Emiko Suzuki will conduct a workshop in origami at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4, at the Jackson County Public Library. Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding which began in the 17th century.
In addition to being accomplished in origami, Suzuki is experienced in the tradition of ikebana, Japanese flower arranging. She taught ikebana or 13 years in Japan before coming to Western North Carolina in 2007. In addition, she is a master in the art of the tea ceremony which represents the essence of Japanese culture. Suzuki taught the tea ceremony in Japan for two years.
Suzuki graduated from Western Carolina University with a Masters of Visual Art Teacher in May, 2011. She worked as a Japan Outreach Coordinator at Western Carolina University from 2007 until 2009.
This workshop is limited to 15 participants. Reservations are required. Call 828.586.2016 or sign up at the reference desk at the library.
Nan Smith, a local beading artist, will lead a program on jewelry beading at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, at the Jackson County Library. During her workshop she will teach the group how to make seed bead and crystal earrings.
Smith has been a Dogwood Crafter in Dillsboro for about six years. She has won numerous award ribbons with the Extension Service Club and at the Mountain State Fair, including two Best in Show for beadwork.
After enlightening the audience about the history of beading, she will show various pieces of jewelry and tell how they are produced with patterns. Smith will teach the group how to make a simple pair of crystal and seed bead earrings.
828.586.2016.
The Creative Thought Center in Waynesville invites the public to its Colossal Rummage Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 30.
The sale will be held indoors and cover 6,000 square feet and will include a diverse range of items from clothing and books to furniture and kitchen accessories.
A major portion of the offered items have been donated by Persnickety’s in Waynesville. For more information call 828.246.2794.
The annual Junaluska Woman’s Club Fashion Show Scholarship Luncheon will be held at 12 p.m. on Aug. 2 at the Foundation for Evangelism at Lake Junaluska. Fashions provided by Krismart in Sylva will be modeled by club members, with commentary by Margaret McCleskey. Proceeds from the event support scholarships for Lake Junaluska summer employees.
For more information call 662.312.7603.
The Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts will host an evening of American music with superstars Lee Greenwood and Louise Mandrell at 7:30 p.m. on July 30.
Along with his patriotic hit “God Bless the USA,” Greenwood has won numerous accolades including two Male Vocalist of the Year awards from the Country Music Association and the CMA Song of the Year honor in 1985 for “God Bless the USA.”
Greenwood is accompanied by country music legend Louise Mandrell, a master of multiple instruments, including the drums, accordion, fiddle, and bass guitar. Mandrell has been performing for nearly four decades, working with Merle Haggard, as a back-up vocalist and as a performer on the weekly variety program, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.
Tickets are $45. Call 866.273.461 or visit greatmountainmusic.com.
I remember both my grandfathers very well. Both served in the military during WWI, and their grandfathers fought in the American Civil War. With that perspective, one can readily comprehend how quickly time moves along.
Nowadays, at age 59, I see things at flea markets that are touted as antiques, yet I may have used some of those things early in life. And all the nostalgic stories of yesteryear are easily sliced to ribbons by memories of having been there. I mention it here in regard to my mother, who died on July 15.
Jean Muirhead was elected to serve in the Mississippi Legislature in 1968, having only recently been also admitted to the state bar. At the time there were only seven women in the Magnolia state who were licensed to practice law. But it was the 60’s, and things were changing fast.
One of her first legislative attention-getters was to break with tradition in regard to the school-age kids who served as assistants in the House and the Senate. They were, they are still, called pages. But in the halcyon days of Deep South thinking, before “the nigras” began howling to be recognized as people, before Yankee television reporters could invade at any moment and send live, color images of the truth back to their anchors’ desks in New York City, life in my home state was vastly different than it is today.
It was a time of male domination. There were only seven female lawyers? Today there are hundreds! And although it never really felt like it to me at the time, as a kid growing up in the late 50’s and 60’s, repression was everywhere. (I’m not about to attempt to explain life through the eyes of a black Mississippian. I am white; but I’ve got my own stories.)
I well remember as a teenager the nagging sensation of living inside an inescapable falseness. Things were not as they seemed. On Sunday mornings I would attend Sunday school and “big church” with my family. And before “big church” began, outside the sanctuary the deacons smoked cigarettes at the front door. Sometimes the preacher would walk through the crowd and cloud of blue smoke, nodding with tight lips at his coterie of ordained sinners. He would never smoke; nor would he condemn those who did, at least not one on one. He would wait until he stood in sanctuary of his pulpit, there to harangue the entire congregation on the evils of tobacco. The deacons on the front row would then clear their throats, cough, and nod in agreement.
Women were seen only in the pews or the choir loft. They had no place on the dais. God’s word was men’s word, and females were not considered astute enough to preach and teach on the complexities of Western religion. Their place was in the home, cooking pot roast, rearing the children, pleasing their husbands.
In those days, drug stores had entrances around back labeled “Colored.” The few public restrooms available were similarly identified. If you are under the age of 30 and are reading this, you probably find it difficult to understand. But repression and segregation were the orders of the day. The world was controlled by white men, no matter how ignorant and brutish they happened to be. Boys wore flat-top haircuts, and girls wore skirts, not pants. Individualism was an arcane and unholy route, and those who took it faced universal condemnation.
In the movie “Patton,” G.C. Scott portrays the mercurial WWII general, George S. Patton. In one scene enemy airplanes begin strafing his headquarters in N. Africa. The planes make a couple of passes over the village until finally a direct hit is made on the building wherein Patton is watching the action from a window. Suddenly plaster and debris is raining down on his head. Grabbing at his revolver in its holster Patton growls, “All right now, by God, THAT’S ENOUGH!” He jumps through an open window onto the top of a truck, and then down to the ground where he stands in the street and fires relentlessly at the planes with his handheld revolver, cursing with every shot.
Well, I doubt my mother did much cursing on the Senate floor, but one day she did realize, “by God, THAT’S ENOUGH!” In glaring, shocking revolt, she appointed a female page to serve her, even though it was not girl’s week. Boys could serve as pages throughout the legislative session; but girls got the opportunity during only one of those weeks, until, that is, Jean Muirhead came to town.
Later she would disrupt the ol’ boys club even more. A bill had come to the floor that had to do with state court procedures. My mother scribbled out an amendment to the bill and took it forward to the secretary of the senate. For other reasons the bill was apparently important to the entrenched powers, the men who wanted the bill passed right then. The secretary read the amendment, which struck the word “male” from the text. If you have never been present when our lawmakers are working, you may not grasp how chaotic it sometimes is. Half the time it appears no one is paying any attention. (The other half they are not.)
So, amid the usual confusion, when the secretary called for the vote, the bill passed. It then was moved directly to the House, where, owing to the momentum of the thing, it passed there too. The Ol’ Boys realized they’d been snookered, but to resist would have been embarrassing, and probably futile. There was a chink in the armor, and because of the passage of that bill, women could at last serve on state court juries. It may seem a trifle today, but at the time it was yet another indication that in the homeland of Confederate President Jefferson Finis Davis, a new day was dawning.
(Scott Muirhead lives in Maggie Valley and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
To The Editor:
Before Shirley Ches graced us with her commentary on the state of the universe in her recent letter to a local paper, most of us didn’t know we had a spokesperson for USA Earthlings right here in Franklin.
Mz. Ches evidently presumes to speak for all liberals in her tirade against us who “mouth our pledge, sing our national anthem and wave our flag.” She says that reports show that the “trickle down” theory had been disproved. She says conservative economics has sent jobs overseas. I say outrageous wages demanded by labor unions forced business overseas in order to compete. I say that our egregious corporate tax rates have forced business overseas.
Mz. Ches’ sense of timing, or lack of it, challenges only her lack of understanding in the ways of the world she claims as hers. With our government tied in knots trying to save our economy from the destructive liberal policies of the current administration, Mz. Chez says that conservatives would deny care to the ill, elderly, children, jobless, etc., by trying to save the future of the country she claims to speak for.
Mz. Ches maintains that our bloated government is the way to go, just like Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal have gone in the past and are now, or soon will feel the pain of their liberal past. That’s working out well, don’t you think? She says our concerns of important issues are skewed. She says that those who pay taxes are robbing “her” people by not paying more.
Mz. Ches says that me and my kind, who exhibit religious zeal, are hypocrites. Fortunately, Mz. Ches is not the ultimate judge she seems to think she is. Her crowd of Earthlings has created havoc in this country and will soon be taken down by the vast majority of the voting public who resent her scorn and thoughts of superiority.
Don Swanson
Franklin
To the Editor:
Bob Scott, alderman, town of Franklin, wrote a pointed letter to the editor titled, “Rate increase should be met with salary cuts.” Scott has done solid research in to the hefty salaries of Duke energy’s top executives. Their pay is certainly a slap in the face to thousands of their customers who have lost jobs and unemployment benefits.
In the same July 7 issue of the Macon County News, Duke says “Get the facts: Why is Duke Energy asking to increase electric rates?” In the next-to-last paragraph the reader is told, “In exchange (for rates approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission), the company )Duke) is allowed the opportunity to earn a fair return for investors who bear the financial risk of capital investment.
At the rest of over-simplifying the facts that exist for Duke customers, this is what I see. On one hand, Duke is still a utility company charged with the legal task of providing electric service for the customers in their area. When they want more money, they request help from the NCUC.
On the other hand, Duke is a company that sells stocks and makes every effort to provide financial rewards for investors. Now, if Duke operates as efficiently as possible, how can they justify paying investors profit. Their investors’ wealth is increased at the expense of all rate payers.
So is Duke really a utility? Or are they really a Fortune 500 company? It certainly does not appear that way. Duke is a hybrid company, a dual entity business/utility. In other words, they enjoy the profits of a successful corporation with the security of a utility.
This dual entity reminded me to re-read the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. It states, in part, “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person the equal protection of the laws.” That begs the question — if you do not own stock in Duke but pay for electricity, is it fair and just for your money to be shifted into the wealth of a stockholder?
Duke’s stockholders must very well like this business/utility arrangement. My friends basically tell me that nothing will ever be done without it. That may be true, but I still believe that as citizens of the United States we need to pay attention to laws that deprive us of our property. As one person there may not be anything I can do about the injustice. But, can you imagine how that could be affected by a united front of Duke customers?
Mr. Scott suggested one way to provide a little monetary relief to all Duke Energy users. This letter will, hopefully, show another. What will Duke do?
Think about it.
Dave Waldrop
Webster
Needed school supplies for students attending Central Elementary School is the focus of the fifth-annual “Vineival,” on Saturday, July 30, at Vine of the Mountains in Frog Level.
Besides providing backpacks filled with the required free school supplies for Central Elementary students, the Vineival features a variety of games and booths to entertain kids of all ages.
Hot dogs, drinks and other snacks will be served. And, in celebration of the fifth anniversary, everyone who attends will be eligible to win door prizes.
828.452.2771, # 5.
Buying school supplies for children is becoming increasingly expensive, and some local groups want to help cash-strapped families.
Altrusa International of Waynesville and the Haywood Rotary club will be spearheading a drive to collect school supplies for needy children in Haywood County. The drive will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 6, with Altrusa members available at Wal-Mart in Waynesville to accept donations of new school supplies.
This is a tax-free weekend for school-supply shopping.
Haywood Rotary Club members also will be on hand the same day at Wal-Mart to receive donations. Cash donations of any size are welcome to help purchase additional supplies for the children. All supplies and funds collected will be distributed by the Haywood County Schools Foundation to students in need by the start of the school year.
“We are excited to help students in Haywood County begin the new school year with the necessary school supplies to be successful,” said Sarah Wenzel, committee chairman. “Any time that civic organizations and the school system can partner to provide opportunities for children, we need to participate in any way possible.”
The staff at Haywood County Schools specifically requested the following supplies:
• Single-subject notebooks, black/white (marble) bound composition notebooks.
• Backpacks for all ages (not just elementary).
• One inch, three-ring notebooks that are white with clear view pocket on outside.
• Three inch, three-ring notebooks, folders with clasps, glue sticks (not Elmer’s Glue).
• Notebook paper, pencils, black pens, red pens, folders with pockets, round-tip scissors, kindergarten mats, highlighters, colored pencils, pencil pouches, cap/big erasers.
Before or after Aug. 6, donations may be sent or delivered directly to the Haywood County Schools Foundation, (c/o Altrusa/Rotary School Supply Drive) at: 1230 North Main Street, Waynesville NC 28786.
The town of Waynesville is dusting off the drafting table, ready to launch a community planning initiative to shape the future look and feel of South Main Street.
The area has been primed for growth by the recent addition of Waynesville Commons, where Best Buy and Super Wal-Mart are located, and Belk’s is soon to move. Plans for upgrading the roads dated appearance and reconfiguring it to handle more traffic have been in the works for several years.
The town has now received a grant to launch a plan for the corridor from the French Broad River Metropolitan Organization.
A public interest meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 28, at the Town of Waynesville satellite office on Brown Avenue in Hazelwood.
The town has hired a consulting team to develop a corridor plan that will forecast future travel demand and to propose a roadway design.
Final designs could include extra lanes, intersection redesigns to accommodate existing and projected traffic, sidewalks or landscaped medians.
When the topic was debated two years ago and a feasibility study was done by the DOT, three options were proffered as solutions for the road.
One would keep the same two-lane structure, another would add a middle turn lane and the most drastic would create a four-lane, boulevard-type affair, with a raised median, street trees and bike lanes. This last option would call for a 120-foot right-of-way, essentially razing the buildings on either side of the street.
At the time, public opinion was split on the issue. Since the feasibility study was completed, no major steps have been taken on the corridor plan.
In addition to being a professional study of travel demand and facility design, the planning process is expected to engage stakeholders including the property owners and business owners, representatives of NCDOT and the community as a whole in a the future design of the area.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation draft feasibility study is available at the Town of Waynesville’s Website, www.townofwaynesville.org.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is continuing to target bear pits on the Cherokee Indian Reservation, this time with a billboard on Interstate 26.
The new billboard shows a little girl with a bloody bandage around her hand. It reads, “Warning: Children Bitten at Bear Pits. Bear Prisons: Dangerous for Children.”
PETA is highlighting an incident in which a 9-year-old was bitten on the hand at a bear park in Cherokee. The billboards are designed to discourage people from patronizing the bear zoos in an attempt to put them out of business. PETA protectors were threatened with being kicked off the reservation if they continued to picket.
About 30 bears are kept in what PETA characterizes as roadside zoos “in cramped, barren enclosures with no opportunity to express natural behavior.”
PETA has been after the tribe to shut down the bear zoos, even bringing in heavy-hitter Bob Barker, animal rights advocate and long-time host of The Price Is Right, to chastise the tribe for what it deems inhumane living conditions for the bears. But tribal leaders have supported the right of free enterprise and the tourist draw the captive bears provide.
Alcohol has historically been slow to come to the mountains — much slower than the rest of the state.
Only two counties in Western North Carolina allow alcohol sales outside town limits.
Statewide, 60 counties allow some form of alcohol sales, even if just beer and wine, throughout the county. Of those, most date back to 1933 — the year prohibition ended. Across the state, dozens of counties and towns held votes in April 1933 to usher in alcohol.
In the mountains, Buncombe County, along with Asheville and Black Mountain, jumped on the post-prohibition bandwagon, as did Hickory.
But the rest of rural WNC stayed dry. Decades would pass before towns warmed up to the idea, voters here and there voting in beer and wine, then later ABC stores, and eventually, in recent years, liquor drinks at bars and restaurants.
Counties, however, remained steadfast. Politics at the county level still bent to the agrarian voting block, likely more conservative and traditional in their ways, compared to more liberal town dwellers. And the business lobby was absent, satisfied with alcohol at the town level where the stores and restaurants were all located anyway.
With one exception: a rash of alcohol votes after WWII. In the late 1940s and early ‘50s, a dozen or more mountain counties — Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain among them — held alcohol referendums. All failed and have not been revisited since.
Some towns, driven by business interests, were formed with alcohol as their goal, such as ski resort towns like Seven Devils, Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain. Maggie Valley’s push to become a town in the late 1970s was inextricably wrapped up in wanting alcohol for its tourist trade. Town limits were narrowly drawn to take in the roadside strip of restaurants and motels, paving the way for alcohol for its commercial district.
Graham remains the only totally dry county — not even the town of Robbinsville has legalized alcohol sales. Yancey was in the same boat until last year, when Burnsville voted in alcohol sales.
Clay County, another tiny county with only one town to speak of, broke the mold in 2009. The county leapfrogged past the still-dry county seat of Hayesville and voted in alcohol at the county level.
It’s the only mountain county besides Buncombe to have alcohol, and the only one in WNC to have a successful alcohol referendum since 1933.
Jackson isn’t alone in its foray toward an alcohol vote. Henderson County commissioners just last week decided to put alcohol to a vote of the people there next year during the May primary.
Whether you’re a college student in Cullowhee or a socialite in Cashiers, stocking up on beer, wine and spirits requires a trip into town — a trip most would apparently rather not make.
A majority of Jackson County residents support countywide alcohol sales, according to a telephone poll of 600 registered voters.
The alcohol question was one of 20 on local politics and issues posed to a random sample of Jackson County’s voting public last summer in a joint public affairs project by the WCU Public Policy Institute and The Smoky Mountain News.
The poll showed 56 percent of voters in Jackson County support alcohol sales countywide compared to 39 percent against it.
Only 5 percent of those polled were undecided, a very small number compared to most other questions.
The poll revealed some trends about who favors countywide alcohol sales the most.
• Cashiers residents are more likely to support it than Sylva residents.
• Those with a college degree are more likely to support it. Among those with college degrees, 66 percent were in favor compared to 47 percent of those with less than a college degree.
• Men are stronger supporters of countywide alcohol, with 65 percent of men compared to 54 percent of women supporting the measure.
• Liberals were more supportive, with 72 percent of self-described liberals in favor of countywide alcohol compared to 50 percent among self-described conservatives.
• Younger people support the idea more.
The answer is no, according to a recent study by the state Program Evaluation Oversight Committee. Here’s what they found:
• While North Carolina’s 58 community colleges were established to meet community needs, their independence challenges administrative efficiency. Colleges vary widely in size. They lack common policies, procedures and administrative structures.
• Small colleges have higher administrative costs than larger ones. Estimated administrative costs at the 58 colleges ranged from $447 to $1,679 per student. Analysis revealed colleges with fewer than 3,000 students were significantly more costly to administer.
• Merging colleges could reduce costs and increase administrative efficiency.
• North Carolina’s community colleges have failed to take full advantage of their purchasing power. Colleges are missing out on opportunities to use their combined power to get better pricing from existing vendors.
• Merging 15 colleges with fewer than 3,000 students could save up to $5.1 million in administrative costs annually and up to $3.5 million in additional savings.
• A purchasing consortiums for community colleges could save another $1.8 million could be realized over seven years.
So what’s the solution?
Here’s the committee’s recommendations on how to solve community college effiency:
1) Reduce the number of small colleges by merging colleges with fewer than 3,000 students with another nearby college.
2) Establish a unit to develop and maintain purchasing consortiums for community colleges.
Total savings over seven years: $26.2 million.
How would it work?
Based on a review of community college structures in other states, a joint state legislative committee on governmental efficiency identified three merger options that could improve the efficiency of community college administration without affecting student access:
• Reduce the number of community colleges by creating multi-campus colleges.
• Create a regional system of community colleges.
• Centralize all community colleges in North Carolina.
Smoky Mountain Living prominently features images from across the southern Appalachians in each edition. Photo essays adhere to the issue’s overall theme.
Our October/November issue will be SML’s “Mountain Men” issue. Submit your photographic interpretations of this theme for possible inclusion in our photo essay by August 8. Think multiple generations of men in the family, fathers and sons, brothers, male animals and their owner men, displays of manly feats, etc.
Reader submitted photos are unpaid but those selected are rewarded with publication in our nationally distributed magazine. SML covers the southern Appalachians and celebrates the area’s environmental riches, its people, culture, music, arts, history, and special places. Each issue brings the Appalachians to life. Published six times each year, SML is a magazine for those who want to learn more about where they live and those who want to stay in touch with where they love.
Submissions should be hi-resolution digital images and include information about where and when the photos were taken and by whom. All submissions should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A 5K and 10K race will be held in conjunction with the 75th anniversary events for Joyce Kilmer on Saturday, July 30.
The races start at 8 a.m. from the Avey Branch Boat Launch A one-mile fun run will be held at 8:30 a.m. The race is sponsored by Partners of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness.
Registration for the 5k race is $30 and the 10k race is $35. Students under 19 it is $15. The fun run is free.
Awards will be presented to the top finishers in the Overall Male and Female category and the top three male and female finishers in all age divisions for each race. www.joycekilmerslickrock.org/Race.html or 828.257.4215.
The Franklin Blue Planet 5K for Clean Water, a charity run, will be kick off at 9 a.m. August 6 in Franklin.
The run is hosted by the Franklin High School Interact Club. All proceeds will go to the Blue Planet Network to provide access to clean water for people around the world who desperately need it.
The race starts at the Tassee Shelter on the Little Tennessee Greenway.
Early registration is $20 and race day registration is $25. A light post-race brunch will be provided by Riverblaze Bakery and Jer’s Kitchen. The first 100 registered participants get a premium, eco-friendly T-shirt made in America from 100 percent recycled materials.
www.franklin5kforcleanwater.com. 828.342.5999 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The annual Folkmoot 5K Walk/Run and Kids’ Fun Run, held in conjunction with the Folkmoot Dance and Music festival, will kick off at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 23, in Waynesville. A kid’s fun run will be held at 9 a.m.
The race starts in front of the Folkmoot Center and follows a nearly flat route on neighborhood streets in the Hazelwood section of Waynesville.
The race has an international flair, given its connection with Folkmoot, which brings 300 international performers from a dozen countries to the mountains for two weeks of performances.
Cost is $20 for advance registration or $25 on the day-of. The Kids’ Fun Run is $8 or $10 on race day.
828.724.6478 or 828.452.2997.
The Haywood County Master Gardener Volunteer Association is offering grants for research or education in the areas of environment, gardening or horticulture in Haywood County.
The organization raises money through plant sales, as well as sales of its gardening almanac.
Examples of past projects include the demonstration gardens at Hazelwood, Junaluska, and Riverbend elementary schools, a school greenhouse at Bethel Middle School and a drip irrigation system for the bio-technology program at Waynesville Middle.
Applications for grants of $200 or more should be accompanied by a detailed budget and timeline. Deadline is August 31. 828.456.3576.
BatFest 2011 will be held from 2 p.m. until 5:30 p.m Sunday, July 31, in Crossnore, giving the public an opportunity to connect with wildlife biologists and learn everything they’ve ever wanted to know about bats.
Each year wildlife biologists from across the Southeast descend on an area for an intensive study of the region’s bats and this year they are landing in WNC.
There will be a live bat demonstration and educational talks about the bats of North Carolina, why bats are important, and about white-nose syndrome, the disease that has killed more than a million bats. Activities will include face painting, bat house building, bat games, and more. The event is put on by the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network and will be held at the B.H. Corpening Training Facility.
Bill Lea, renowned nature photographer, will present “Understanding the Black Bear,” a free lecture at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26, at the Village Commons on the Village Green in Cashiers. Lea may best be known for his artistic documentation of deer and bear behavior, the various moods of the Great Smoky Mountains, and southern ecosystems. His photography has been featured in Audubon Calendars, Defenders of Wildlife, Exploring the Smokies, National Geographic books, Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife, and many others. 828.526.1111 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.hicashlt.org.
The Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education is recruiting experienced fly fishing anglers who are interested in volunteering. The Pisgah Center offers fly fishing programs on a year round basis for anglers of all ages. Volunteers are needed to assist participants on the river for 1 to 3 hours of instruction. Directions, program schedules, and additional information can be obtained by going to www.ncwildlife.org or calling 828.877.4423.
Jerry Wolfe, an elder of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, will give a presentation titled “From the Cherokee View” at the Highlands Biological Foundation at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, as a part of the Highlands Biological Foundation’s “Think About Thursdays” summer series. Wolfe, a master of traditional Cherokee legends, history, and culture, also shares stories of his experiences growing up in Cherokee, where he attended the Cherokee boarding school. Free. Seating and parking are limited. 828.526.2221 or www.wcu.edu/hbs
Roan Mountain Gardens Recreation Area has reopened after a year-long renovation project funded by $700,000 in federal stimulus money.
Located near the North Carolina-Tennessee state line between Asheville and Boone, the recreation area has gotten an overhaul of its facilities, including: a new handicapped accessible restroom, a new Rhododendron Gardens observation deck and resurfacing of its connecting trail system, and a resurfaced main road leading to the Cloudland parking lot.
Restoration has also been done on the balds at Grassy Ridge, Bradley Gap and Big Hump Mountain. Crews have been mowing, weed-eating, and using chainsaws to control trees, shrubs and blackberries from encroaching on the sensitive species native to the area. High-elevation grassy balds represent a very rare plant community and Roan Mountain supports some of the most extensive and pristine grassy balds in the Southern Appalachians. 828.682.6146.
A celebration honoring the 75th anniversary of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in the Nantahala National Forest will be held Saturday, July 30, starting at 10 a.m.
There will be guided walking tours, presentations by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and outdoor exhibits by various conservation groups. A rededication ceremony at 1 p.m. will include Congressman Heath Shuler, Cherokee Chief Michell Hicks, Joyce Kilmer’s descendants and a keynote speech by a biographer and author who has written about Joyce Kilmer.
The event commemorates the dedication of 3,800 acres of Forest Service land in Graham County to poet Joyce Kilmer, author of the poem “Trees,” who was killed in World War I. Congress later designated over 17,000 acres of land in the area as the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness.
BBQ will be available for sale and bluegrass music will start at 2 p.m.
Parking will be directed by attendants, with shuttles running through the day in the area. Bring your own lawn chair.
WNC Naturally, an event to strengthen the natural products industry, will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. August 6 at the Almond Center outside Bryson City.
The event is designed for growers, wild-harvesters, manufacturers, buyers, and all those who are interested in working with or in the natural products industry. It is being put on by the WNC Natural Products Project, the NC Natural Products Association, and the WNC Forest Products Project
Topics will include: plant identification, voucher preparation, sustainable harvesting techniques, GAPS, cultivation, washing and drying product, economics, enterprise processing, selling to small local markets, selling wholesale and business planning. The speakers will include buyers of natural products, small manufacturers, university researchers, business experts, and others. $15 if you pre-register and $20 at the door. Lunch and light snacks are provided. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.684.3562 or wncnaturallyevents.eventbrite.com.
A fiber art demonstration by Gail Johnston will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26, at the Jackson County Public Library. She will be demonstrating carding and loom spinning techniques with a variety of fibers.
Johnston, a registered nurse, owns a company called Hippie Chix Fiber Art. She will bring a variety of home-grown fibers that she sheared herself from her llamas and mohair goats as well as fibers from around the world to her demonstration. She also teaches fiber art at Southwestern Community College.
828.586.2016.
A youth art workshop will be held from 2 until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27, at the Jackson County Community Center, part of ColorFest, Art of the Blue Ridge.
Young artists will create a finished pastel art piece in a workshop facilitated by Doreyl Ammons Cain. The art pieces will be included in a series of youth note cards designed by Etheree Chancellor during the workshop. The young artists will have a table at ColorFest to sell their art note cards.
During the second part of the art process, facilitated by Victoria Casey McDonald, Terry Michelsen and Pam Dengler, the young artists will sketch out a mural to be completed at ColorFest on October 22 with the theme of “Our Jackson County.” It will depict all four seasons in a large landscape.
The workshop is open to youth ages 8 to 12 and ages 13 to 17. $15 covers the entire workshop. 828.631.4587 or visit www.spiritofappalachia.org. Limited to 15 participants.
Applications are being accepted for the 23rd annual Haywood County Apple Harvest Festival for artists, crafters and craft demonstrators. The festival will be 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, on Main Street in Downtown Waynesville.
The festival, which celebrates the harvest season in Haywood County, features handmade arts and crafts, apples and apple products for sale. The festival also includes food vendors of all types, educational and informational booths, authentic mountain music, mountain dance groups and recreational activities. Attendance is estimated at 35,000.
The deadline for applications is Sept. 2. Booth space assignments will be announced after Oct. 4. Applications are available at 828.456.3021 or by visiting www.haywood-nc.com.
Grace Episcopal Church in the Mountains in Waynesville is getting ready for the annual Parish Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 30.
Each year the fair draws crowds to find bargains, enjoy lunch and listen to music on the grounds, with a special appearance by the Frog Level Philharmonic. All proceeds go to local needs organizations and charities. Last year over $10,000 was raised and distributed through applications for grants.
On the church lawn visitors will find a flea market, garden spot, furniture and a children’s corner with face painting and games. Inside the parish hall will be a display of better clothing, baked goods, appliances and many items in the special boutique.
828.456.6029.
Rodney Carrington will be performing at 9 p.m. on Friday, July 29, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel’s Event Center. Carrington is a multitalented comedian, actor, and writer who has recorded six major record label comedy albums. He starred in his own sitcom, Rodney, and co-wrote and co-starred with Toby Keith in the movie Beer for my Horses.
Must be 21 or older to attend. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.
The Dismembered Tennesseans will play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. It was back in 1945 when a group of students got together and began singing and playing a brand of Bluegrass music that has gone on now for more than 65 years. The name Dismembered Tennesseans seemed good enough a name for a bunch of teenagers who had no long-range plans, and they sang their way through school. But somehow the music never stopped, and the band stayed together for the next six decades, singing and laughing their way across the country.
The concert is preceded by two dinner seatings, served family style at the Stecoah Kitchen. Dinner seatings are at 5 and 6:15 p.m. Reservations are required by calling 828.479.3364. Concert tickets can be purchased in-person at the Stecoah Gallery, by phone, or on the web at www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.
Karen “Sugar” Barnes will perform at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Barnes plays heritage blues and was one of the founding members of the “Blue Bombers” from Sylva.
Along with singing, Barnes also plays acoustic guitar, slide guitar and the ukulele. She regularly performs in Western North Carolina with Dave McGill, who will provide backing and singing a few songs of his own. The Friends of the Marianna Black Library will also be there to provide snacks and refreshments.
The program is free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.
Playfest, an evening of staged play readings, will begin at 7:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library’s meeting room. Eight entries have been selected from the numerous submissions received from all over the United States.
The plays will be performed with staging, lights and sound, but with scripts in hand. The selected plays are: “One Day at the Christmas Party: What’s in a Name” by Henry Kimmel of Atlanta; “Funeral Arrangements” by David Fleisher of Lake Worth, Florida; “The Rental” by Mark Harvey Levine of Pasadena, California; “Mind Games” by Brian Reeves, of Palm Beach, Florida; “Play It By Ear” by Bonnie Benson of Bethesda, Maryland; “Found Object” by Dennis Porter of Amherst, Massachusetts; “The Gospel According to Bowser” by Dan Borengasser of Springdale, Arizona; and “Just Another Tomorrow” by Western North Carolina playwright Tom Bennett.
828.743.1802.
MusicWorks! Studio of Performing Arts in Waynesville is offering a musical theater/show choir camp experience for young people ages 7 to 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 1-5.
In addition to selections from some of Broadway’s hottest shows, other music styles will also be used including R&B, country, and pop. Students will also receive instruction in basic to intermediate movement and the elements of choreography.
Campers will begin their mornings with one hour each of acting, dance, and singing lessons, with campers divided by age and skill level. There will also be other surprise activities including a talent show and impromptu instructor presentations. No prior experience is necessary.
A performance will be presented on the final day of class at 3 pm. The cost of the week-long camp is $200 per student. Siblings can take advantage of a two-for-one rate and a special new friends discount is also available.
828.456.2283.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is starting up an acoustic old-time jam session from 1 to 3 p.m. every third Saturday of the month at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee.
The jam will be held on the porch of the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Anyone who plays and would like to share their talents can join in the music gathering regardless of playing level. The jams will follow an “around-the-circle” format, where musicians may lead songs or pass the tune choice to the next person.
The Community Room at the Jackson County Public Library will come alive with country music when the Barn Cats Old Time String Band performs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 21. Their repertoire includes country blues, bluegrass and honky-tonk style music. Most of the songs they will play were popular in the rural South during the 1920s and 1930s.
Driving rhythm, melodic musicality and tight vocal harmonies are trademarks of a Barn Cat performance. This is music to dance to or just sit back and enjoy.
When not touring with the Freight Hoppers, The Barn Cats perform daily, April through November, for the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in Bryson City.
828.586.2016.
The Macon County Library hosts singer/songwriter Angela Faye Martin at 7 p.m. on July 21.
Martin is a native of Atlanta and now a resident of Cowee. She released her first album, “Pictures From Home,” in 2010 and she’ll bring her singer-songwriter tunes to the next installment in the Thursdays at the Library program.
The program features authors and musicians on a variety of topics. Programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the Macon County Public Library.
828.524.3600 or visit fontanalib.org.
B.J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royal will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 22, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Their Raindrops & Boondocks tour features band favorites and may even include duets of “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” “Get Ready,” and “Cry Like a Baby.”
B.J. Thomas is known for a series of hits, including the Oscar-winning “Raindrops keep Fallin’ on my Head,” “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” and his cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry.” His other singles include “I Just Can’t Help Believing” and “Hooked on a Feeling.” Billy Joe Royal is known for “Down in the Boondocks,” “I Knew You When,” “Cherry Hill Park,” and “Tell it Like it is.” He will also be performing music from his new album “Going by Daydreams”.
Tickets are $25. 866.273.4615or visit greatmountainmusic.com.
Serious Clark, a folk-fusion trio from Brevard, will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at Western Carolina University. Serious Clark incorporates elements of alternative rock, improv and country with its looped acoustic guitar and soul-influenced vocals. The show is part of WCU’s 2011 Summer Concert Series.
The event is free and open to the public. 828.227.3622 or visit events.wcu.edu.
Folkmoot 5K
The Folkmoot 5K Run/Walk and Kids Fun Run at 8 a.m. on July 23 has become one of the festival’s signature events.
The race winds through the Hazelwood section of Waynesville and is relatively flat. Expect more than 200 runners on the course, which is ASATF certified and usually draws top runners from the area. It’s also a great race for beginners.
What makes this race unique, of course, is its association with Folkmoot. The race starts and finishes at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, and so the audience includes dozens of dancers and musicians, festival volunteers, and many of those who work for Folkmoot.
Many of the international dancers taking part in the race do so in interesting costumes. There is also music performed live by international musicians at the finish line, which adds a festive flair to completing the run.
Race day registration is available beginning at 6:30 a.m. for $25. Race day registration for the Fun Run is $10. For information about the race call 828.452.2997 or 828.734.6478.
Parade Day
The Folkmoot USA Parade will be held on Friday, July 22, on Main Street in downtown Waynesville.
The parade is one of the highlights of the festival and provides potential ticket-buyers a quick look at the groups that will perform much more elaborate dances at venues throughout Western North Carolina.
The parade also serves as the official start to Folkmoot. Dignitaries gathered on the steps of Haywood County’s Historic Courthouse include Folkmoot Board members and elected officials. There is also a performance by the international band, which is comprised of musicians from all the groups at Folkmoot.
The parade starts at 12:30 p.m., but arrive early for good viewing.
Learn to dance
Folkmoot USA will have two dance workshops taught by international dancers. These events are held at the Folkmoot Friendship Center and cost $10. Children 12 and under are $5.
This year’s workshops are at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 31.
Call 1.877.365.5872 for information.
Family Night
HomeTrust Bank is hosting a family night at the Folkmoot Friendship Center at 7:30 p.m. on July 20.
This performance by two groups is geared toward families with small children and offers patrons the chance to visit the Folkmoot Friendship Center, where all the dancers and musicians live and rehearse for the 10 days of the festival.
Adults are $10, children $5. Free snacks.
Attend a performance
Folkmoot USA holds dozens of ticketed performances throughout Western North Carolina. This is your chance to see the dance groups and the musicians at their finest as they go through several costume changes and perform a variety of dances. For ticket information call 828.452.2997.
Folkmoot’s International Festival Day will be held from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, in Waynesville. The festival features a huge juried craft show, international cuisine, Folkmoot USA performances, regional music and dance and the Passport to the Arts Children’s area.
Expect about 25,000 in downtown Waynesville, so prepare for the crowd if you plan to attend.
Demonstrations such as flame workers, potters and woodworkers will be available. The Passport to the Arts Children’s Area takes children on a trip around the world in the United Community Bank parking lot. The children make rain sticks, abstract inkblots, fiesta headdresses, finger knitting, and origami crafts to take home.
Festival entertainment is provided by Folkmoot USA’s international dancers and musicians, the Smoky Mountain Stompers, students from the Haywood County Arts Council’s Junior Appalachians Musicians program and more.
Entertainment will begin at 10:15 a.m. and performers move along the street with impromptu performances throughout the day.
828.452.0593 or visit www.haywoodarts.org.
In 1984, Flora Gammon agreed to a favor for a colleague and friend, Dr. Clinton Border. He needed her musical expertise for a new festival he was starting called Folkmoot USA. She didn’t know it then, but that favor for a friend would touch off a 27-year relationship with the event and leave ripples of her influence across two-and-a-half decades of Folkmoot history.
Today, Gammon directs the international band, an ensemble made of the musicians who perform in the festival. She also emcees when needed and does various other volunteer duties as a member of the Folkmoot Board of Directors.
But that first year, she took up the daunting task of arranging an interfaith service for festival-goers and participants.
It wasn’t an assignment altogether out of her range; she was then assistant director of music at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, where her mother had long been director. But convincing each cadre of performers, with their separate religions and traditions and language barriers, was a challenge.
The Turkish contingency — a gruff group of men with swords — proved her biggest hurdle.
“The director of the group spoke not one word of English, and I had to sit there and try to get them to understand what we were doing and try to get them to be a part of it,” says Gammon. But in the end, she succeeded. And thus began her career as a kind of cultural liaison with the festival.
It’s just such stories and experiences that Gammon seems to cherish most from her long involvement in the American incarnation of Folkmoot.
She kept directing the interfaith service until it was dropped a few years after the festival’s inception. And when the founder of the international band, Dr. Eva Adcock, died and left the conductor’s baton untended, Gammon took it up.
She started with the group in 1995, and she’s been directing the impromptu folk orchestra ever since. Each year, it’s a surprise what instruments will show up and who will already know the music. Some musicians, she has learned, read music, while some reject it outright, playing solely by ear.
Some will come with conventional symphonic instruments, while some will bring ancient and traditional folk music-makers found in few symphonies.
But, she says, they always make it work.
“They’ve never played music together, and I bring them together and in about 30 minutes we have a band,” says Gammon.
The band plays four songs, and performs at the opening gala, the opening parade and then again at the closing ceremony. They rehearse only once.
Gammon says the lack of rehearsal and mixture of seemingly disparate instruments has never been a problem.
“We have a combination of some totally folk-style instruments and some concert instruments. We have a combination, but at the same time it works, you know. Because even those who come from the countries where they’re playing more classical-type instruments, they’re still playing folk music,” says Gammon.
Gradually, the band has added to its repertoire and increased the number of musicians who return, music in hand, from years past. In 2005, they started playing the Folkmoot USA theme, which had, until then, been played on cassettes that were threatening to wear out.
“I was very pleased to start having them play the theme song,” says Gammon. “We do not allow canned music, but here we were using taped music, and that embarrassed me.”
And as the band and its role have grown and matured with the festival, so has Gammon.
In her first two years with the band, she convinced Dick Trevarthen, a musician and music professor, to do the actual, baton-in-hand direction. She was a singer, mostly, and had no experience whatsoever conducting a band.
“He did it for two years and then said, ‘Here, you can do it.’ He gave me two signals to use, and I said, ‘Well, that’s easy,’” said Gammon. “Though the second year I did it I forgot what ‘stop’ was.”
That was also the year she learned that a finger across the throat was, apparently, a universal sign for ‘cut the music.’
Her fake-it-to-make-it technique was successful, though. Gammon fondly recalls the memory of a Soviet orchestral conductor unexpectedly approaching her after a performance. Expecting a complaint, she was bracing herself when the woman, in a harsh Russian accent, complimented her directing skills. She jokes that, because of this, she’s nicknamed herself Folkmoot’s Great Impostor.
But after 16 years with the band, she is an impostor no longer, having earned the baton that’s directed hundreds of musicians over the years.
For Gammon, and the musicians she leads, the international band, just like the festival itself, is about the people that comprise it, and recognizing their unique talents.
“It’s giving the musicians an outlet, because we’re mainly a folk dance festival, and so the emphasis is often on the dancers. These are professional musicians that come over here and they are thrown in the background,” says Gammon. This gives them a chance, however brief, to shine.
And whether through Turkish swordsmen, Russian directors or reticent Basques being coaxed into a round of the hokey pokey, it’s clear that Gammon has made her mark on Folkmoot. And it, in turn, has made a mark on her and her indefatigable spirit.
“You get people together and you look them in the eye and you smile and you can do anything you need to do,” said Gammon.
That’s a motto you can probably find her living by, smile on her face, this summer, in front of the international band once more.
Folkmoot Hymn
Used at candlelight closing • Words and Music: R.R. Trevarthan
Folkmoot is friendship, Folkmoot is peace;
Folkmoot is harmony, and Folkmoot is love.
For it is friendship, and it is peace;
And it is harmony, that gives us love.
Friendship, Peace, Harmony and Love.
Come Dance, Come Sing
The Folkmoot Theme Song
Words and Music: John Pollard • Come dance, come sing;
Come meet the world as it flies on the wing.
Come laugh, come cry;
Come meet the people, they’re passing you by.
We’re coming together, folk of the world;
Meeting in friendship, the flags to unfurl.
Brothers in dancing, we’re here for today,
At Folkmoot USA.
Batimbo Drummers Ensemble
The Republic of Burundi in central Africa has always been known for its hypnotic drum music, and field recordings of Burundi drumming have entranced listeners for years. Those drum rhythms have also been incorporated into world-fusion music anytime some intense percussion is called for.
The Batimbo Drummers Ensemble retain the responsibility and privilege of making, beating and keeping the drums. Until recently, the drums could only be beaten in homage to the king or to his ancestors. Today their tradition is gradually losing its ritual symbolism to become more of an art reserved for festivals.
The master drummer’s ensemble, dressed in draped robes of green, red, and white, are composed of drums arranged in a circular arc. The drums to the left — “amashakwe” — provide the continuous rhythm, while those on the right — “Ibishikizo” — follow the rhythm given by the soloist (placed in the center of the semi-circle in front of the others). The performers are in constant interplay with the audience and each drummer may spontaneously leave his drum, take his place in the center of the arc, and dance. In some performances drummers may leap over their drums or place the drums on their heads while playing or dancing.
Strathcona Chinese Dance Company
Strathcona Chinese Dance Company (SCDC), which is affiliated with the Vancouver Academy of Dance, was founded in 1973 by Maria Mimie Ho as a recreational dance program to promote Chinese dance in Canada.
The company derives its name from the Strathcona section of the city of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. Since its inception, the company has grown into a world-renowned dance troupe, performing for many heads of state and dignitaries. SCDC is committed to fostering artistic exchange and enhancing cultural understanding while promoting goodwill and fellowship through the performing arts.
The troupe’s large catalog of traditional Chinese dance includes “The Red Ribbon Dance,” “Flying Kites” and “Peach Blossoms.”
The company last visited Folkmoot 19 years ago in 1992.
Klek of Croatia
Folklore ensemble Klek of Croatia was formed in 1980 with an emphasis on preserving and performing the folk customs of the Croatian and Ogulin cultures.
The group has more than 200 members includding two folklore ensembles, a seniors group, three children’s groups, a mens vocal group, a womens vocal group and a group of tambura players.
The tambura is a folk instrument similar to a lute or mandolin. The 40 members of the tambura group perform dances from cities and different regions in Croatia such as Ogulin, Bizovac, Baranja, Bratina, Split, Lika, Međimurje, Bilogora, Dubrovnik, Ražanac, Vrlika, Hvar and Bunjevac.
The group has more than 200 new and refurbished costumes.
The musicians perform dance tunes and compositions from famous composers.
Klek has performed in folk festivals all over Croatia in other countries such as Hungary, Turkey, France, Belgium, Portugal, Korea, Austria and Italy.
Tahdittomat dance troupe
The Tahdittomat dance troupe from Finland was founded in 1984
for the purpose of preserving traditional Finnish folk dancing.
The group’s aim is to promote traditional Finnish culture throughout the world with activities ranging from dance studies to performances and excursions.
Tahdittomat’s home is in the municipality of Jokionen in southern Finland. Villages in this region of Finland include Haapaniemi, Jokioinen, Lammi, and Latovainio, among others.
Tahdittomat is an ensemble cast of dancers and musicians that are both professionals and enthusiastic amateurs. They range in age from 17 to 40 and perform both in Finland and abroad. Tahdittomat present both complex allegorical dances, and also more playful fare, all driven by a common thread.
For example, the troupe often performs a dance entitled “Illatsut” which is told in the Karelian language. Karelia was a historical province of Finland which is now divided between Finland and Russia. “Illatsut’s” theme is that of youth and fellowship.
Viard Nouvelle
The Viard Nouvelle dance troupe from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has been in existence for 28 years. Since its inception, its leaders have tried to maintain tradition and provide young people an education and outlet through those traditions.
Among the dances and music performed by Viard Nouvelle is the Gwo ka, which translates to “Big drum.” Gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupian folk music. There are seven rhythms in gwo ka, which are embellished by the drummers. Different sizes of drums establish the foundation and its flourishes, with the largest, the boula, playing the central rhythm and the smaller, markeur drum interplays with the dancers, audience or singer.
Gwo ka singing is usually guttural, nasal and rough, though it can also be bright and smooth. It is accompanied by uplifting and complex harmonies and melodies. There are also dances that tell folk stories that are accompanied by the gwo ka drums.
Guadeloupians still use gwo ka drums in communal experiences called lewozes; this is the most traditional manifestation of gwo ka in modern Guadeloupe. Gwo ka is also played at Carnival and other celebrations. A modernized and popularized form of gwo ka is well-known on the islands; it is known as “gwo ka moderne.”
Figulinas Florinas
The group “Figulinas” — which translates into English as “fictile” — is an appropriate name for this group of talented dancers from the island of Sardinia in Italy.
Figulinas was born 23 years ago when young Sardinian performers with an interest and passion for reconstructing the traditional clothing and folk dances of Sardinia decided to form a group. The name is a play on words stemming from the fact that the area of Sardinia, from which the group hails, is world-renowned for its pottery.
The group is from the city of Sassari which is the second largest city in Sardinia. The characteristics of the group are based mainly in accordance with the canons of traditional Sardinian dance.
Diego Martin Footprints
The Diego Martin Footprints Folk Performers — who hail from the town of Diego Martin in northwestern Trinidad — have been in existence for more than 35 years.
The group represented Trinidad in Folkmoot in 2008 during the 25th anniversary year of the festival. In their own words, Footprints performers strive to, “Be the best we can be, keeping culture alive through dance.”
The most familiar musical tradition represented by the Footprints Folk Performers is Calypso music. Calypso originated as a form of communication between Afro-Caribbean slaves on the island when former slave masters forbid slaves from speaking to each other. A direct relative of Calypso and another specialty of Footprints is Soca, which combines percussion rhythms with Chutney music.
Also familiar to many audiences are the dances of Trinidad, which include the Limbo and Moko Jumbies. The Limbo, a derivative of the word “limber,” is a dance rooted in African history where a performer bends backwards while walking forward, under a pole. When a dancers body passes completely under the pole, it is said to be symbolic of the triumph of life over death. Moko Jumbies are stilt walkers that represent a dance tradition carried from Africa over the Atlantic to Trinidad.
American Racket Dance Company
American Racket Dance Company features American clogging and percussive dance.
American Racket was founded on UF (University of Florida) campus in 2002 by then-student Andy Howard. Since then, American Racket has built a global reputation for high-energy presentations.
American Racket is a guaranteed toe-tapping, hand-clapping good time for all and a celebration of what young adults are doing to revive and reinvent the dance culture of the United States.
Andy Howard founded SoundStage in 2001 while attending University of Florida; the original group comprised students and regional dancers specializing in clogging, tap and other forms of percussive dance. In 2007, the group relocated to Central Florida and adopted the name “American Racket,” originally the name of a performance organized and choreographed by Howard for the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Howard was inducted into the All-American Clogging Team in 2002.
American Racket has represented the United States as “cultural ambassadors” at international festivals sanctioned by C.I.O.F.F. (International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festivals) in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Canada.
