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General Activities
Festival Activities – Discover all our vendors for this year including the juried arts and crafts show, food vendors, and local non-profit organizations. There are over 120 vendors with thousands of unique items to choose from.
Kids Activities – Family fun for all ages! Take a wagon ride, learn traditional crafts, try your hand at old-time mountain skills, learn new dances and more. Be sure to stop by the Children’s Tent for activities.
Cherokee Games – One of the most important elements of Mountain Heritage Day is the influence and culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The annual stickball demonstration is a highly ritualized contest you won’t want to miss.
Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show – They just don’t make them like they used to! Showcase your classic automobile (25 years or older) in Mountain Heritage Day’s Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show. Visitors can stroll amongst the beautiful machines and cast votes for their favorites.
Music – Bluegrass, Acoustic, Old-Time, Roots, Country, Mountain Swing, and Gospel, just to name a few. With two stages and dozens of performers, you’ll want to dance the day away.
5K Race – The 5k Race is organized and hosted by the students at Western Carolina University Sport Management program. The money that is raised will go to help fund the Sport Management Association Scholarship.
McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition – Try your hand at this activity! The competition will be carried out in four categories: Homeowner, Box Stock, Stock Appearing, and Open. There will be ten classes of saws:
- Class “E”
- Class “D”
- Class “C”
- Class “B”
- Class “A”
- Class “AA”
- “Hot Saw”
- AA Modified Motorcycle Parts
- Cross Cut Saw (two person teams)
- One-man Bucking Saw
There is a fee for each entry. Find rules here.
Mountain Heritage Skills, Crafts and Historical Demonstrations
- Ramona Lossiah, Cherokee basketry
- Jeff Gottlieb, Kudzu Crafts and Baskets
- Louise, Butch, and George Edward Goings, Cherokee Basketry, Woodcarving, Flint Knapping
- Brock Martin, Blacksmith
- Nora Mosrie, Cornshuck Crafts
- William Rogers, Coppersmith
- Dede Styles, Natural Dyeing
- Nate Darnell, Tractor Rides
- Nathan Woods and Ethan Fortner: Horse and Mule Demonstrations
- Richard Tichich Quilt Making
- Kevin Fountain, Corn Grinding and Hit and Miss Engines
Stages, Tents & Stickball
Harrah’s Blue Ridge Stage
10:00 AM – Summer Brooke and Brayden
11:00 AM – Whitewater Bluegrass Company
12:00 PM – Apple Blossom Cloggers
12:15 PM – Mountain Heritage Award presentation
12:45 PM – The Queen Family
1:30 PM – Phil and Gaye Johnson
2:15 PM – The Grascals
3:30 PM – The Bailey Mountain Cloggers
3:45 PM – The Merle Monroe Band
Children’s Tent
10:30 AM – Pressley Girls
11:30 AM – Phil and Gaye Johnson
12:00 PM – Blue Ridge Junior Appalachian Musicians
12:30 PM – Bailey Mountain Cloggers
1:00 PM – Dietz Family
1:30 PM – Apple Blossom Cloggers
2:00 PM – Uncle Ted White and Whitewater Bluegrass Co.
Balsam/Circle Tent
10:00 AM – Ann Woodford: African American history and stories
11:00 AM – Deitz Family
12:00 PM – Roots and Branches Circle with Kristin Scott Benson, Daniel Grindstaff, Adam Haynes, Brayden McMahan and Phil Jamison
1:00 PM – Sparky Rucker: Mountain Voices storytelling
2:00 PM – Suffering and Hope Circle with the Deitz Family, Jeanette Schrock and Mark Queen, Tim Raybon and Phil Jamison
3:00 PM – Roots and Branches
4:00 PM – Community Square Dance
Shape Note Tent
10:30 AM – Shape Note Singing with Will Peebles
12:15 PM – Calliope Shorts Ethel Brown: A Singer Needs a Song
12:30 PM – Calliope Shorts Moonshine and a Grey Duck
1:00 PM – Shape Note Singing with Will Peebles
Stickball Field
11:00 AM – “Kolanvyi” Big Cove Indian Ball Team
2:00 PM – “Kolanvyi” Big Cove Indian Ball Team
McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition
9:00 – 10:00 AM – Registration (after 10:00 AM, a penalty will occur)
10:00 AM – Until all registered contestants have participated
10:00 AM – Homeowner Class Competition Begins
Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show
9:00 – 10:00 AM – Registration
10:00 AM –12:00 PM – Encouraging participation from the public to vote for their favorite car; collect ballots; engage with participants
12:00 PM – Voting closes
2:00 PM – Awards Announced (People’s Choice, Top 3)
