The April showers have been ample and the vines are budded all across North Carolina’s verdant wine country. Wine has proven itself one of the most popular and lucrative agricultural, agritourism and value-added production success stories since the demise of Big Tobacco, and the many public offerings of wine country promise to remain one of the strongest sectors of the important North Carolina tourism industry in these troubled economic times.

First, in a big first for NC’s wine industry, the Duplin Winery in Rose Hill near Cape Fear, has become the first North Carolina winery – the first winery outside the west coast, in fact – to have earned the Adams Beverage Group Fast Track Brand award as well as the Impact Hot Brands Award from Wine Spectator publications.

Duplin’s champagne is being served at Mount Vernon, its Magnolia was named a favorite summertime wine by Martha Stewart. The winery now has a 1 million gallon capacity and receives over 100,000 visitors annually. There are daily tours and tastings, weekly music with wine and cheese in the courtyard, and even a popular dinner theater.

In other news, the Haw River Valley is now the third wine growing district in North Carolina to receive federal recognition as an “American Viticultural Area” [AVA], establishing that grapes grown in the 868 square mile area produce distinctive wines. The piedmont valley joins previously recognized AVAs in the high country Yadkin Valley and Swan Creek within Yadkin’s broader AVA. This brings multiple piedmont vineyards and six wineries into the prestigious designation and is a significant boost to the wine and viticulture industries expanding in our state.

Check out some of the coming season’s events at Visit Alamance, beginning with the Art on the Haw River Wine Trail on May 2 and 3, 2009. This is a free for the whole family event and will combine a winery tour and tastings with exhibitions and demonstrations of fine arts in the style of traditional artist studio tours. Visitors can travel the 50-mile scenic drive through the heart of the rural piedmont to find unique, hand crafted furniture, hand blown glass, distinctive pottery, metal sculptures, paintings and photographs, collectable quilts and fiber arts, the cultural crafts and fine arts kept alive and thriving by the friendly people in this friendly region.

North Carolina currently ranks 10th in the nation for wine and grape production and is home to more than 80 fine wineries. That’s triple the number that existed in 2001, so this diverse agriculturally-based value-added industry continues to lead the way as a valuable model of successful rural development in this time of general economic insecurity.

Erin Brethauer,
Asheville Citizen-Times

The economic news has been getting progressively worse and worse through the fall, politicians tell us we’re in for hard times, something the resourceful people of North Carolina are quite accustomed to. In the mountainous west of the state – designated in the best of times as an officially “depressed region” – the #1 source of income is tourism and our tremendous natural beauty in all seasons still draws millions of appreciative visitors from all over the world.

One of the most famous of the WNC attractions is America’s only genuine castle, the beautiful Biltmore Estate, once home to George Vanderbuilt and his wife Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, the estate continues the tradition of holiday festivities begun by the Vanderbuilts on Christmas Eve of 1895. With 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces, there’s plenty to decorate in the ornate style of the estate’s roots in America’s “Gilded Age.”

Erin Brethauer,
Asheville Citizen-Times

The estate is offering Candlelight Christmas Evenings from November 7 through January 3, featuring tours of the beautifully decorated rooms of Biltmore House with live classical music, story tellers, ballet dancers, marionettes, more than 100 decorated trees, 1,000 wreaths and bows, 1,800 poinsettias and miles of evergreen garland. Each room is decorated with a national theme.

If you’re planning to spend some time in Asheville (or even stay at the Inn on the estate) during the holidays, check out some of the free decorative seminars offered at Biltmore House during the day.

Asheville Citizen-Times

In addition to our many fine ski resorts, many of which offer luxurious accommodations, fine food and snow tubing for the youngsters, there are other regional attractions that go all out for the holidays. Bryson City’s Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is offering its delightful Polar Express train ride to the ‘North Pole’ where Santa boards and greets all the children with a special gift! There will be hot cocoa and treats, a magical story to tell, and a rousing chorus of Christmas carols as the steam train wends its way back through the mountains to Bryson City again.

The excursions continue through December 23, so call GSMR at 800-872-4681 to make your reservations today!

It’s not too late to get your tickets for the 2008 spring Lake Eden Arts Festival, at beautiful Lake Eden in Black Mountain. Word has it that vehicle camping permits are all sold out, but there are still tent permits available as well as weekend and day tickets for those who don’t mind staying at one of the many great hotels and motels in the Black Mountain and Asheville environs.

LEAF holds its festivals every spring and fall (this year the autumn festival will be October 17-19) to showcase the LEAF in Schools and Streets arts mentoring projects for youth, its LEAF International music collaborations from Panama, Guatemala, Rwanda, Bequia and Mexico, and dozens of great, culturally significant musical groups, individuals and artists from everywhere.

This year there will be more than 40 Healing Arts Workshops during the day, featuring Yoga and Tai Chi, Folk Art, Juried Handicrafts, a national $1,000 Poetry SLAM, a children’s village with clowns, jugglers, puppeteers, games, stories and art projects. There are joyful parades, jam sessions, circus arts and zipline fun out over the lake.

This spring’s musical lineup on LEAF’s four stages includes Arrested Development, Javier Garcia, Nanci Griffith, David Wilcox, Corey Harris & the 5×5 Band, Latter Day Lizards, Steep Canyon Rangers, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas among many others, including international players including Rahim AlHaj, Vincent Nsengiyumva of Rwanda and many, many more. There will be Zulu stilt dancing, an interactive electronic music experience via the Bob Moog Foundation… check out the lineup of performers for yourself and see what’s in store.

There will also be a Jam Tent with old time, bluegrass and Celtic jams ongoing, mountain trail runs and hikes, an old time fiddle and banjo contest, plus the usual parades and visiting artists’ booths, great food and drink, and thousands of wonderful people.

Tickets: (828) 686-8742 or www.LakeEdenArtsFestival.org

“LEAF is more than just a festival: It is a bond that links music, the arts and education into one package. The eclectic assortment of sounds found at the festival had traveled widely, bring music from across the globe.”
- Relix Magazine, December 2007

16. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Cultural Feast

The cultural and educational offerings in the State Capital area will appeal to even the most sophisticated of visitors. Excellent history and natural science museums, the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Duke Gardens at Duke University and more great outings can keep interested visitors busy for weeks!


17. Cape Fear Coast

Historic Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast islands of Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach offers one of the state’s largest historic districts (230 blocks!), uncrowded beaches, natural preserves and a regular watersports paradise. Take a ride on a riverboat, enjoy some fine dining, go beachcombing at sunset, or just enjoy the fresh sea breeze in this relaxing vacation area!


18. Blackbeard’s Ghost

North Carolina boasts some of the most famous ghosts and hauntings anywhere, but the most famous of them all is the notorious pirate Blackbeard. The historic town of Beaufort on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast offers a Ghost Walk Tour that takes visitors deep into the oldest parts of town to see haunted cemeteries and the famous Hammock House where Blackbeard is reputed to have hanged one of his 14 wives. A hair-raising experience!


19. NC’s Outer Banks

America’s first English settlement, the site of the Wright Brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk, the nation’s first designated National Seashore at Cape Hatteras, and the country’s first outdoor drama. North Carolina’s Outer Banks are a true national treasure. This 130-mile long string of sandy barrier islands host wildlife reserves, quiet beaches, the North Carolina Maritime Museum and an outdoor drama telling the story of the Lost Colony at Roanoke Island.


20 – 25. America’s Finest Lighthouses

Currituck Beach, Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras, Ocracoke Island, Cape Lookout, Oak Island… The most famous, the tallest, the oldest, the most battled-over… North Carolina’s wealth of wonderful lighthouses offer photo opportunities to visitors that are unmatched anywhere in the world! And for a freebie, there’s “Old Baldy” too.

Links with historical, technical and visitors’ information for all NC’s lighthouses can be found at Carolina Lights, so don’t forget to put some or all of these on your travel itinerary!

There you have it. 25 – or, 26 with Old Baldy – great reasons to visit North Carolina this year, covering enough ground to keep you coming back year after year!

Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Reasons 1 – 5
Part 2: Reasons 6 – 10
Part 3: Reasons 11 – 15
Part 4: Reasons 16 – 25

Moving toward the east, there are more great reasons to consider North Carolina’s abundant offerings for family fun when planning getaways and vacations.

11. Mountains to Sea Trail

From the very top of Clingman’s Dome near the Tennessee border to the sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the strand of the Outer Banks, North Carolina’s 925-mile long Mountains-to-Sea Trail offers an adventurous way to explore the state’s natural treasures and human wonders. This is an adventure a visitor can embrace in small chunks or in an extended all at once while experiencing the best of NC’s towns and cities, rural agritourism initiatives and natural preserves.

12. Waldensian Valdese

The rich history of the Waldensian sect is preserved in beautiful Valdese, NC in the foothills between Morganton and Hickory. With a world famous winery, a summer festival and outdoor drama, the finest Bocce Ball clay court anywhere and one of the best regional musical venues anywhere, Valdese is a fun and educational stop along the way for anyone wanting to experience some of the best of North Carolina’s homespun heritage.

13. NC’s Arts and Agriculture Trails

In a unique alliance between the North Carolina Arts Council and the NC Cooperative Extension Service, a total of 16 different, well-planned “Arts and Agriculture Trails” have been mapped out for a project called Homegrown Handmade. These trails meander through foothills, across the piedmont and around the coastal regions, allowing visitors to visit wineries, organic farms and dairies, art studios and sidewalk cafes in charming little towns.

14. Cosmopolitan Charlotte and the Sporting Life

From bustling Lake Norman and its posh golf courses and sailboat regattas through the home of NASCAR in “Race City USA” Mooresville, tothe Bank of America Stadium uptown to see NC’s Panthers play professional football, the Charlotte area boasts some of the finest sports tourism opportunities available anywhere. And while you’re there, do check out the busy Charlotte nightlife at famous regional brewhouses and musical venues offering a variety of musicians and styles.

15. Pinehurst – Home of American Golf

Farther to the east between Charlotte and Fayetteville in the rolling Sandhill region, Pinehurst offers golfers the largest collection of Donald Ross golf courses anywhere, and enjoys the distinction of being the “Home of American Golf.” In addition to 10 of the top 20 NC golf courses, the area’s resorts also offer world class tennis courts, spa facilities, exquisite dining and luxurious accommodations. While golf is a regular way of life here, there are also arts, history, botanical gardens, festivals and unique shopping on the smorgasbord of offerings.

Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Reasons 1 – 5
Part 2: Reasons 6 – 10
Part 3: Reasons 11 – 15
Part 4: Reasons 16 – 25

There is much more to North Carolina’s agritourism movement than just what was reported in Green Dreams, Green Schemes. There is also an alliance between the North Carolina Arts Council and the NC Cooperative Extension service called HomegrownHandmade that has mapped out “Art Roads” and “Farm Trails” in the foothills, piedmont and coastal regions that allow visitors to travel along back roads, sample fresh goat cheese and scuppernong wines, visit artists’ studios and sidewalk cafes in charming little towns. Each trail is unique, so check the links below of some HomegrownHandmade trails (their titles sort of describe the gist of what’s to see and do), and then explore at the pace you like best!

In the foothills:
Foothills, Vineyards & Old-Time Music
Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin Counties. Travel through the “heart” of North Carolina’s wine industry, stop off in rural communities like Skull Camp or Beulah for some old fashioned fiddle, guitar and banjo bluegrass, or explore Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain state parks..

In the Piedmont:
Potter’s Wheels & Organic Fields
Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Guilford, Lee, Orange, Randolph and Wake Counties. the Seagrove area attracts visitors from everywhere with its many talented potters who for generations have practiced salt-glazing to produce functional yet masterful works of art. There are two major pottery festivals in the region every year, and many working artist studios that welcome visitors. The rich earth that produces such fine clays also holds the largest concentration of organic farms in North Carolina. You can visit many of these and sample tasty goat cheese, herb breads and fresh-picked fruits and vegetables while learning all about the benefits of sustainable organic agriculture.

Pictures from the Piedmont
Alexander, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln Counties. The rich fields, covered bridges and fertile orchards of historic wagon road byways offer great opportunities around every bend for those who treasure the American landscape nearly unchanged since German and Scots-Irish settlers put down roots. Here you can tour farms, textile mills, historic parks, and the 450-acre Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. There are festivals, community theaters and regional museums as well, so take your time!

Scenes of the Sandhills
Anson, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond and Scotland Counties. Golfers will love this trail, which includes the Pinehurst Resort, one of the most prestigious golfing destinations in the world. It also highlights the importance of North Carolina’s pottery tradition, where the fine clays of the piedmont are turned into useful things and works of art. There are studios to visit, workshops to attend, and peaches to eat!

Crossroads, PatriArts, and Native Ways
Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Johnston and Robeson Counties. Here in the agricultural heartland of North Carolina farmers grow some of the world’s best strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, cantaloupes, melons and squash. Visitors can buy while visiting the farms or shop at produce stands and farmers markets in all five of these counties. You’ll also find some of America’s tastiest cured hams – smoked, honey glazed, even wine glazed! In addition to the Scots-Irish settlers, this area was home to freed blacks and runaway slaves as well as still being home to the Lumbee, Tuscarora and Waccamaw Siouan tribes of Native Americans.

On the Coast:
Lights… Waves… Action!
Columbus, Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. This trail offers shimmering ocean views, picturesque lighthouses, sun-dappled pathways through graceful live oak trees, fragrant fields of flowers and herbs, and some really cool seafaring craft. There are riverboats, battleships, shrimp and fishing fleets as well as farms producing fruits, veggies and wines. Don’t forget to take in a NASpig race while you’re there…

There are so far 16 different Art Road & Farm Trails trails mapped out for your touring pleasure by the HomegrownHandmade agritourism alliance, each offering a fine, well thought-out mix of places to go, people to meet and things to do. Just pick some that sound good to you, and your family will be richly rewarded season after season with memorable experiences, historic knowledge and a new appreciation for the art and agriculture that makes North Carolina such a great and beautiful state!

Links:

HomegrownHandmade Criteria

HomegrownHandmade Trail Home

Foothills, Vineyards & Old-Time Music

Pictures from the Piedmont

Potter’s Wheels & Organic Fields

Crossroads, PatriArts, and Native Ways

Lights… Waves… Action!

Proudly presented first is the January schedule of events for our wonderful, world-class North Carolina symphony, based in Raleigh.

• Jan. 10, 2008 – Moore County Series: Berlioz, Liszt and Tchaikovsky at the Pinecrest High School Auditorium in Southern Pines. Andrew von Oeyen on piano with Emmanuel Villaume as guest conductor.

• January 11-12, 2008 – Duke Medicine Classical Raleigh Series: Berlioz, Liszt and Tchaikovsky at the Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh. Pianist Andrew von Oeyen with Emmanuel Villaume guest conducting.

• January 18-20, 2008 – Fidelity Investments Pops Series: A Tribute to Nat King Cole and Paul Robeson at the Meymandi Concert Hall. Jubilant Sykes, baritone with William Henry Curry conducting.

• January 24, 2008 – Duke Medicine Classical chapel Hill Series: Rameau and Rachmaninoff at Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill. Featuring Yevgeny Sudbin on piano with music director Grant Llewellyn conducting.

Check the NC Symphony Website for further schedules, ticket information and directions to all the venues.

For more populist fare on the NC coast, check out the Down East FolkArts Society series, featuring award winning guitarist, singer, songwriter and storyteller Little Toby Walker and his eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary blues, folk, ragtime and country music. Performances are scheduled for January 11 at the Trent River Coffee Company in New Bern, and January 12 at Clawson’s in Beaufort. Click on the link for ticket and contact information.

Farther west in beautiful Charlotte there are some great musical events scheduled. Chris Brown & Bow Wow will be performing at Cricket Arena on January 19, and Matchbox Twenty will be there on January 29. For some blue collar hilarity, get your tickets now for Ron White at Ovens Auditorium in charlotte on February 15. Tickets may be purchased for all these events (and more!) through Charlotte Ticket Brokers.

Barry Manilow will be appearing at the RBC Center end state in Raleigh on January 20, and I know there are fans who won’t want to miss that! Anita Baker will be at RBC on January 27. Tickets for RBC events are available through TicketWood.

Even farther to the mountainous west, Asheville’s Grove Park Inn will be hosting the “All That Jazz” weekend on January 25-27. Jazz artists include the reunion of Joe Sample & The Crusaders plus Manhattan Transfer, jazz guitarists Bucky and John Pizzarelli with the John Pizzarelli Quartet. Also appearing will be guitarist Vince Lewis, trombonist Rick Simerly, saxophonists Todd Wright and Phil Thomson, vocalist Maddy Winer, and many other regional jazz musicians. This is one jazz festival you won’t want to miss, so get your weekend packages from the Inn right away!

For those with children to entertain, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be in Charlotte on February 2 and 3, moving on to Raleigh on February 9 and 10.

Links:

North Carolina symphony

Down East FolkArts Society

Charlotte Ticket Brokers

TicketWood

Grove Park Inn

When my daughter was earning her theater technical degree at UNCA, she designed a set for a rather bizarre theatrical production of “Hansel and Gretel at Auschwitz” or something like that, which I never saw and didn’t really want to see. She brought home the ugliest of creepy metal trees made out of welded rebar and promptly installed it out by the footed bathtub from her production of “Hair,” which we now use as the final hole for the top nine disc golf course.

Now, we live in a lovely chestnut cabin on some seriously ‘graded’ acreage next to the Pisgah National Forest. So it’s not hard to imagine that I’ve no particular use for an ugly rebar tree. Yet that was six years ago, and today that ugly metal tree is one of my favorite lawn sculptures. The English ivy she planted around the base has grown up to cover the trunk in variegated dark and light green lushness. Wild pink roses and Japanese honeysuckle now compete for sunlight over the entire top and branches, trailing almost to the ground in places and spectacular in bloom.

So I’m not all that adverse to ideas about how to combine modern, recycled materials and technology with real natural greenery and flowers to make interesting homescapes. The eastern wall of this cabin is half rock, and when we moved in it was covered in ivy. Made for a really pretty picture, but we had to pull it all down when we discovered it was rotting the siding, providing shelter for a variety of stinging pests, and crumbling the rocks.

So it caught my eye when I saw an article about the ‘Vertical Garden’ walls of botanist Patrick Blanc in an interview with him for Ping. I’ve just gotta get me some of those!

The system is sort of hydroponic. A metal framework onto which PVC plastic is attached and covered with felt. Regular tap water mixed with something like Miracle Gro drips from the top of the wall and keeps the felt wet, and all sorts of plants grow just fine without any soil! This keeps the walls light-weight enough to put up almost anywhere, though if they’re indoors they’ll need some grow lights. Blanc describes it for Ping:

The Vertical Garden is composed of three parts: a metal frame, a PVC layer and felt. The metal frame is hung on a wall or can be self-standing. It provides an air layer acting as a very efficient thermic and phonic isolation system. A 1cm thick PVC sheet is then riveted on the metal frame. This layer brings rigidity to the whole structure and makes it waterproof. After that comes a felt layer made of polyamide that is stapled on the PVC. This felt is corrosion-resistant and its high capillarity allows a homogeneous water distribution. The roots are now growing on this felt.

Watering is provided from the top with the tap water being supplemented with nutrients. The process of watering and fertilisation is automated. The whole weight of the ‘Vertical Garden’, including plants and metal frame, is lower than 30 kg per square meter. Thus the Vertical Garden can be implemented on any wall without any size or limitation of height.

I’m thinking that I could maybe use such walls as an alternative to new siding, at least on the front of the cabin where it’s seen on approach. It would certainly keep the south wall much cooler in the summer, and Blanc claims his walls are great insulation against the cold as well. If I were really clever I could also cover the deck rails and foundation and make the cabin practically invisible to the unaided eye!

But alas, I know what would happen. Skinks and copperheads would take over, the whole place would be one giant garden spider web in no time at all, and those house-eating carpenter bees and hornets would immediately move right back in. I just live too far out in the woods for a real vine-covered cottage.

But there’s good news! Blanc’s walls work indoors as well. Check out this photo of “organic wallpaper.” A wall like this is way beyond Feng Shui at bringing nature into a living space without bothering with all those philodendrons and spider plants and ferns I always forget to water.

I’m definitely going to get my sister the plant physiologist interested in one of these walls for the inside of her new log home in Lake Lure. It’s definitely her style, and she’s got just the windows for it!

Visitors to North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh, or to the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle have a number of excellent museums to explore. Whether your family’s interests tend toward great works of art, natural science, wildlife and ecology or history, the area has institutions that offer just what you want to see or know.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh is free to the public and offers a unique view of the world through the lens of North Carolina’s diverse geography, geology, plants and animals. Beginning on October 27and running through March 2, 2008, the museum will be hosting an innovative dinosaur exhibit featuring a 60-food model of an apatosaurus, a full-sized T. Rex skeleton as well as a robotic version that boasts of being the most accurate three-dimensional representation of a dinosaur in motion ever created.

There will also be one of the largest re-creations of a prehistoric environment ever built, and the museum is planning to offer a wide range of lectures, hands-on workshops and other programs for adults, families and children throughout the duration of the exhibit. The museum’s Prairie Ridge Ecostation in west Raleigh offers a stroll-through lowland arboretum that showcases every single wetland tree species in the state, a working exhibit of green architecture and a display of wildlife friendly landscaping.

The North Carolina Museum of Art boasts a permanent collection of masterworks that span a 5,000 year history, from ancient Egypt to modern artists. There are examples of Egyptian funerary art, sculptures and painted vases from the Greek and Roman periods, and important european works from Botticellii, Raphael, van Dyck, Rubens and Monet. There are galleries dedicated to African, ancient American and Oceanic art as well as Jewish ceremonial artworks.

Like the Natural Sciences museum, the NC Museum of Art offers daily guided tours and is free to the public. There are usually concerts, lectures, book signings, films, workshops and special exhibits going on as well, so check out the calendar of events when planning your visit.

Another treasure of free knowledge and fascinating facts is the North Carolina Museum of History, also in Raleigh. With artifacts and exhibits covering North Carolina’s native American prehistory and every century between then and now, there are also special events, exhibits, films, lectures and child-parent activities offered on a regular basis. The museum also houses the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Indian dance, basket weaving, mountain music, folk artists, even organized field trips make this museum a regular part of family life for residents of the tri-cities area and a popular attraction for visitors.

The Exploris IMAX theater offers the only 3D IMAX experience in North Carolina, so families will want to have tickets in hand when they arrive in the Raleigh area. There are other wonderful places to visit in the tri-cities area that would fill a family week up to the brim. Duke Gardens occupies 55 acres of the Duke University campus and is recognized as one of the premier public gardens in the U.S.

Just down the road at Chapel Hill’s UNC campus is the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Offering tours, classes, lectures and special events, the Garden also runs a self-service plant sale on a daily basis from April through October for everyone interested in gardening. While your family is at the UNC-CH campus you will want to visit the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, where you can meet some real scientists and view the heavens both at the planetarium shows and through the lenses of the observatory’s telescopes.

There’s always something going on for kids and families to do. Plenty of things to learn and fun adventures to be had at any of the fine museums, gardens and educational attractions in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area.

Links:

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Prairie Ridge Ecostation

North Carolina Museum of Art

North Carolina Museum of History

Exploris IMAX theater

Duke Gardens

North Carolina Botanical Garden

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center

The autumn Lake Eden Arts Festival at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain is scheduled for October 19, 20 and 21 at the very height of fall leaf-looker season in the mountains. Marking its 25th festival, the lineup this year is spectacular.

LEAF has become a regular WNC institution with two festivals a year, spring and fall. There are numerous artists displaying their work, plenty of fun activities for children and adults, lots of live music day and night, and many gifted performers. The LEAF sponsors offer programs internationally and in inner cities here in the U.S. that match children with instruments and residency mentors, bringing some of the best from Guatamala, Rwanda, Panama and elsewhere to show off their talents during the festivals.

The setting is beautiful Lake Eden surrounded by mountains, and families can purchase day-tickets, weekend tickets and the “weekend-plus” passes that cover 3.5 days and 3 nights of overnight camping at any of several fine lakeside camping areas.

Headliners on the main stage this year include Tony Trischka’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular; the legendary Doc Watson with his grandson and David Holt in their Hills of Home tribute; The Wilders honky tonk fiddle tunes; Fishbone’s mix of funk, ska, reggae and punk; and locals David Lamont, Eliza Lynn, Big Medicine and many more.

There’s the Jabali African Acrobats of Kenya, Mizero Children’s Troupe of Rwanda, John Doyle and Liz Carroll traditional Irish duo, and a big Contra & Square Dance with George Marshall and Beth Molaro. The Paperhand Puppet Intervention will be there again this fall with their giant parade puppets. The world-class Poetry Slam tent will be busy throughout the festival, offering a thousand dollar grand prize this year for the best slammers.

The Kid’s Creativity Zone offers stiltwalkers, juggling, balloon-twisting, storytelling, puppets, sing-alongs and other fun activities. The food comes in both serious pig-picking BBQ and other meat-eating delights as well as vegetarian and vegan offerings, with plenty of cool water, apple cider and cold beer.

This is one family-oriented festival that should definitely be experienced at least once in a lifetime. Of course, once you’ve attended you might be hooked, planning your whole year around the spring and fall festivals! Leafy fall fashions are encouraged for all, bring a sweater for very cool evenings, and buy your tickets early!

Link:

Lake Eden Arts Festival