Appalachian Festival Updates

Cincinnati's 41st Annual Appalachian Festival Is Mother's Day Weekend!

2010-04-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

One of Cincinnati’s most popular family events – the Appalachian Festival – will be transforming Coney Island into a mountain-life village May 7 to 9 with down home bluegrass music, handmade crafts, artisan demonstrators, storytelling, a pioneer village, mouth watering food and educational exhibits.

Touted as the area’s largest outdoor Mother’s Day gift shop, shoppers and browsers will find beautiful quilts, pottery, jewelry, children’s toys, leather goods, baskets, herbal products, soaps, dolls and more.

Festival hours are: Fri. (May 7) 9 a.m.- 9p.m., Sat. (May 8) 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. (May 9) 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fantastic Friday special pricing: $4 adults, $2 seniors and kids; Sat. & Sun. pricing: adults $8, seniors (55+) $4, kids 4-11 $2, Kids 3 & under free. Parking $6 For information: www.appalachianfestival.org.

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The Tillers Kick-Off Saturday's Music At The Festival

2009-04-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

In August 2007, Westside comrades Mike Oberst and Sean Geil united their fondness for thumping out old-timey folk and street-style blues. With Oberst on banjo, Geil on guitar, and soon finding a bassist in Jason Soudrette, the trio plunged into the Cincinnati music scene.
The band is both traditional and progressive. They resurrect songs of America's past, touching on themes both historical and timeless. Clawhammer banjo, accoustic guitar, and wooden upright bass meet high mountain harmonies that belt and croon, lament and rejoice. Stories of work and struggle are revived and rekindled. Country blues classics meet new, less known ballads while we all stomp and sing along.

They will perform at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 9.

You can hear their music through this link.

Did You Know You Can Make Rope At the Appalachian Festival?

2009-04-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Actually, this activity is mostly enjoyed by kids...but kids at heart can try too! It's in our pioneer village. We've got 45 camps this year, taking up much of the grassy area at Coney Island.

Festival Blacksmiths And Other Outdoor Metal Work

2009-04-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is a sample of work from Cherie. Believe it or not, all of her pieces are made from scraps of cars.

These beautiful pieces are created by George Korte.

If you're looking for metal work for your garden, you'll find plenty to choose from at the Appalachian Festival. To the left are two of our black smiths.

Some additional metal artists:

Listen to Your Radio For Ticket Give-a-Ways This Week

2009-04-27T04:36:00.000-07:00

Are you tuned in? WGRR and Warm98 are giving away Appalachian Festival tickets on their morning shows this week. WAKW, WUBE and WPFB are also giving away tickets.

And, if you're a fan of the Appalachian Festival on Facebook or following us on Twitter, you never know. There may be some opportunities there too!

We're On Facebook Now

2009-04-21T04:53:00.001-07:00

If you're on Facebook, we hope you join us as a member of our fan page. Just search for us as 'AppalachianFestival'.

Thanks!

Keepin' It Kountry, New This Year At The Festival

2009-04-21T04:41:00.000-07:00

We’ve got a number of new crafters this year joining us at the Festival. Mary Beth Lentner and Judy Haas of Keepin’ It Kountry will be coming in from Stow, Ohio. We asked Mary Beth some questions about what they do.

What are reclaimed fabrics?

Reclaimed fabrics are antique or vintage textiles such as old Army blankets and fabrics from the 1920s to 1970s. We also use incorporate upholstery and home décor fabrics for our valences, and hand design and cut all of our own appliqués from these reclaimed fabrics.

How did you get interested in sewing?

We are a mother-daughter team. My Mom (Judy) started sewing more than 30 years ago basically out of necessity. She had three young daughters who needed clothing and not a lot of income. She just took a liking to sewing and is the best seamstress that I know! Now I have been sewing since high school.

How do you come up with the ideas for the pieces?

Well, our very first product was our popular moose and bear valance. I love everything rustic, but I could not find any curtains to place in my cabin-themed living room that were unique and not mass-produced. So, I had the idea to cut my own appliqués out of very rustic wools and sew them to a valance. I told my Mom about the idea, and she sewed up the basic valance. I then hand-designed my moose, bear, and tree appliqués, which we sewed on the valance. I still have those valances in my living room today!

Our business really expanded after that. Since then, we've been inspired to create more than 65 valance styles. Then we started a line of environmentally friendly handbags. We also moved into making another line of retro tote bags that feature funky vintage fabrics and men's neckties.

Russ and Barb Childers Are Always Popular At The Festival

2009-04-20T04:31:00.000-07:00

For more than 35 years, Russ has been making music in the southern Ohio/northern Kentucky area. Whether as banjo player with the Rabbit Hash String Band or fiddle player with the husband-wife team Bear Foot or one-man-band-and-storyteller, his music defines him. His banjo playing has won him many state awards and even made him a Kentucky Colonel! In his fifteen years of professional storytelling, he engages in the time-honored tradition -- the oral passage of information. As he once learned aspects of his eastern Kentucky heritage from his father and grandfather, so he now passes it on. But he continues to be a student of banjo player Elmer Bird of West Virginia and fiddle player Tommy Taylor of Northern Kentucky. Just as his Appalachian music is recycled from an earlier time, his instrument building workshops teach children to make music on reclaimed materials. This echoes the lifestyle of his ancestors who often found it necessary to fashion useful things from reused objects.

Footloose stories and music with Barb Childers

When Barb Childers appears in an Appalachian storytelling musical duo called Bear Foot, she is the Foot and her husband Russ is the Bear. When she cuts loose on her own, she calls her footloose stories and musical performances "Stories Afoot!" Barb is a former children's librarian, a past dancer with the traditional clogdance team Dancin' Fools, one-half of Bear Foot, and one-fifth of the popular old-timey group Rabbit Hash String Band. She specializes in highly interactive Appalachian storytelling and folklore but loves to share historical, seasonal, and cultural traditions of other regions as well. Her captivated audiences range in age from children to senior citizens. Barb and her husband, veteran performers of over 30 years, make their home in Batavia, Ohio.

2009-04-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

As is the tradition at the Appalachian Festival, Friday is Education Day and that means plenty of fun and information for kids, whether they come with their classroom or with their parents. We’re inviting 3rd through 5th graders in Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati to participate. There will be free craft projects to make and lots of crafts ($1 and up) for them to buy. They’ll hear storytellers, sample food, weave paper, see how the pioneers lived, participate in Native American dancing and so much more. Plus, we’ll give them a 25 question treasure hunt and the answers, well, they’ll have to ask our vendors to find out.
Cost for Education Day is just $2 per student and chaperones are free. It’s 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, May 8. Registration is encouraged by May 1. For registration forms, please visit our website.

Brown Bear Pottery Making A First Appearance at The Festival

2009-04-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

At this year’s Festival, visitors will find everything from hand-made quilts and clothing, furniture, pottery, metal sculptures to dried flower arrangements, hand-crafted jewelry, children's toys, leather goods, stained glass, musical instruments, baskets, handmade dolls and more. Plus, a talented collection of fiber artists specializing in weaving, drop spinning, braiding and loom work will also be on hand making and selling their masterpieces.

Joy and Zach Ingram of Brown Bear Pottery are some of many artisans making their first-ever appearance at the Appalachian Festival this year.

Huge Pioneer Village Will Re-Create the Past

2009-04-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

Always one of the most popular attractions at the Festival, the large “Living History” village this year will feature around 150 period re-enactors who demonstrate mountain life in the 1800s through dress, living quarters and activities. The Living History Village includes 40+ overnight pioneer camps and many demonstrators of old-time skills. Blacksmiths, soap-makers, spinners, weavers and many other demonstrators are spread throughout the area.

Kids will have a blast in the historic pioneers village, which will offer educational fun with hands-on demonstrations, including making cornmeal, ice cream and butter, grass matting, using a gristmill, and ink looming. As always, children will be able to participate in historic games (sack races, tug-of-wars, and finding a needle in a haystack), watch ‘hawk throwing, and learn Indian dances. Therewill also pony rides for kids, a petting zoo and – for the first time at the festival – kids will be able to climb aboard Chili, a Texas longhorn steer, to have their picture taken.

Native American dance is always a highlight of the Living History area, and this year’s dancers -- Native American Drum -- uphold and promote the spiritual, cultural and traditional values of the Native American heritage through drumming, dancing and storytelling.

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People On CET This MonthA

2009-04-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

Narrated by Academy Award Winner Sissy Spacek, Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People is the first environmental history series ever made. An all-star cast, including Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist E.O. Wilson and best-selling novelist Barbara Kingsolver, explores the intersection of natural history and human history in one of America’s grandest treasures.

It all begins tonight - Tuesday, April 14 at 10 p.m. on PBS (CET locally). Here are all the air dates.

• Tuesday, April 14th, 10pm
• Tuesday, April 28th, 10pm
• Tuesday, May 5th, 10pm
• Tuesday, May 12th, 10pm

We will be taping some interviews with people associated with our Appalachian Festival later this month on CET Connect. Did you know the Cincinnati Appalachian Festival is the largest Appalachian Festival outside of Appalachia?

Meet Larry Oestrich, A Festival Traditional Arts Demonstrator

2009-04-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

In a high-tech world, Larry Oestreich is a throwback to a bygone era.

The Wyoming resident is an accomplished “bowlwright,” an artisan who creates beautiful wooden bowls by hand, using only tools and implements from a bygone age.

Give Larry a piece of wood, and he’ll attack it with traditional tools -- adzes, gouging chisels, mallets and hewing hatchets to rough out the outside of the wood, then various shaving and scraping tools to hollow out the inside.

Oestreich’s traditional talents will be on display at the 40th annual Appalachian Festival at Coney Island, when the park is transformed into an authentic mountain-life village with down-home music, dance, crafts, food and educational exhibits. Nearly 100 crafters from 13 states will feature mountain handicrafts -- hand-made quilts and clothing, furniture, pottery, metal sculptures, dried flower arrangements, and much more -- all weekend long at the festival.

Oestreich has been creating unique wooden bowls and containers for about 15 years. He says his passion for the traditional arts and historic preservation was inspired by the books of woodwright Roy Underhill, host of the PBS “how-to” series “The Woodwright’s Shop.”

Oestreich teaches traditional woodworking at the Cincinnati Waldorf School and at Turner Farm, a community supported agriculture farm in Indian Hill.

They're Cuddly And Cute, And They'll Be For Adoption At the Appalachian Festival

2009-04-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

They are black, white and brown. Some have long necks and curly fur, others are stockier with wide brimmed hats. They may be clothed in crocheted t-shirts or beautifully stitched dresses. However, they are all made to hug and they are all hand crafted by Maineville's Elizabeth Colvert. On May 8, 9, and 10 at the Appalachian Festival the bears - each one unique - will be for adoption.

The Appalachian Festival is the area's largest outdoor Mother's Day shopping experience.

NewFound Road Signed to Headline Appalachian Festival

2009-04-05T12:43:00.001-07:00

One of today’s most popular and dynamic bluegrass bands – NewFound Road – has been booked to headline this year’s Appalachian Festival at Coney Island, Festival officials announced today.

The 40th annual Appalachian Festival runs May 8-9-10 at historic Coney Island. During the spring festival, Coney Island is transformed into a mountain-life village celebrating the area’s rich Appalachian heritage.

NewFound Road was born as a bluegrass and acoustic gospel band in
Southwest Ohio about eight years ago and since has grown to become one of the most requested contemporary bluegrass bands in the USA.

Multi-talented as gifted instrumentalists, songwriters, and vocalists, NewFound Road has attracted quite a loyal and vigorous following of fans yearning to hear their “stripped-down” bluegrass music deeply rooted in a wide range of stylistic influences.  A new album, Same Old Place, will be released on Rounder Records at the end of April. NewFound Road will appear twice at the festival – Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the festival’s River Stage.

Dozens of other bluegrass acts also are currently being booked for this year’s springtime festival, which features old-timey music all day and all night long.

Of course, wall-to-wall mountain music is only part of the fun at the festival. It also features three full days of handmade crafts, dance, storytelling, educational displays, pioneer camping and down-home food to make the festival a special family occasion. Proceeds from the three-day festival go toward grants to area organizations and individual artists involved in promoting Appalachian culture.