Food, Music, & Art: Something For Everyone at the 5th Annual Appalachian Festival By Sam Manuel ENG 336

A clear blue sky, warm sun, and a light breeze made for a beautiful day on Frostburg’s campus as the 5^th Annual Appalachian Festival took place on Saturday. The festival boasted talents of various forms such as jewelry makers, basket weavers, wool spinners, homemade baked goods, musical varieties, and much more.

At 3:20 p.m. only a small crowd remained when Jeff Thomas and John Neral took seats at the center of Compton Stage. As the announcer introduced the duo he remarked, “If you’re not a fan of Irish music now, I’m sure these two will change your mind.” “Ladies and gentleman, Jeff Thomas on concertina and John Neral on guitar.” Lively music filled the air as they begin playing a fast paced tune. John’s fingers moved smoothly from chord to chord as Jeff’s fingers moved quickly, and fluently, over the small sound holes on either side of the concertina. As they played one audience member happily patted her legs to the beat. Other spectators made small talk amongst themselves, watched small children playing, or just simply sat quietly and enjoyed the performance. After a few songs Jeff, who does all the talking throughout the performance, takes to the microphone to tell more about their music before proceeding to introduce another song with a joke. The audience strains to hear, but either someone turned off Jeff’s microphone or he was talking to quietly to be heard as only a few audience members clap at what they presumed to be the end of the joke. One audience member asks his wife to repeat the joke but she states, “I only heard something about a doctor and carrots.” Luckily Jeff and John’s music needs no help from the sound system to be heard as the audience sat lazily in the shade and listened to the rest of the performance.

Further up the hill from the stage people gather in front of Jearbryo’s food trailer waiting for a chance to order a pulled pork sandwich, veggie wrap, or another of the menu’s selection. In the main tent area Tom Wilson explains his wife’s process for making the dichroic jewelry displayed at the booth along with the glass bottle cheese platters. Tom explains, “It’s all done with a kiln, usually about fourteen hours.” He also holds out two small square pieces of glass and explains that is the material in its raw form as he holds it up to the light he notes it is used because of its reflective properties. Another booth sells raffle tickets to raise money for the Appalachian Independent, an independent online newspaper with the tagline “dialogue for democracy.”

Just outside of the main tent of booths is Sunnyside Wools, ran by Darlene and Dave of Garrett County, MD. The booth displays handcrafted wool items (made from the wool of their own animals) such as stockings, old time Santa’s, hats, and various other handmade items. Dave and Darlene are lively in conversation, talking about the farm and their annual open house. Their open house, Christmas On the Farm and In the Barn, is held just after Thanksgiving on the 26^th and 27^th of November. This year it will be open from 10a.m. to 5p.m. according to the pink flyer there will be light refreshments, a chance to visit the animals, a meeting with farmer Santa, and of course a large display of Darlene’s crafts. Dave extends a warm invitation to come “weather permitting” and chuckles as he states, “We are in Garrett County.”