Home Sweet Home

By: John Robinson

It was a sunny and beautiful warm day. The blaring sounds of bagpipes and drums echo throughout the upper quad as the musical talents of the Garrett Highland Pipes & Drums play. They entice the crowd displayed in front of them, as myself and others enter into this year’s Appalachian festival on Saturday afternoon. Every fall, the school host the Appalachian Festival featuring a variety of events for the Frostburg students and local community; definitely one of the highlights of the year. This gives the new students an outlook on the history of the school and the people who travel from all over the country to bring their goods and talents to share. As you observe the variety of fun events to check out, it’s important to find out what parts of these events bring the festival to life; the answer is the homemade products. The arts are what make this festival so popular because it brings insight to so many aspects of art and food.

There were two main businesses that create homemade food products to display at the festival. One of them were Sambeachy & Sons. Melinda, who was an employee of this business, explained Sam Beachy. The employee attire was Amish with a bonnet upon their heads. She stated that their main creations are apple cider and apple butter. All of their products are homemade and their physical plant is located in Pennsylvania. Trying to insist if they were the people who churn the butter by hand, Melinda laughed and replied, “No we aren’t those people, but we have done it before.” Sugar & Spice Bakery also brought their presence into the Appalachian Festival, for the 5^th year. They hail all the way from Oakland. When mentioned what a big commitment to travel all this way once a year, Elise, who seemed to be the manager corrected me and said, “Well we actually come up to the County Club Mall every Friday for supplies.” They also wear Amish attire, but offer more of a variety of home cooked desserts. Their food looked so good it was hard for the arriving customers to choose. The bakery makes homemade pumpkin pies, cookies, and jam. What was really surprising was the variety of flavors in jelly, especially the Jalapeño. Elise stated, “This is actually one of my favorites, I put it on crackers or mix it with crème cheese.” In order to put out the jelly, they work with another company known as Grandma’s Jam House.

After observing the rest of the activities, it was time to stop by the arts and crafts section, and these works were beautiful. The color and detail of these baskets, wooden toys, and rollers shows the great talent of the carpenter. Mike & Judy, a married couple of Pleasant Valley Woodcrafts, gave the rundown of their business. Started in 1992, when they got married they combined their efforts in carpentry and worked together to build up their company. Mike also creates furniture and cabinetry as a side project. When you see the rollers (dough rollers), you would have thought it was a simple piece to make, this is false. Judy stated, “These actually are made out of 30 different pieces of wood.” They use some familiar nature such as red oak, popler, ash, and even some exotic woods from South America. As you make your way down to view the rest of their work, these amazing paintings on cabinetry and furniture catches your eye. You could easily tell that it took days, maybe even months for the outcome, and the colors were awesome. Hue Campbell, one of the owners struck up a conversation to inform about their business. He stated that his brother Dane Campbell is the mastermind behind the paintings. These paintings share different time periods throughout history. His brother wasn’t around at the time, but he mentioned that Dane actually uses a micro-scope to get the detail. As he was talking about the process he jokingly stated, “I actually have to pull the piece away from him so he won’t keep working on it non-stop.” They are from Cecil County, MD and were discovered by Kara Rogers Thomas, a Sociology Professor here at Frostburg State University. She found them at the Maryland Arts Council, loved their work, and invited them to join the festival a few years back. The paintings that the Campbell brothers create tell a story and bring you in to use your imagination to decipher what really happened.