Mountain Life Festival at the Mountain Farm Museum in Oconaluftee Area of Great Smoky Mountains national park

In the upper elevations of the Great Smoky Mountains national park there is a touch of color and the heat has broken and even in the valleys the heat of summer has been broken so the annual Mountain Life Festival at the Mountain Farm Museum in Oconaluftee is right around the corner.

Come to the farm museum on Saturday September 19th from 10 am to 4 pm and learn why leather britches are not pants, what carding means when it has nothing to do with ID and what it's like to make your own soap while listening to great Appalachian style music - all for free!

While I am sad to see what for me signals for me the end of summer, this is one annual event in the Great Smoky Mountains national park I have not missed for years.

The location of the Farm Museum is perfect in beautiful green valley alongside the Oconaluftee River surrounded by low mountains that will only have a hint of color just a minute inside the park boundary at Cherokee.

Expect the hands of time turn back more than a hundred years and see interesting live demonstrations by park staff and volunteers such as lye soap making, hearth cooking, food preservation, broom making, quilting, blacksmithing, chair bottoming, along with apple butter and apple cider making. You will get to sample warm cider too!

A special edition this year to help celebrate the parks 75th anniversary is a showcase Appalachian folkways along with historic artifacts and photographs from the national park's collection will also be on display to help pay tribute to the former resident who lived where the park now stands.

Corn husk dolls, hominy making, old time toys and other interesting demonstrations about what home life was 100 years ago in the Great Smoky Mountains will be going on around the farm museum.

You can also learn about the more than 40 types of apple tress the Cherokee and the early settlers grew from Ron and Suzanne Joyner from Big Horse Creek Farm in Ashe County, NC. When I interviewed them in the past they were a wealth of knowledge and they presently have a nursery with more than 300 varieties of custom-grafted heirloom apple trees.

In the farm itself, you can watch an almost 40 year old tradition of the Great Smoky Mountains national park: the making of sorghum syrup. The Appalachian early settlers did not have table sugar and they grew their own sorghum and with a horse-powered cane mill and wood-fired cooker made this important food stable.

Students, staff, and volunteers from Swain County High School through a cooperative agreement with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains Association will be feeding the press which is pictured above and making the sorghum syrup.

Through all the celebrating at the Mountain Farm Museum in Oconaluftee, don't miss the musical entertainment by Marshall Crowe and the Bluegrass Singers.

Bedsides the event, take some time to stroll down the Oconaluftee River hiking trail which is one of the 2 trails in the park that allows well behaved leashed dogs and stroll around the farm with its historic buildings and picturesque landscape.

Music of the Mountains this Saturday in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Mountains and music come together this weekend in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the forth annual "Music of the Mountains" festival on Saturday, March 29 from 10 am - 5 pm at the Park's Sugarlands Visitor Center next to the Gatlinburg Tennessee national park entrance.

Although there will be musical programs throughout the day at the Sugarlands Visitor center that to the park service, the City of Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains Association, it is suggested that you get there early as seating is limited to the capacity of the indoor theater which is only 160 persons.

7 Free concerts will be performed in the theater:

• 10:00 am Tony Thomas: Introduction to old-time banjo and fiddle tunes
• 11:00 am The Lost Mill String Band: Claw-hammer banjo and acoustic bass played by Joan and Jerry Paul
• 12 Noon Matt Morelock and Brian Vollmer: Old-time songs using claw-hammer banjo and fiddle
• 1:00 pm Matt Morelock and Brian Vollmer: Repeat performance
• 2:00 pm Bobby Fulcher: Appalachian and Cumberland Mountains songs and tunes played with the claw-hammer banjo and guitar
• 3:00 pm Boogertown Gap: Traditional tunes and songs played with claw -hammer banjo and guitar performed by Barber and Keith Watson
• 4:00 pm Sparky and Rhonda Rucker perform Appalachia and the Civil War period Folk songs, ballads, and tunes

For performances held in the evening at the WL Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg, Tennessee featuring Jimbo Whaley and Friends you must purchase tickets which are $20.00 online or $25 at the door. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the performance begins at 7:00. Not only will you be in for a night of great music, all ticket holder will also receive a free CD of Jimbo Whaley's newest gospel recording, you will also have the chance to win the door prize and other giveaways during the concert.

According to said Kent Cave, North District Supervisory Park Ranger of the Great Smoky Mountains: "Music of the Mountains" is a celebration of musical traditions of the southern Appalachian Mountains, showcasing the evolution of mountain music over time. The festival is one of several special events the Park has developed to tell the story of the people who lived here prior to the Park's establishment in 1934. Musical expression was and still is often a part of daily life in the southern mountains, and mountain music is tied to Smokies history like no other part of our culture".

According to me: "You will never be let down with any of these performances in the park and that's to Sevierville local legend Ray Ball, I myself drive around with a Jimbo Whaley CD in may car and not only love the local flavor of his music but the outstanding musical talent as well."

Don't miss these performances of you are in town!

Music Graces Cades Cove in Tennessee

April 28th at 8 pm Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the place to be thanks to the Great Smoky Mountains Association to see singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ellie Grace perform.

This Smoky Mountains music performance is not just for Ellie Grace to perform her compelling mix of music and dance; the audience should bring two soup spoons per person so that you can enjoy her hands-on demonstration and you can join along with her. The audience is also invited to bring their tapping shoes and their stringed instruments to join her performance for a jam session.

According to Cades Cove Supervisory Park Ranger Mike Maslona "Grace's resume is impressive and her experiences have led her to performances at prestigious venues including the Lincoln Center in New York City. Grace has over 20 years of experience performing. She plays the mandolin, fiddle, and guitar and has recorded three albums with The Grace Family. She has recently joined The Dirk Powell Band on several national and international tours. Dirk Powell has an esteemed reputation as one of his generation's most highly regarded traditional American musicians and is widely known for creating and performing music for the movie Cold Mountain,"

Music and fun in the Smokies in the most beautiful valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Cades Cove - you couldn't get a better Saturday night!