Record Attempt Part Of Daniel Boone Days

BOONE, N.C. – “Forget the coonskin cap; he never wore one,” writes Robert Morgan in his latest nonfiction novel, “Boone: A Biography.”
But the organizers of Daniel Boone Days, slated for Sept. 5-7 in Boone, N.C., can’t forget the cap. In fact, they prefer to dwell on it. One of the highlights of the three-day festival will be a massive attempt to achieve a world’s record for the Largest Gathering of People Dressed Like Daniel Boone – by collecting as many people as possible for a photo and putting coonskin caps on every head.
Another highlight of the festival will be a reading from author Morgan, now an authority on all things Boone as a result of his exhaustive research for his latest work that has won the 2007 Kentucky Literary Award for Nonfiction.
His efforts have touched off a maelstrom of genealogical speculation which, among many other things, puts forth the most recent theory that singer Pat Boone is a twig on the famous pioneer’s family tree.
Concerns run deep that this and so many other roots of local history have been completely buried under a bustling little town and a major university.
“We saw the need for this, for Boone to have an idea who it is named after and for an educational symposium that teaches about Daniel Boone’s time in the region – something that appeals to all ages,” said Sam Calhoun, festival organizer and associate editor of Boone’s High Country Press.
Toward this end, the weekly newspaper’s offices have been temporarily converted into a satellite facility of the Appalachian Cultural Museum, with exhibits showcasing the Daniel Boone Hotel, native birds, the Daniel Boone Native Gardens, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a regional wildlife exhibit and a stuffed bear. This is where the festival kicks off on Sept. 4, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a reception at 130 Depot St. in downtown Boone.
The educational stuff will take the form of a symposium at Valborg Theater on the Appalachian State University campus starting at 11 a.m. Sept. 5. Morgan will be joined by other historians in a collaborative effort to separate the facts from the countless Daniel Boone myths of song and legend. Admission is $2.
Fess Parker is as inextricably intertwined with the Boone legend as the coonskin cap, the result of his starring role in the 1964-1970 “Daniel Boone” TV series. Friday night will feature two Fess Parker wine dinners at local eateries, The Gamekeeper and Casa Rustica, featuring log cabins, wild game entrees and the wines of Fess Parker. Admission is $85 for The Gamekeeper and $65 for Casa Rustica.
The wines of Fess Parker, you ask? After retiring from television in the ’70s – having shot 165 episodes – Parker launched his own winery in Los Olivos, Calif., and continues to operate that and several other enterprises at the age of 84. He will not appear at the Boone event.
But on a related note, Calhoun said another cast member from that vintage TV show is expected to put in an appearance during the festival.
“A documentary team from New York City got wind of this, and they are going to send a team down here,” he said. “The narrator is Darby Hinton, and he played Israel Boone, Daniel’s son, on the series.”
On Saturday, the day begins with the Daniel Boone Chase, a foot race starting at 8 a.m. and running from downtown Boone to Howard’s Knob and back again. Howard’s Knob is Boone’s tallest mountain and historically significant as a place Daniel Boone was known to camp and hunt.
The attempt at the world’s record will be made back at the High Country Press, where a portion of the proceeds from the sale of coonskin caps ($10 per cap) will benefit the Watauga Education Foundation. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the (hopefully) record-breaking photo will be shot at 11 a.m. in the parking lot – taken from the roof of the building.
The main event will be held at the Horn in the West amphitheater, the site of an outdoor drama depicting Boone’s involvement in the Revolutionary War that has been reenacted every summer since 1952. Adjacent to the 2,500-seat theater is the Daniel Boone Native Garden, lovingly maintained by the Garden Club of North Carolina.
Throughout the day of the festival, live bands will fill the air with music, while local artisans fill the grounds with rustic handcrafts. Historical reenactors will mingle with the crowd, while the stage hosts a square dance, storytellers, a fiddling contest and a Daniel Boone look-alike contest.
This is the inaugural Daniel Boone Days festival designed to launch a long and time-honored tradition in the town that bears Boone’s name. “It’s kind of an intense schedule, a three-day period where a bunch of stuff goes on,” Calhoun said.

SEPT. 4
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.: Open house/social at High Country Press (free)

SEPT. 5
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Daniel Boone Symposium at Valborg Theater on Appalachian State University campus ($2 admission)
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Open house (included)
7 p.m.: Fess Parker wine dinners at two locations: The Gamekeeper ($85) and Casa Rustica ($65)

SEPT. 6
8 a.m.: Daniel Boone chase, a foot race. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. ($20 in advance, $25 at the door)
11 a.m.: Daniel Boone cap world record attempt, High Country Press. Registration begins at 8 a.m. (free with $10 purchase of coonskin cap); Pioneer Festival at the Horn in the West ($10 in advance, $12 at the door, $5 children)
Noon: Watauga Community Band
1 p.m.: Square dance and living history (reenactors and historians)
2:15 p.m.: Story telling
3:15 p.m.: Fiddlers’ competition
4:30 p.m.: Ottava Rima
5:15 p.m.: Daniel Boone look-alike contest
5:50 p.m.: Lost Ridge Band
7:15 p.m.: Larry Keel and Natural Bridge
9:30 p.m.: The Waybacks