Mountaintop Festivals

Rhododendron Events To Be Held In Tennessee, North Carolina

If the rhododendron doesn’t bloom in time for Roan Mountain’s Rhododendron Festival, June 20-22, maybe the buds will be startled awake by all the singing, picking and foot stomping. Or charmed open by the allure of handmade crafts and festival food.
At last check, the blooms looked to be on track for a timely appearance, but they may opt for a fashionably late arrival to the party, as delicate Southern flowers sometimes do.
The official bloom-watching hotline is at the Pisgah Forest Appalachian Ranger District (828-682-6146), where Park Ranger Carol Danford said it’s going to be real close this year.
“Probably because of the cold snap we had earlier, it will definitely be the third week of June or later,” she said. “Definitely not before the festival. Right now, the buds are still so tight you can’t tell what color they’re going to be.”
She was talking about the top of Roan Mountain, where the world’s largest natural rhododendron garden occupies a 600-acre spread – and where the blooms are invariably dark pink. The mountain’s 6,300-foot elevation puts that spectacular floral display weeks behind the usual blooming schedule adhered to in lower-lying areas.
But what happens on top of the mountain stays on top of the mountain. Both Rhododendron Festivals – one on the Tennessee side and the other on the North Carolina side – are, respectively, seven and 13 miles away from the gardens. At such lower elevations, the blossoms have already bloomed and faded, and the festivals generally make do with paintings of rhododendrons or ceramics, carvings and stained glass.
Visitors typically make a day of it at one or both festivals combined with a trip to the mountaintop – which is why it would be great to have it all going on at one time.

In Tennessee
With the festival now going into its 62nd year, the Roan Mountain Citizens Club launched a quest for something new to add to its standard line-up of music, crafts and food. This year, the club has added a five-minute auction every hour, between acts on the outdoor stage.
“We’re asking the vendors if they would like to volunteer an item,” said club member Emma Ruth Shomaker. “We’ll put those things on a table in front of the stage along with their name and booth number, and that’s the kind of thing we’ll have. Things on sale at the festival and food vouchers from food vendors.”
Every year, the festival fills about 100 vendor spaces and turns many applicants away. Quite a few food and craftspeople return year after year, with far more regularity and predictability than the rhododendron blossoms.
“The festival is set up to be the Saturday and Sunday nearest June 20, but truthfully we can’t always take that as the date the rhododendron will be blooming,” Shomaker said. “They’re always behind the festival.”

In North Carolina
Don’t be fooled by the smaller-scale festival in the heart of a rural riverside town.
“Bakersville is becoming one of the premier arts and crafts centers in the Southeast,” said Lee Roy Ledford. “We’re a town full of artists, world renowned. We have Penland School of Crafts about seven or eight miles away, and as a result, we’re getting world-class artists, glassblowers, metalworkers, potters, woodworkers, you name it.”
Ledford is a member of BIG (Bakersville Improvement Group), an organization that has been thinking big ever since the town began to fill up with studios and galleries.
The group has built a creek walk, a gazebo and a large picnic shelter near the downtown area where the festival will be held.
“BIG has been a driving force behind getting a lot of this stuff on track,” he said.
The picnic shelter will host a roster of live bands throughout the day on Saturday, and the street will close down in the evening for dancing on Friday and Saturday nights.
Ledford added that the Rhododendron Festival is the second-longest running festival in North Carolina.

EVENTS SCHEDULE
TENNESSEE FESTIVAL – JUNE 21-22
Admission, events free; http://www.roanmountain.com.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21
10 a.m.: Welcome from Sheena Jenkins, president of Roan Mountain Citizens Club
10:05-11 a.m.: Jim and Cheri Miller
11 a.m.-noon: Tom Love
Noon-1 p.m.: Bob and Ellie
1-2 p.m.: Roan Mountain Hilltoppers; presentation of Support-a-Student Scholarship by Roan Mountain Citizens Club
2-3 p.m.: Johnson City Community Concert Band
3-4 p.m.: Mountain Rhythm Dancers
4-5 p.m.: Roan Mountain Moonshiners

SUNDAY, JUNE 22
1-2 p.m.: Majestic Heights
2-3 p.m.: Glory Way Singers
3-4 p.m.: Gospel Grass
4-5 p.m.: Royal Vision

NORTH CAROLINA FESTIVAL – JUNE 20-21
Visit http://www.bakersville.com.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20
7 p.m.: Pageant in the Bowman Middle School Auditorium. Tickets available at the door: $8 per night ($5 for ages 6 and under). Two-night passes are also available for $13 each ($8 for ages 6 and up).
8 p.m.: Street dance, music by The Wisemans, $5 admission.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21
8 a.m.: 10K run starting at Gorge Elementary School
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Car show at Bowman Middle School. Open show, all classic and vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles welcome. Entry fee $10 (second car $5). Spectator admission is $2.
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Craft fair on the Creek Walk
3:30 p.m.: Ducky Derby. Thousands of plastic ducks racing down Cane Creek in this festival fundraiser.
7 p.m.: Pageant in the Bowman Middle School Auditorium.
8 p.m.: Street dance, music by The Wisemans, $5 admission.

LOIS CAROL WHEATLEY is a freelance writer. Contact her at .