Appalachian Festival kicks off at Coney Island

Three-day event includes crafts, music and culture.

Contributed photo Warren Waldron will be one of the performers at the 2009 Appalachian Festival.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Contributed photo Live demonstrations are part of the Appalachian Festival.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer Updated 3:26 PM Friday, May 8, 2009

From its humble beginnings as a craft show in the basement of Cincinnati’s Music Hall, the Cincinnati Appalachian Festival has become one of the region’s largest cultural affairs, drawing some 50,000 people over three days event to Coney Island on the shores of the Ohio River.

“Of course, when we first set out, we hoped that the Appalachian Festival would become a Greater Cincinnati tradition and institution,” says Sally Brush, one of the Junior League organizers of the first Festival, in a news release, “but, truthfully, we never dreamed it would reach the size and scope that it is today.”

The idea had been floating around since 1969, when Brush and two others first proposed the crafts’ exhibition idea to a national Junior League conference on Appalachian culture.

For the first Junior League Appalachian crafts’ exhibition in 1971, organizers searched the mountain hollows of Appalachia to track down authentic artists and crafters. They also traveled to Nashville to persuade country star Roy Acuff to appear as the headline performer at the first Festival.

“Back then, it was a real challenge to convince authentic mountain crafters to come to Cincinnati for this new Appalachian event,” said Diane Smart, who was chairwoman for the first and third Junior League Appalachian events. “But after the success of the first year, getting crafters was no problem. We always had more requests for space than space available.”

After out-growing Music Hall basement, then its ballroom, the Appalachian festival tried out the Cincinnati Gardens, the Greater Cincinnati Convention Center, finally settling at Coney Island in the mid-1980s.

This year marks the 40th edition of the Appalachian Festival, with proceeds going toward grants to area organizations and individual artists involved in promoting Appalachian culture.

“One of the reasons the Appalachian Festival is so popular is because of the demographic makeup of this entire area,” said chairwoman Allison Raisor. “It has been estimated that over 300,000 people from this area have Appalachian roots.”

Theme for the 40th Appalachian Festival is “A Tribute to Timber,” an interesting and educational multimedia exhibit about this nation’s No. 1 renewable resource. Curated by Cincinnatian Shanon Rice, the exhibit salutes those who preserve our forests and work in the timber industry.

“Forests occupy a third of the United States land,” Rice said, “and until this century wood was the single greatest material aid and comfort in our ancestors’ lives. Timber still today is an essential element in our lives, and we need to remember that the trees we plant today will shade our future generation.”

NewFound Road was born as a bluegrass and acoustic gospel band in Southwest Ohio about eight years ago and since has grown to become one of the most requested contemporary bluegrass bands in the United States, attracting a loyal and vigorous following of fans yearning to hear their “stripped-down” bluegrass music deeply rooted in a wide range of stylistic influences. A new album, “Same Old Place,” came out at the end of April. NewFound Road will appear twice at the festival — Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the festival’s River Stage.

Appearing for the first time at the Appalachian Festival this year is the Cincinnati band the Tillers, which came together busking for nickels, dimes and burritos in the gaslight Clifton district of Cincinnati, playing music that is both traditional and progressive. The Tillers keep busy in Northside’s renowned bars and musical establishments, including a regular gig at the Northside Tavern on the last Sunday of each month.

The entertainment schedule also includes Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz; Wild Carrot & The Roots Band; Rabbit Hash String Band; Calamity Rain; Warren and Judy Waldron; Comet Bluegrass Allstars; Ma Crow; The Corndrinkers; OK Ramblers and Bear Foot.

Special stages for dance and storytelling are also at the Appalachian Festival, and in keeping with the festival’s craft-show roots, more than 100 crafters from 13 states feature the finest in mountain handicrafts — 20 of them making their first appearance at the Appalachian Festival.

Always one of the most popular attractions at the Festival, the large “Living History” village features 150 period re-enactors who demonstrate mountain life in the 1800s through dress, living quarters and activities. The Living History Village includes more than 40 overnight pioneer camps and many demonstrators of old-time skills. Blacksmiths, soap-makers, spinners, weavers and many other demonstrators are spread throughout the area.

How to go

What: The Appalachian Festival

When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today, May 8; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 9; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 10

Where: Coney Island, 6201 Kellogg Ave., Cincinnati

Cost: $8, $4 senior citizens, $2 children 4-11, free for children 3 and younger

More info: (513) 251-3378; www.appalachianfestival.org

The River Stage entertainment schedule

Friday, May 8: Campbell Ridge Elementary Dulcimers, 10 a.m.; Kyle Meadows, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Bear Foot, noon; Warren & Judy Waldron, 1 p.m.; Open Jam Session, 2 p.m.; Steve Adkisson and Kentucky Wonder, 4 p.m.; Ma Crow, 5 p.m.; Mount Pleasant String Band, 6 p.m.; Rabbit Hash String Band, 7 p.m.; The James Family, 8 p.m.

Saturday, May 9: The Tillers, 11 a.m.; Steve Bonafel & One Iota, noon and 7 p.m.; The Corndrinkers, 1 p.m.; OK Ramblers, 2 p.m.; NewFound Road, 3 p.m.; Rabbit Hash String Band, 4 p.m.; The Corndrinkers, 5 p.m.; Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, 6 p.m.; NewFound Road, 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 10: Morning Worship Service, 10 a.m.; Gospel Sing w/Ginny Hawker, 11 a.m.; Calamity Rain, noon; Wild Carrot & The Roots Band, 1 p.m.; Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, 2 p.m.; Cynical Mountain Boys, 3 p.m.; Ma Crow, 4 p.m.; Comet Bluegrass Allstars, 5 p.m.

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