Southern West Virginia Community College will be hosting its first-ever Appalachian Heritage Day. The event will include award-winning old-time musicians, scholars, authors, and various other vendors from around the state and region. All media are invited to attend. Video and still photography opportunities are available, and the assembled artisans will be available for interviews.
WHAT: Appalachian Heritage Day inaugural event.
WHEN: Saturday, August 24, beginning at noon. The day’s earlier events will include workshops with local authors, scholars, and award-winning musicians. The day’s activities will culminate in a concert performed by the assembled musicians, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: The Logan campus of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College: 2900 Dempsey Branch Road, Mount Gay, W.Va. 25637.
WHO: Featured musicians include Roger Bryant, a well-known Logan native and Vandalia Award-winner; Liam Farley, a child prodigy fiddling talent from Chapmanville; Buddy Griffin, a seasoned bluegrass musician, founder of Glenville State College’s bluegrass music program, and a Vandalia Award-winner; Cody Jordan, a member of Modock Rounders, one of West Virginia’s most popular old-time bands; Mack Samples, a well-known fiddler, square dance caller, and flatfoot dancer, and a Vandalia Award-winner; and Bobby Taylor, an internationally known fiddler, Vandalia Award-winner, and friend to the late West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd.
Regional authors featured during the event include Laura Treacy Bentley, a poet and novelist featured on A Prairie Home Companion, and recipient of a Fellowship Award for Literature from the WV Commission on the Arts; Brandon Kirk, a history professor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, whose life and work has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine and The New Yorker; Cat Pleska, an award-winning author, editor, educator, publisher, and storyteller; Carter Taylor Seaton, author of two novels including Hippie Homesteaders, as well as a biography of the late Ken Hechler.
Featured scholars include Dr. Chris Green, Director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College and a poet; Dr. Charles Keeney, history professor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, and labor expert; and Dr. Brian McKnight, Founding Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at UVA-Wise and expert on the Civil War in Appalachia.
Numerous other musicians, authors, and scholars, as well as agencies relating to history, culture, tourism, and economic development, will be on hand for the day. Free workshops will be offered to the public. There will be food vendors on site, as well, featuring popular local food attractions.
For more information, please contact Mandy Lester at 304-896-7429, or mandy.lester@southernwv.edu.
