NC Gold Festival Today in Old Fort

June 1-2   NC Gold Festival   An annual event featuring gold exhibits, gold mining techniques and demonstrations, treasure and scavenger hunts, geo-caching and gold panning. The events also includes a variety of vendors including arts and crafts and raffles.

The Festival is hosted by the nonprofit North Carolina Gold Foundation to promote, educate, preserve and celebrate the state's gold heritage. The Festival is held at the Mountain Heritage Museum in downtown Old Fort NC.

Celtic Thunder Performs this weekend in Cherokee NC

October 8   Celtic Thunder makes a one night performance at Harrah's   Celtic Thunder, the singing group from Ireland, are a composition of five male soloists who perform both independently and collectively and have become a household name worldwide!

The roots of the Celtic music are found in the Mountain's bluegrass sounds and instruments. The two heritage art forms have been woven together through the centuries and when both are presented in their pure forms, their common beginnigs are apparent. Event location: Cherokee NC.

Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel - The 21 story hotel offers 1108 guest rooms including hair dryers, coffee makers and 42-inch HDTVs.  There are eight suites in the Mountain Tower, 21 suites in the Soco Tower and 78 suites in Creek in Creek Tower opened in April 2011. Common amenities include indoor swimming pool,  fitness room, free parking, onsite restaurants. Restaurants include Paula Deen's Kitchen and the Lobby Cafe. Casino action ranges from brand-new games and slots to dazzling favorites like Digital Blackjack and Baccarito. Rates from $79.     Check current rates and availability

Turn Back the Clocks with Old time fun, Mountain Style this weekend

September 24    Todd Timber Town Day   Set your clocks back 90 years as the village of Todd steps back to a time when the valley was a boomtown piled high with lumber, populated by lumberjacks and filled with the dirty cinders from the coal-fired Virginia-Carolina Railroad. Events include tours led by guides in period costume from the 1920s as well as authentic, unplugged mountain music from the era. Todd, NC

September 24    Curb Market and Old-timey Day   The Henderson County Curb Market is the South's most unique Curb Market. This special event includes music, sausage & ham biscuits cooked on a old timey wood stove, antique displays and more. All items sold at the market must be either handmade or locally grown Henderson County. Hendersonville NC

September 24     Old Timey Fall Festival  A Fall Festival to honor, preserve, protect, display, educate and share the rich Yancey County culture, history and heritage. An antique tractor/car/truck parade kicks off a day of music & entertainment, arts & crafts, Old Timey demonstrations, food & drinks, games & activities, wagon rides, and more. Burnsville NC

Mountain Heritage Festivals this weekend

Sept 16-18 in BRYSON CITY the 10th Annual Railfest   A celebration of Railroading in North Carolina and preservation of Mountain History. Ride on a visiting steam locomotive! Listen to a wonderful blend of Bluegrass and Folk Music and enjoy the Mountain Craft Fair, Children's talent competition and 20 + vendors. The visiting locomotive Lehigh Valley Coal Co. engine # 126 will be providing special Caboose train rides throughout the weekend.

Sept 17 in  YADKINVILLE (near North Wilkesboro)   35th Annual Yadkin Valley Harvest Festival  All-day family festival featuring live music - country, rock, gospel, bluegrass and pop - on two stages, agricultural displays, a farmers' market, artist demonstrations, blue ribbon competitions, a petting zoo and relay races for the kids, art, crafts and food vendors, carriage rides and more. Don't miss the popular Yadkin "Idol" competition!

Sept 17 in SPARTA  the  17th Annual Mountain Heritage Festival Craft and food vendors line Main Street in celebration of mountain heritage in craft and music. This year's entertainment features Wayne Henderson and Helen White. With demonstrations of the skills of local ancestors and music that mixes local heritage with modern influences, there is something for everyone. Dancers and the Possom Queen contest and Crowning.

Sept 17 - 18  in ASHEVILLE the  31st Annual Heritage Weekend   A free festival sponsored by the Southern Highland Craft Guild features traditional music and dancing, storytelling and heritage craft demonstrations. A highlight of the weekend is the 30th Annual World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition.

They're Dancing in the Streets in Hendersonville

August 15   Hendersonville Street Dances   This week's Band is  Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition: the    Dancers are the  Southern Mountain Smoke Cloggers   The Street Dances have been a tradition in Hendersonville for 92 years. The Street Dances features mountain heritage music and dance every Monday evening from July 11 through August 15. Bring a chair, admission is free.

Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 event welcomes award-winning bluegrass band this weekend

July 10 at An Appalachian Evening The Lonesome River Band will perform on the Grand Old Stage at 7:30 PM.   LRB’s most recent album,  No Turning Back,  has garnered several nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association. Band member banjo-picker Sammy Shelor is an inductee of the Virginia Music Hall of fame.

An Appalachian Evening was named a Top 20 event by the Southeast Tourism Society in 2008 and is a featured event in the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary community spotlight. The series features a traditional Appalachian dinner served family-style and a mountain roots musical performance every Saturday evening through August 28. Performances begin at 7:30pm in the recently restored historic air-conditioned auditorium, seating capacity 340. Dinner seatings are at 5pm and 6:15pm; reservations are required and can be completed by phone (828-479-3364), in-person at the Stecoah Gallery, or on the website at www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Come early and shop for fresh local produce and art at the Stecoah Tailgate Market from 4pm to 7pm each Saturday before the show. Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center is located at 121 Schoolhouse Road in the Stecoah community off Hwy 28 between Bryson City and Fontana Dam. Located in a restored 1926 schoolhouse, it has become a gathering place for cultural events and community workshops since its renovation in 1996. Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center is a non-profit corporation that serves the people of Stecoah and Graham County through programs and services that benefit all members of the community, by preserving and promoting the Southern Appalachian mountain culture and through the restoration of the
historic old Stecoah School to its original role as the center of the community.

Free Performances at the Carl Sandburg Home

June 23 - August 14  the  Carl Sandburg Home presents Abraham Lincoln & Rootabaga Stories.  The Vagabond School of the Drama performs 30 minute selections from Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories and The World of Carl Sandburg. These free toe-tapping performances are fun for all ages. The Rootabaga Stories are performed Thursday and Saturday and  The World of Carl Sandburg is performed Wednesday and Friday. Performances are free and held rain or shine, at the Carl Sandburg Home amphitheatre, 81 Carl Sandburg Lane, Flat Rock North Carolina.

Cherokee Voices Festival Tomorrow

June 12, 10AM - 5PM, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina. Cherokee Voices Festival:

*Open to Public - FREE

* Sponsored by NC ARTS COUNCIL & Museum of the Cherokee Indian

* Food and drinks all day by Harvey and David's Catering

* Continuous performances of dance, storytelling, and music

* More than 25 demonstrations of traditional Cherokee arts and crafts

* Cherokee Heritage Trails Tours--Blue Ridge Parkway--free at10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., first in   line--no reservations--meet at Main Stage

Bryson City and Swain County Kick off the Summer on "Happy Notes"

Swain County North Carolina welcomes summer with it's annual Heritage Festival at Riverfront Park in Bryson City North Carolina this weekend. The two-day Festival is loaded with mountain music and good old-fashioned fun.  Traditional gospel groups, clogging,  bluegrass and standard country music will get your toes tapping and you spirits soaring. . There are sack races and other games for kids as well as local arts and crafts and plenty of good festival food. All entertainment is free! Get a complete schedule here...

This Week from Stories of Mountain Folk

May 1,  Stories of Mountain Folk. Amy opens the show with thoughts about a cappella singing and The Asheville Muses sing "Maybe"; Doreyl interviews 5 women at the Downtown Market in Asheville: Pepper Parris (Market co-ordinator), and Kimberlina Marie, Miranda Wildman, Missy Corrales, and Linda Hendricks from The Soul Tree Gallery; Then Amy talks with Calvin Smith about square dancing in Waynesville, and the Rye Holler Boys from Bryson City and Sylva end the show with "Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms!"  Listen to this broadcast here...