Brushy Mountain Apple Festival
Encyclopedia
The Brushy Mountain Apple Festival is a one-day arts and crafts fair held annually in downtown North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
. The fair is held during the first Saturday in October. Over 160,000 people visit the fair each year, and it is one of the largest single-day arts and crafts fairs in the Southeastern United States
. The fair is held to celebrate the apple
harvest from the nearby Brushy Mountains
. Over 100 church, civic, and other non-profit organizations from Wilkes County and neighboring counties participate in the fair each year.
During the fair, the streets of North Wilkesboro's business district are closed to auto traffic for several blocks. This allows over 100 food concession stands to be set up, along with 425 arts and crafts concession stands and four large music stages. The food and crafts on display usually demonstrate the heritage and culture of the people of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The concessions include pottery, quilt-making, woodcarving, chairmaking, blacksmiths, apple cider, fried apple pies, dried apples, apple jam, etc. Pork barbecue and chicken barbecue are also popular food items. The four music stages are also dedicated to the musical heritage of the Appalachian region. Bluegrass, Folk, Country, and Gospel music can all be heard throughout the day. Square Dancing and Clogging
, forms of dance traditionally popular in the local mountains, are also displayed at the festival.
The Brushy Mountain Apple Festival is sponsored and organized by the Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club. The Ruritan Club is a national organization with several clubs and approximately thirty-thousand members, providing helpful service for a large variety of communities.
North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
North Wilkesboro is a town in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was approximately 4,116 at the 2000 census and is now 4,245 as of the 2010 census. North Wilkesboro is the birthplace and original home of Lowe's Home Improvement, which continues to have a major presence in...
. The fair is held during the first Saturday in October. Over 160,000 people visit the fair each year, and it is one of the largest single-day arts and crafts fairs in the Southeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The fair is held to celebrate the apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
harvest from the nearby Brushy Mountains
Brushy Mountains (North Carolina)
The Brushy Mountains are a mountain range located in northwestern North Carolina. They are an isolated "spur" of the much larger Blue Ridge Mountains, separated from them by the Yadkin River valley...
. Over 100 church, civic, and other non-profit organizations from Wilkes County and neighboring counties participate in the fair each year.
During the fair, the streets of North Wilkesboro's business district are closed to auto traffic for several blocks. This allows over 100 food concession stands to be set up, along with 425 arts and crafts concession stands and four large music stages. The food and crafts on display usually demonstrate the heritage and culture of the people of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The concessions include pottery, quilt-making, woodcarving, chairmaking, blacksmiths, apple cider, fried apple pies, dried apples, apple jam, etc. Pork barbecue and chicken barbecue are also popular food items. The four music stages are also dedicated to the musical heritage of the Appalachian region. Bluegrass, Folk, Country, and Gospel music can all be heard throughout the day. Square Dancing and Clogging
Clogging
Clogging is a type of folk dance with roots in traditional European dancing, early African-American dance, and traditional Cherokee dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive...
, forms of dance traditionally popular in the local mountains, are also displayed at the festival.
The Brushy Mountain Apple Festival is sponsored and organized by the Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club. The Ruritan Club is a national organization with several clubs and approximately thirty-thousand members, providing helpful service for a large variety of communities.
External links
- Brushy Mountain Apple Festival website
- http://www.ruritan.com Ruritan Club National