It’s British, It’s Appalachian, it’s Festival Time at Historic Rugby.
Milk a goat…jump up and buck dance…hear great traditional music…tour antique filled buildings….visit with more than 60 craftfolk and artists, all at Historic Rugby’s Festival of British and Appalachian Culture on May 15-16.
Festival hours Saturday are 10 am – 6 pm and Sunday 10 am – 5:00 pm Eastern.
There will be continuous music and storytelling under the main festival tent, featuring nationally known bluegrass/roots music band, The Cluster Pluckers; traditional Irish songs and tunes by The Boys of County Nashville (Sat. only); old time music by Tony Thomas and Judy Carter; from England to Appalachia with Tim and Liz (Sun. only); eclectic bluegrass, folk, old-time music Kindling Stone (Sat. only).
Photo by Kathy Hicks showing bluegrass musicians at the Harrow Road Cafe last Friday. In background is John Hicks with "Flat Stanley"
The Rugby festival will showcase more than 60 traditional arts and crafts exhibitors and demonstrators including blacksmith, Brad Greenwood; stained glass, Sara Senft; gun building and powder horns, Ernie Smart; handspinning angora yarn, Sue Duncan; log hewing, Thomas Martin; silk ribbon embroidery, Mary Curren; white oak basketry, Bobby Edwards; baskets and quilting, Delta Jo Wright; wood carvings, Joseph Roush; spinning and weaving, Susan Mason; pottery and kick wheeling, Hugh Bailey; lye soap/goat milking and making goat cheese, LaBelle Acres; rifle making, David Scutt; handmade turkey and and animal callers, Homer Hooks; woodcarving, Bill Henry; hammered dulcimers, jewelry, Amsden Handcrafter Instruments; chair caning, Laura Kyle; weaving, Crystal Whitted; woodenware, Karen Davis; the Knoxville Dulcimer Club playing both days, and many more. Children will especially enjoy live animal demonstrations, hands-on activities on the Christ Church lawn, and fanciful face painting.
Regional crafters and artists will display and sell pottery, dolls, weaving, woodwork, handmade soaps, jewelry, white oak and reed baskets, candles, stained glass, honey and beeswax candles, wreaths, bird carving, art prints, watercolors, photographs and much more at booths throughout the historic grounds.
Lark In The Morn English Country Dancers will teach and perform on the grounds on Saturday, including traditional Maypole dances for visitors of all ages.
Plenty of traditional food and drink will be available at Historic Rugby’s Harrow Road Cafe for home cooked meals, sandwiches and desserts and at booths with: pit cooked barbecue, cold drinks and more; The Glennons with lemonade, funnel cakes, and curly potatoes; House of Douglas Bakery with British baked goods; Muddy Pond Mennonite goodies (Saturday only) sandwiches and drinks; and the Wilsons of Monterey serving homemade ice cream cranked by an old-time hit and miss engine.
Historic buildings open to festival goers will include the 7,000-volume Thomas Hughes Public Library, unchanged since 1882; the founder’s rural gothic home with 1880s furnishings original to the colony; and the Rugby Schoolhouse, all with guides to share their history. Historic Christ Church Episcopal will also be open to visitors both days, and all are welcome to attend the regular 11:00 a.m. Sunday church service.
There will be 19th century letterpress demonstrations at the restored Rugby Printing Works; the Commissary Museum Store will be full of handcrafts, British foods, old time Watkins products, bone china teapots and other old time wares plus Victorian period books, antique prints and gifts and an extensive selection of Rugby and area history books. Rugby artisans, Spirit of Red Hill Nature Art and Oddiments, Carriage House Gallery and The Shoppe at Zenith Cottage will also be open both days.
ALL ACTIVITIES are included in one $8.00 daily admission for adults, $4.00 for K-12 students. Preschoolers and Historic Rugby Members are free. Two-day admission is $12 and $6. One-day rate of $6.00 is available for groups of 12 or more when reserved in advance. Proceeds help support Historic Rugby’s preservation and year-round public programs. Performers are sponsored in part by grant support from the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and East Tennessee Foundation Arts Fund. Media sponsors include and Knoxville’s ETPtv, WUOT-FM, and WDVX-FM
PLAY REHEARSALS REVEAL RUGBY TALENT
By the Wine-making Doctor
Rehearsals for the new Rugby play, Emmy and Granny, are well underway. Director Brandon Slocum says she is very pleased with the progress of the amateur actors and others. The thespians include several Rugby area residents as well as some more experienced actors from the Knoxville area.
The troupe has been working hard on dialects – since many of them speak with a proper English accent, or a hint of it. Unfortunately Robert Walton (George Zepp) has the only role played with an Irish accent, so he has to try to block out the English accents. Dr. Kemp (Rick Murphy) is extremely pleased that he does not have to speak with a foreign accent - since Dr. Kemp was from the U.S.
Everyone is also working on their costumes. There are interesting period hats, dresses and vests. The director has even asked some of the women to wear corsets.
Rehearsal for Emmie and Granny. Photo by George Zepp
The world premier of the play will be in Rugby June 19 (see calendar below for all times, dates and ticket information).
MAZDA MIATAS COME TO TOWN
The East Tennessee Miata Owners Club came to town Saturday afternoon. The beautiful spring day was a great excuse for this top-down group to drive the curvy roads to Rugby and enjoy dessert and other treats at the Harrow Road Café.
Photos by George Zepp
Photo by Mara Trumbo
BIRTHDAYS
May 10 Bob Trumbo
May 11 Valerie Donegan
May 17 Julian Bankston and Mary Gilliat
CALENDAR
May 14 – No History Club meeting this month
May 15 and 16 – Spring Festival - Starts on Saturday May 15, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. ends on Sunday May 16, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Continuous British Isles and Appalachian Music and Dancing Traditional Arts and Crafts..... Folk Demonstrating and Selling Their Work.....Storytelling.....Historic Building Tours....Delicious Food
June 12 - Rugby Book Club selection will be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. June 12, 7 p.m., at Judy Newport's house, 1043 Range Cemetery Road. Turn off Hwy. 52 onto Sam Smith Road then right on Mt. Helen Road, then 1/4 mile down on the left is her road. It's in Fentress County near Armathwaite. Call Judy for other details at (931) 704-7946.
June 19 – Premiere – Rugby Play - “Emmy and Granny” 7:30 p.m. Eastern at the Rebecca Johnson Theatre. Adults $19 (65+ $18), K-12 Students $10. Tickets on sale now 1-888-214-3400 or 423-628-2441
June 20 – Matinee Performance - “Emmy and Granny” - 3:00 p.m. at the Rebecca Johnson Theatre. Adults $15 (65+ $14), K-12 Students $8. Tickets on sale now 1-888-214-3400 or 423-628-2441
June 27, 2010 - Annual Historic Rugby Membership Meeting 1:30 pm
July 3 - 12th Annual July Picnic at John and Kathy Hicks’ place (Lizzie's Place). 6 pm-9 pm. This will take the place of the first Saturday Potluck Dinner.
Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2-4 p.m. Eastern at the Friendly House
HRI WORKSHOP CALENDAR
For Workshop Registration contact Historic Rugby at 888-214-3400 - rugbylegacy@highland.net
May 22 - Gardening With Herbs - From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern. Learn to plant an herb garden to be used for your culinary delight. A garden will be planted for the Harrow Road Café. Following the class join us for an herbal luncheon tasting some of the varieties used in the workshop. Bob Washburn always delights the group with having a selection of favorites from his 58-acre greenhouse nursery available for purchase. Bob is co-owner of Wolf River Valley Growers in Pall Mall, this area's largest greenhouse. He has served as the president of the Tennessee Flower Growers Association and past chairman of the Southeast Greenhouse Conference. Workshop fee $15, plus $9 lunch at Café.
June 5 - Crazy Quilting Rugby Style - Instructor Joyce Lantz. Create unique quilt blocks called Victorian Shadows with shared fabrics from fellow quilters. Students can make pillow tops, shams or a wall hanging. Suitable for all experience levels. From 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Eastern. Fee $45
June 12 - Bark Basketry Workshop 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Instructor: Fuzzy Orange. Fee: $30. Step back to a time when “everyone made and used baskets.” Learn to harvest poplar bark and create an original style Native American basket, taught by one of the Rugby area’s talented artisans.
July 17 - Kudzu Basketry Workshop 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Instructor: Fuzzy Orange. Fee: $30. Finally a use for that infernal kudzu! Learn to weave the kudzu vine into a basket to enjoy for years to come.
By Linda Konig
A path has been mowed around Newbury Pond now, making it convenient to walk around it. Last Friday night, Rick Murphy and George Zepp told me they'd seen a dark-feathered heron of some kind at the pond one morning this week, and it wasn't a Blue Heron. My mind began to race. Could it have been a Green Heron? They usually start to feed at dusk and are mostly nocturnal. They're smaller than the blues, about the size of a big crow, and have short necks that are mostly hunched down so they appear to have no neck. Rick and George said it had been standing at the edge of the pond, but when it saw them, it flew up into a tree with a bare limb and just seemed to become one with the limb. Green Herons generally nest in trees and are loners. They love ponds with lots of vegetation about them, so they can lurk near the water and watch for fish and frogs to catch. One of their tricks is to place a bit of food--an insect, etc. – on the surface of the water and wait for fish to come up to the bait. Yes, they're one of the few animals that make use of a "tool."
Photo Courtesy of Scott Somershoe Green Heron Photo
Bats seemed to be flying directly out of the pond as they swooped low over the water, getting a sip before they began their night of snatching mosquitoes and other flying insects out of the air. The occasional splash of a fish--or was it one of our Snapping Turtles catching a fish? At any rate, I was once more impressed with the variety of wildlife that we have making use of the pond. This wouldn't be true if the pond were kept mowed all the way down to the water's edge with no trees or bushes around. A "neat" pond is usually a pretty dead pond, so far as anything except for some stocked fish is concerned. The cattails and other water vegetation are also an invitation for various birds to build nests, for turtles to make a home, for frogs, salamanders, etc. I'm going to keep looking for that Green Heron or whatever it was.
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
