The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Seedtime Festival here




Appalshop will hold the 26th annual Seedtime on the Cumberland community arts and music festival this Thursday, June 7, through Saturday, June 9, at the Appalshop grounds in downtown Whitesburg. This year’s Seedtime festival will have something for everyone — in addition to three stages of music, food, handmade arts and crafts demonstrators and vendors, there will be many special events spotlighting local culture throughout the weekend.

On Friday in the Appalshop Theater, Seedtime will see the debut of an original play directed by Angelyn DeBord, “Tales of Signs and Wonders”. The play, featuring stories from Cowan women Nell Fields and Letha Dollarhide, will begin at 7 p.m. Immediately after the play, renowned songsters Sparky & Rhonda Rucker will take the stage for an evening of songs, stories, and fun from across the American tradition.

Seedtime will also host a quilt exhibit in the Appalshop lobby featuring quilts by the Gibson sisters of Little Cowan, from the collection of Bill and Josephine Richardson. The daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Hop Gibson gained wide recognition for the quality of their needlework, particularly patchwork quilts. A special exhibition of their quilts is scheduled to be up throughout the weekend of Seedtime. Friday playgoers are invited to come early and see this rare showing of the Gibson Sisters’ quilts.

Continuing the theme of spotlighting the work of strong women, Seedtime will feature a book signing and presentation with renowned scholar Helen Lewis in the wake of her brand new book, Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in Appalachia. Seedtime will also mark the Kentucky debut of the brand-new Appalshop film “Anne Braden: Southern Patriot”, a portrait of civil rights activist Anne Braden by filmmakers Anne Lewis and Mimi Pickering.

There will also be a presentation of Old Regular Baptist linedout hymnody on the Appalshop Theater stage on Saturday at 5 p.m. with Elders James Caudill and 2011 NEA National Heritage Fellowship award winner Frank Newsome from Haysi, Va.

Kentucky’s longest continuing community square dance, the Carcassonne Community Square Dance, will hold its June dance under the main stage tent on the Appalshop grounds this Saturday night starting at 9 p.m.

For more information and a full schedule, visit seedtimefestival.org or call WMMT at (606) 633-0108.



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