Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993 TAG: 9306100090
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
One word glows neon yellow in his brain:
Sunshine.
Hall, community program supervisor for Blacksburg's Department of Parks and Recreation, is hoping that Saturday brings cloudless skies.
For the past several months, Hall and other organizers have been busy planning the annual Montgomery County Historic Festival at Smithfield Plantation. The event is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the historic site in Blacksburg.
Each year, the outdoor festival offers a variety of demonstrations and activities aimed at re-creating the past.
Only one thing can muck it up:
"Weather's definitely a factor," Hall says. "It usually makes it or breaks it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny day."
Artisans from all over the region will be at Smithfield Plantation Saturday to depict life as it was around these parts in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Norris Tucker of Troutville will visit Smithfield for the first time. He will demonstrate the art of making baskets.
Others include tanner Bill Gosnell of Dry Fork, blacksmith Martin Scudder of Floyd and Verily Simpkins of Hiwassee, known far and wide for her handmade cornhusk dolls.
Montgomery County participants are weaver Helen Bryant and potter Jim Gorman. Blanche Kanode will demonstrate candlewicking, a kind of embroidery used in bedspreads, tablecloths and pillow covers, and J. Edwin Keith will show how our ancestors made chairs from cane and rush.
Quilters from Carter Street United Methodist Church in Radford will be there, as will Revolutionary War re-enactors in the Smithfield Militia Company.
The live demonstrations will go on throughout the day. In addition, there's plenty of entertainment lined up:
\ 10:30 a.m. The McKenzies, Woody and Marcia, play Appalachian music.
\ 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Actors from "The Long Way Home" historical drama present the massacre scene.
\ Noon Trillium, featuring Kathy Stell, Mary Ann Lentz and Kathy Adamo, sing three-part harmony to dulcimer and guitar accompaniment.
\ 12:30 p.m. The Uncalled 4, a barbershop quartet with James Moore, Les McCombs, Lawrence Kyle and Kerry Gillispie, perform traditional tunes.
\ 1 p.m. Puppets by Pizzazz of Roanoke present scenes from "Punch and Judy."
\ 3 p.m. Music by Mountain Magic, featuring the Rev. Maynard Powell and Sherrie Vaughn.
The Docents of Smithfield will be dressed in their Colonial finest to lead visitors on tours of the plantation house and gardens. Master gardeners will help identify plants used for food, medicine and dyes.
Children 12 and under will enjoy the hands-on history program and games, too.
Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for students in grades 1-12 and free for children under 5. Tickets will be available at the gate.
Smithfield Plantation is at the edge of the Virginia Tech campus off U.S. 460 in Blacksburg. Look for the signs.
\ . . . SPEAKING OF SUNSHINE: Blacksburg artist Joanna Sunshine is featured at Montgomery Museum in Christiansburg this month.
"Fiberworks" is the current exhibit in the Lewis Miller Regional Art Center at the museum. It's a collection of works ranging from traditional loom designs to innovative modern fiber constructions.
Sunshine's pieces have been exhibited at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, the University of Illinois Chicago campus and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond, to name a few. She has won awards from the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects, the Roanoke Museum of Fine Art and the Peninsula Fine Art Center.
"For me the satisfaction of the work results from the doing," Sunshine says of her art. "The interest is in the search and experimentation of technique and media. Spontaneity, investigation, intuition, surprise . . . and doing, always doing."
Sunshine's fiber art will remain on display through June 27. You may visit the gallery free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Montgomery Museum is at 300 Pepper Street.
\ DANCIN' TIME: The Blacksburg Old-Time Music and Dance Group's monthly dance is Saturday at Montgomery County Park's shelter 3.
Be there and be square.
The traditional mountain square dance will be led by caller Ginger Wagner of Blacksburg. Fiddler Tim Meehan and his Old-Time Orchestra will play the toe-tappin' tunes.
The dance is open to beginners. Wagner teaches all the steps while she's calling.
It starts at 8 p.m. at the park on County Road. It's across from Corning Glass Works on U.S. 460 between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Admission is $4.
\ "STRANGE FRUIT": What do Billie Holiday, Walt Whitman and Anne Frank have in common?
They find themselves thrown together with four others in a waiting place. Their destination?
Eternity.
That's the setting for Empty Pockets Production's "Strange Fruit," a dinner theater to benefit a community newsletter, The Bell.
Shows are Monday and Thursday at Blacksburg's South Main Cafe. Tickets for the show are $5. Those coming for dinner receive a 10 percent discount on the meal.
Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. for those attending the show only.
The production features music, poetry and dance by an ensemble made up mostly of Virginia Tech students. It contains some adult themes.
Reservations are required by calling South Main Cafe at 552-3622.
\ HIS HEART'S IN APPALACHIA: Jeff Daniel Marion remembers watching his grandmother make lye soap.
He remembers making fireworks when there was no money to buy them.
The Appalachian poet has recorded his memories in hundreds of poems. All of them tug at the heart.
The author of four books, "Out in the Country Back Home," "Tight Lines," "Vigils" and "Hello, Crow," Marion's poems also have been included in many anthologies.
Marion's most recent book of poetry, "Hello, Crow," was written for children.
Marion will visit Radford University next week for the Appalachian Studies Program's 16th annual Highland Summer Conference. This year's conference focuses on children's literature.
Joining Marion at Radford University is Jo Carson, the Tennessee writer and performer you may have heard on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
Carson has written plays, poems and fiction and is a popular speaker, actress and teacher. Her children's books include "Pulling My Leg" and "You Hold Me and I'll Hold You." Her latest work for kids, "The Great Shaking," will be released soon.
Carson and Marion will give public readings next week in the Highland Room of Radford's Heth Hall.
Carson will read from several of her latest works, including "The Last of the Waltz Across Texas and Other Stories" and "The Bear Facts," on Tuesday.
Marion's reading is set for Thursday.
Both begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Highland Room. Receptions for the authors will follow the readings.
by CNB