Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995                   TAG: 9511100033
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

WORKSHOPS ADD A NEW WRINKLE TO VA. TECH YMCA CRAFTS FAIR

Herbalist Harvey Christie will share tips on Christmas decorations you can cook - and eat - later.

Christie, a Monroe County, W.Va., native, will show how to make rosemary kissing balls that can be used in place of mistletoe until you stuff the turkey with them. "The rosemary gives the bird a great flavor," Christie says. "The apple base keeps him tender."

Christie also will introduce basting bouquets that serve as both table decorations and condiments. Advice on herbal gifts and growing herbs indoors will be offered, and you can sample a ham prepared with Christie's rosemary-peach preserves.

Christie's "Cooking with Herbs for Christmas" workshop is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday at Virginia Tech's Squires Student Center.

John Huron will explain and demonstrate the "banjer," the mouth bow, and other African-influenced Appalachian instruments he crafts. Huron comes from Bristol, Tenn., and has sold his gourd banjos to Old Salem and the Williamsburg Foundation, but he's best known for the music made by his dulcimers and bird's-nest banjos.

"African Influences on Appalachian Music" with Huron will be in Squires at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Other workshops will be "Creating Bonsai" with Jerry Pike, a local bonsai artist and merchant, at 2 p.m. today, and "A Harp Primer" with John Kovac, a harp maker from Front Royal, at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Local photographer David Hedges of Hedges Limited Editions will feature his photographs all weekend at the fair. Prints will be for sale. "They're mostly natural-type scenes from the New River Valley" said Hedges, who has lived in Blacksburg for the past 12 years.

Musical entertainment at the fair will run from noon until 6 p.m. Folk, bluegrass, Celtic music, bagpipes, barbershop and madrigal singers, as well as performances by cloggers and modern dancers, will be featured today and Saturday.

A special addition to the fair this year will be an afternoon British tea served by members of the YMCA international community. Exotic teas, pastries, fancy sandwiches and other goodies will be served from 2-4 p.m. Sunday in Squires 116.

The event will support the YMCA sewing project for impoverished women in the African island nation of Sao Tome.