“Festivals are happy places.”

A festival is an event, celebrated in a town or community, that centers on some aspect of culture. Festivals can be associated with agriculture like an apple festival, linked to area cultural arts or crafts, or linked to a historical event, or commemorating a holiday like a May-Day or a Christmas festival. The history of Festivals dates back to the 14^th or 15^th centuries in time and these celebrations are found in virtually every country of the world. Festivals are often spread over several days and may combine music, entertainment, parades, shows, local arts or crafts, sports or skills demonstrations. They are as varied in kind and characteristic as the cultures they are found in. Today, festivals are often categorized by specific type, such as arts, literary, storytelling, music, reenactment, or historical festivals. Some festivals completely revolve around holidays or religious occasions or around food or drink like Barbeque or Wine Festivals.

As an author I have participated in many different types of festivals—and I’ll be spotlighting some of these festivals we’ve attended in this blog with past photo collages in illustration.  One more unique type of festival, that I have often been a part of as an author, are Literary Festivals and writing conferences or events that spotlight writers, where they sign their books and talk with readers and often speak about their work as well. I’ve attended festivals like these in North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Two examples, you’ll see in illustration, would be the Kentucky Book Festival and the Rose Glen Literary Festival in Sevierville, TN.

My favorite festivals are the Regional Festivals held around the Appalachian and southeast area where I live. These festivals also include juried Arts and Crafts Shows, where participants submit their art or show items to be judged for inclusion. We have attended many of these, like the Home Craft Days Festival in Big Stone Gap, VA, the Foxfire Mountaineer Festival in Clayton, GA, and the Townsend Spring Festival in the Smokies. We also enjoy the annual spring Artisan Market in Lenoir City, TN, sponsored by the Foothills Craft Guild, and full of wonderful fine artists. Many times in past. we have also attended the Wilderness Wildlife Week festival, held in Pigeon Forge every year, where J.L. and I give presentations during the days of the event. This festival, continuing for several days, has vendors, speakers, hikes, and excursions.

Often local and regional festivals extend for several days to a week. One of these longer festivals we’ve been attending for several years is the Great Smoky Mountain Arts & Crafts Community show held in Gatlinburg before the Easter holiday. It is always held in downtown Gatlinburg at the Convention Center. This show is usually three to four days in length and we enjoy meeting people there from all over the U.S., who travel to the Smokies for Spring Break and come to the show to see the crafters and vendors. I’m sure we’ll be at this show again next spring!

As the summertime kicks in, with its warm weather and with children out of school, many festivals are held outside all around the U.S. We can attend only festivals where there is some “indoor” space since we have a multi-book display to protect from the weather. This year we traveled to the Mountain Artisans Summertime Arts and Crafts Show in Cullowhee, North Carolina, for a two-day show and then in July to the annual Grainger County Tomato Festival in Rutledge, Tennessee. We’ve been attending the Tomato Festival for over twelve years now … and it is one that we always enjoy. At the Tomato Festival are vendors, entertainment, artisans, crafters, and vegetable farmers from around the Grainger County area with their wonderful Grainger County Tomatoes the festival is named for.

Coming up for us at the end of August is one of the many historical festivals we love to participate in each year – the Cades Cove Museum Homecoming held on the grounds of the old Thompson-Brown House, built in the 1700s. The old historic house contains the Cades Cove Museum with pioneer relics and furnishings. This event is coming up this month on Saturday, August 26^th, so make plans to stop by if you can! We’ll be on the porch of the old house, like in the picture at the beginning of this blog post. If you’ve missed reading some of our books, we’ll have all of them there with us … and you’ll enjoy visiting with the wonderful vendors, historians, and entertainers at this festival event. You can also have lunch under one of the big shade trees.

In September we’re also privileged to be attending another unique historic festival, the 32^nd Annual Cherokee Festival at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, TN. The museum is just down the street from Fort Loudon State Park. This is a great festival put on by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee who will be at the festival both days with Cherokee arts and crafts, storytelling, dancing, native costumes, and more. You can sample Cherokee food with the many food vendors and learn about Cherokee history in the museum. J.L. and I will be inside the lobby in the museum, next to the gift shop … and, of course, our highlight book for that event will be my new novel SEEKING AYITA set in Cherokee.

Starting in October, J.L. and I have back-to-back signing events every weekend through October, November, and into December, not only in Tennessee, but in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia. Some festivals are still being finalized … but most are already on the Appearances page of my author’s website with specific dates, places, addresses, and times… We’ll be going to Frozen Head State Park’s Heritage Festival October 14^th, to  the Treats, Crafts and Vendor Show in Rock Spring, Georgia, on October 21^st. Later in October, we’ll be attending  the Annual Mountain Makins’ Festival in Morristown, TN, October 28^th and 29^th and participating in the Foothills Craft Guild’s fall show on November 3^rd and 4^th. Note the photo college illustrations are from past events we attended … so be sure to check the dates and times on my website for when these events will occur this year.  What is always fun about all of our fall events is the variety at the festivals … the different crafters, artists, photographers, entertainers, the special activities for the kids, food vendors, and lavish fall decorations.

As November moves in the shows and festivals we attend become more “Holiday-Oriented”  and linked to Christmas themes. We’ll be heading to the Christmas Connection Show in Kingsport the 10^th and 11th of November, and then to the Christmas Bazaar Festival in Corbin KY on November 18^th at the Civic Center Arena. Next, we travel to North Carolina to the Hard Candy Christmas Show at WCU’s Ramsay Center in Cullowhee November 24^th and 25h on the Thanksgiving Weekend, and then to the Women of Service’s annual Christmas Show and festival on November 30^th at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN.  In early December on Saturday Dec 2 and Sunday Dec 3, we’ll have a last holiday festival event at the 7^th Annual Dandridge Christmas Show or Shopping Expo at the Field of Dreams Activity Center – a great time to pick up Christmas gifts! We look forward to see many of you at some of these lovely festivals before we stop for a break for the holidays.

I hope talking about all these festival events in my blog post will encourage you to look for festivals you can attend in your own home area, if you don’t live near us in the Southeast. In most all parts of the U.S. and abroad, there are an abundance of year-round festivals you can visit and enjoy.  Most of the ones we attend are Free to the public or only charge a small entrance fee to help offset parking – and are full of family fun for all ages. Long before we became authors … J.L. and I loved visiting festival events, always offering a great getaway from the house and an entertaining day. Our memories are packed with good remembrances of beautiful crafts, great food, rich entertainment, and the additional joy of meeting new friends along the way.  As for me … “I am going to keep having fun every day I have left, because there is no other way of life. You just have to decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore.” [Randy Pausch]

For ongoing details of all our Festival and other signing Events, check in often at the Appearances Page of my author’s website at: www.linstepp.com/appearances/

See you again in September … LIN

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.