While the pandemic has kept people at home, the Heritage Festival Committee has been busy planning the 16th Annual Union County Heritage Festival.
October 3, 2020, is the date to circle on the calendar.
At Wilson Park, over 100 vendors competed for various booth awards at the 2019 Union County Heritage Festival last Saturday. A&B Bookkeeping & Tax Service claimed The Rocky Top award for the best portrayal of the festival theme. The Best Heritage Award for the best example of Union County history portrayed in a craft went to Martin Shafer for making maul handles on an Ole' Time Hit 'n Miss Engine & Lathe. Ralph Webster of Webster's Woodcrafts won Best Unique Craft Item for his handmade Black Walnut Bowl.
There was “More Fiddlin' Around” as fiddle lovers of all ages welcomed competitors in Union County Heritage Festival's Second Annual Fiddle Contest on Saturday, October 5, 2019. Amateur fiddlers took the stage and performed their best renditions of some fiddle favorites. While the judges were wrestling with very difficult decisions, all of the fiddle participants and several of the guitar, string bass, and mandolin players leaped to the stage to entertain the crowd with an impromptu performance of several popular fiddle tunes.
The Union County Historical Society sponsored the Heritage Festival Quilt Show at the Union County Museum & Genealogical Library. More than thirty quilts lined the museum balcony. Ellen Perry and Patricia Campbell coordinated the event.
Connie Johnsey won Best of Show for her quilt entitled “Harvest Spice”. Best Heritage Quilt was Kim Beeler's “Diary Quilt” that reflected memories of loved ones that "walk beside us every day".
Other awards included the following:
The 15th Annual Union County Heritage Festival offers a multitude of ways to just do more fiddlin' around on Saturday, October 5. With three venues and three music stages, there will be sights, sounds, and activities for all ages.
The Union County Heritage Festival Fine Arts Show has added a category for photographic entries, and the UCHF Student Art Show will accept photographs.
Participants will be able to enter an original photograph pertaining to the Union County area or best exemplifying the festival theme: ”More Fiddlin' Around."
The show is a juried mixed-media exhibition open to artists 18 years of age and above and is held at the Snodderly House on Main Street in Maynardville.
The 15th Annual Union County Heritage Festival will offer several opportunities to showcase your creativity in various shows and contests.
The second Union County Heritage Festival Amateur Fiddle Contest will be on Festival Day, Saturday, October 5, 2019. Winners receive cash prizes of 1st -$300, 2nd - $200, and 3rd -$100 from an Arts Grant through the East Tennessee Foundation. There is no entry fee. Registration is on site from 10:00am to 12:45pm at the State Farm Tent. Contestants begin performing at 1:00pm on the Front Porch Stage.
One hundred ten Luttrell Elementary third, fourth, and fifth graders are learning the basics of fiddle playing along with classical violin techniques under the direction of their music teacher, Ms. Jennifer Fields.
We are all unique with the capacity for creativity and artistic expression. Through purposeful creation we form physical manifestations of our uniqueness. Of course, there is not simply just one correct way to do anything and with that idea we find that there is infinite strength in individualism. What one person may envision and create given a blank canvas can be, and often is, vastly different from another person's creation. That was greatly displayed at the Union County Heritage Festival's Art Show on Saturday, October 6, 2018.
The 14th Annual Union County Heritage Festival is loaded with ways to fiddle around on Saturday, October 6. With three venues and three music stages, there are sights, sounds, and activities for all ages. The 2018 Festival kicks off a two year tribute to Roy Acuff, Maynardville native and country music legend, who was hailed as the King of Country Music. The theme of Fiddlin’ Around reminds us of the importance of leisure time as well as Acuff’s favorite instrument.