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Schedule

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, September 28, 2024 in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

The festival will run from 10:00am and close at 4:00pm.

General Activities

Festival Activities - Discover all our vendors for this year including the juried arts and crafts show, food vendors, and local non-profit organizations. There are over 150 vendors with thousands of unique items to choose from.

Kids Activities - Family fun for all ages! Take a wagon ride, learn traditional crafts, try your hand at old-time mountain skills, learn new dances and more. Be sure to stop by the Children's Tent for activities.

Cherokee Games - One of the most important elements of Mountain Heritage Day is the influence and culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The annual stickball demonstration is a highly ritualized contest you won't want to miss. 

Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show - They just don't make them like they used to! Showcase your classic automobile (25 years or older) in Mountain Heritage Day's Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show. Visitors can stroll amongst the beautiful machines and cast votes for their favorites.

Music - Bluegrass, Acoustic, Old-Time, Roots, Country, Mountain Swing, and Gospel, just to name a few. With two stages and dozens of performers, you'll want to dance the day away.

5K Race - The 5k Race is organized and hosted by the students at Western Carolina University Sport Management program. The money that is raised will go to help fund the Sport Management Association Scholarship.

McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition - Try your hand at this activity! The competition will be carried out in four categories: Homeowner, Box Stock, Stock Appearing, and Open.  There will be ten classes of saws:

  1. Class “E”
  2. Class “D”
  3. Class “C”
  4. Class “B”
  5. Class “A”
  6. Class “AA”
  7. “Hot Saw”
  8. AA Modified Motorcycle Parts 
  9. Cross Cut Saw (two person teams)
  10. One-man Bucking Saw 

There is a fee for each entry and must be 18 years or older to enter.  
rules and Registration

Chainsaw Carving Demonstration - 1:00 PM immediately following the McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition in the same location.  (Not part of the McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition)

Mountain Heritage Skills, Crafts and Historical Demonstrations

  • Jim Boardwine, Salt Making
  • Nathan Bush, Copper Smithing
  • Nate Darnell, Tractor Rides
  • Kevin Fountain, Hit and Miss Engines
  • Louise Goings, Cherokee Basket Weaving
  • Butch Goings, Cherokee Wood Carving
  • George Edward Goings, Flint Knapping
  • David Russell, Cornshuck Chair Caning
  • Matthew Shirey, Blacksmithing
  • Dede Styles, Natural Dying
  • Richard Tichich, Quilting
  • James JR Wolfe, Copper Smithing
  • Nathan Woods, Horse & Mule teams

Stages, Tents & Stickball

Ingles’s Blue Ridge Stage

Running Cedar Springs Children's Stage

Jackson County Tourism Balsam Circle Tent

Shape Note Tent

First Bank Stickball Field

McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition

Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show


Ingles’s Blue Ridge Stage

dancing in front of stage

10:00 am: Buncombe Turnpike

10:45 am: Whitewater Bluegrass Co. with Bailey Mountain Cloggers

12:00 pm: Mountain Heritage Awards presentation

12:30 pm: Tried Stone Missionary Baptist Choir

1:30 pm: Cherokee Dance with JR Wolfe

2:00 pm: Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper with Bailey Mountain Cloggers

3:15 pm: Let’s Try Clogging with Simone Pace

3:45 pm: Bluegrass Allstars with J-Creek Cloggers


Running Cedar Springs Children's Stage

Performer playing guitar at Mountain Heritage Day

10:00 am: Deitz Family

10:30 am: Blue Ridge JAM program

11:00 am: Jackson County 4-H Livestock Club

11:30 am: Tom Godleski, storytelling

12:00 pm: Jubilee Mountain Cloggers

12:30 pm: Phil and Gaye Johnson

1:15 pm: Dustin Tramper, Cherokee Storytelling

2:00 pm: Simone Pace and J-Creek Cloggers, clogging demonstration

2:30 pm: Ashton Woody tells Jack Tales


Jackson County Tourism Balsam Circle Tent

Child playing guitar

10:00 am: Jean Dowell with Mike Oberst

10:45 am: Haywood Ramblers

11:30 am: Fiddle Circle with Michael Cleveland, Crystal Deitz, Don Lewis, and William Ritter

12:30 pm: Deitz Family

1:15 pm: Sparky and Rhonda Rucker

2:15 pm: Music makes Community Circle with Phil and Gaye Johnson, Darren Nicholson, Travis Stuart, Jeanette Schrock and Uncle Ted White

3:15 pm: Dustin Tramper, Cherokee stories


Shape Note Tent

Shape Note tent performance

10:00 am: Sacred Harp Singing

12:00 pm: Ballad Circle

1:00 pm: Christian Harmony Singing

3:00 pm: Cherokee Language Choir


First Bank Stickball Field

Members of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians playing stickball.

11:00 am: Birdtown Stickball Team

2:00 pm: Big Cove Youth Stickball Team

3:00 pm: Atlatl and Black Powder Rifle demonstration


McNeely’s Chainsaw Competition

chainsaw competition

9:00 am: On-site registration

10:00 am: Competition Beings


Andy Shaw Ford Classic Car Show

Car show

9:00-10:00 am: Registration

2:00 pm: Awards Announced

 


Schedule is subject to change.

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