STEWART, Ohio — Apple butter, quilting and more will be coming together this October to embrace local traditions.
Living Traditions, an event series focused on local traditions and history, will be return to Athens County noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Federal Valley Resource Center, 20853 School Road, Stewart.
“The main mission of Living Traditions is to make sure that we’re preserving, uplifting, and creating a strong fabric network to support cultural bearers and practitioners of living traditions,” Living Traditions event organizer Talcon Quinn said.
The event is free to the public and will feature artisans, kids’ activities, and local musicians including Mr. Steve, Hilarie Burhans & Emily Burhans Singer and Mill Creek Mile.
The event also will provide a view into history with tours at the Tablertown People of Color Museum, “From Field to Wheel: Processing Plant Fibers into String” with Isaac Coblentz, improvisational quilting with Nicole Musgrave, cannabis pruning and cloning demonstration with the Cannabis Museum, and more.
Nicole Musgrave said these traditions have stood against time for a reason and there is nothing like the community aspect of the event.
“Even if you don’t practice any of these traditions and don’t plan to, it’s really incredible the kinds of conversations that can happen around a bubbling pot of apple butter or when you’re turning hemp into paper,” Musgrave said.
Little Cities of Black Diamonds’ Eco-Heritage Corridor is a partner in the event to generate tourism through folk art events, said Kellye Blosser, Little Cities of Black Diamonds vice president.
Blosser said it is important to the Little Cities of Black Diamonds to support locally based economic development in the region.
“Just as a lot of stories are passed through oral history, a lot of heritage is passed through practice, from person to person,” Blosser said. “Living Traditions is recognizing the value of that process and creating economic frameworks that make the process sustainable. They’re making it possible for people to earn income while passing down their heritage.”
The event is funded by Mid-Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachian Living Traditions program, which serves counties of Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic Arts website says this program works on multiple levels to invest back into communities and the art that lives through their traditions.
For more information regarding this year’s Living Traditions event, visit the Living Traditions Facebook page.
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