The Mountain Heritage Festival is returning to the Historic Mock House in Downtown Blairsville this Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 30 and 31, and organizers promise an expanded experience this year with a greater focus on history and family-friendly activities.
Some vendor space has been sacrificed to allow for two bouncy houses to liven up the event for kids, and while there will be fewer merchants at the Heritage Festival, there will be a greater emphasis on education.
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For example, the local Sons of Confederate Veterans will be there as reenactors along with live demonstrations of blacksmithing, quilting and other historically accurate activities. Children will have opportunities to join in interactive stations like churning and gold panning, and some might be inclined to make their own cornhusk doll.
At least 10 groups are signed up to provide musical entertainment for the weekend, the schedule for which is included at the end of this article. Bands will perform for about 45 minutes each and then rotate out throughout the day.
Reconstruction of the Collins Cabin next to the Mock House is nearing completion, and though the building won’t be ready for tours by the time of the festival, Mountain Life Museum and Mock House Curator Kathleen Cook says it will be open “very soon.”
Instead, the bands will be performing from the front porch of the cabin, and guests are free to look around the outside perimeter.
“We have cleaned the barn, and (visitors) can go in,” noted Cook, adding that the Payne Cabin will also be available for walkthrough tours. Set up with donated antique furniture, it adds another layer of realism to the Heritage Festival by showing what life at home was like for families living in the mountains of yesteryear.
For attendees choosing to stay a while, food will be available on the premises. New this year is the inclusion of Nani’s Restaurant, which serves Cuban, Puerto Rican and other Caribbean fare. Their festival menu will include Cuban sandwiches, taquitos, carnitas and empanadas – including dessert empanadas, filled with guava and cream cheese and topped with powdered sugar.
Cook says the goal of the festival is to preserve local history, aligning with that of the Union County Historical Society. By showing the public what mountain life has looked like through the ages, the bridges between past, present and future may be gapped.
On top of that, there are people who can remember living in those days or otherwise having family who did. Cook said visitors to the Mock House have been moved to tears by the resemblance it holds to a beloved grandparent’s home or indulged in nostalgic memories when homemade butter tastes like an old family recipe.
“I tell people about the old house and what they want to hear in their memory,” admitted Cook. “That old house is a grown man’s childhood.”
The Mountain Heritage Festival will take place solely at the Mountain Life Museum this year on Aug. 30 and 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Entry is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.
As for musical performances, on Saturday, guests can enjoy Greg Smith from 10-10:45 a.m., Wilderness Pickers from 11-11:45 a.m., True Grit Duo from 12-12:45 p.m., Tunnel Rats from 1-1:45 p.m., Mars Hill Porch Pickers from 2-2:45 p.m. and John Cochran from 3-3:45 p.m.
On Sunday, the lineup includes Greg Smith from 10-10:45 a.m., John Cochran from 11-11:45 a.m., True Grit Duo from 12-12:45 p.m., Tunnel Rats from 1-1:45 p.m., Mars Hill Porch Pickers from 2-2:45 p.m., Wilderness Pickers from 3-3:45 p.m. and Light House from 4-4:45 p.m.
