Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017 - 33

Mile High Kite Festival

Festival, held July 15-16, with live
music, demonstrations and food
(butternutcreekfestival.com).
The
FunFest of Kingsport, Tennessee,
on July 14-22, in turn, focuses on
outdoor outings as well as music
and food (funfest.net).
Look for the Georgia Mountain Moonshine Cruzin, July 1315, and the Georgia Mountain
Fair, July 21-29, at the Georgia
Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee
(706-896-4191).
Be sure to pick Blackberry Delight for your activities on July 22.
This Shenandoah National Park festival at Skyland celebrates the sweettart fruit by sharing locally harvested blackberries that are turned
into dishes when combined with
chicken, pork, lemonade and cobbler (goshenandoah.com). And go "Be
a Pepper" at the annual Dr Pepper
Rural Retreat Heritage Day
on July 29 (276-686-4221), just off
I-81's Exit 60 in the rail-side farming community of Rural Retreat,
Virginia.
Along the Blue Ridge Parkway,
perk up your ears for one of the biggest musical parties of the year at
FloydFest, near Milepost 170.5, in
southwest Virginia. This year's celebration features bands like Railroad

Earth and Leftover Salmon on July
26-30 (floydfest.com).
The Blowing Rock Art & Antique Show in North Carolina
includes heirloom-quality furniture, pottery, clocks and crystal on
July 28-30 (blowingrockmuseum.org)
while the long-running Virginia
Highlands Festival in Abingdon,
on July 28-Aug. 6, mixes antiques
and art, hiking and biking (vahigh
landsfestival.org). But, wait-do you
want to just cruise and look for bargains? Then follow U.S. 21 south
of Wytheville, Virginia, to Harmony, North Carolina, for the Route
21 Yard Sale on July 28-30 (take
abreakfromtheinterstate.com).

AUGUST
Steppin' Out runs Aug. 4-5 in
Blacksburg, Virginia with pedestrians browsing crafts and dancing to
music
(blacksburgsteppinout.com).
Also, on Aug. 4-5, you can find the
Mount Mitchell Crafts Fair in
Burnsville, North Carolina -with
more than 200 craftsmen, artists
and vendors at the historic town
square (yanceychamber.com). Another option on that weekend: Dillard

TODD BUSH

Mount Mitchell Crafts Fair

BBQ & Bluegrass in Dillard, Georgia (explorerabun.com).
Want more shopping? Well, if
you loved the Route 21 sale in July,
then get set for the World's Longest Yard Sale or "Highway 127
Sale" on Aug. 3-6 with its epicenter
at Fentress County, Tennessee (931879-9948) along U.S. 127.
Turn the page and try the Lewisburg Literary Festival in West
Virginia on Aug. 4-5, featuring visiting authors, outdoor art, musical entertainment, children's story
time and performance art. Also in
the Mountain State: the multi-day
State Fair of West Virginia near
Lewisburg runs Aug. 10-19 at Fairlea, with rides and entertainment
(statefairwv.com).
March/April 2017 33

http://www.floydfest.com http://www.butternutcreekfestival.com http://www.funfest.net http://www.blowingrockmuseum.org http://www.landsfestival.org http://www.explorerabun.com http://www.abreakfromtheinterstate.com http://www.goshenandoah.com http://www.blacksburgsteppinout.com http://www.yanceychamber.com http://www.statefairwv.com

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017