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HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND AMERICA:

 

Here are some of this month's (October) highlights (Please verify before heading out - most events are "on" but it is wise to double-check):

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Jonesboro, Tennessee is the state's oldest community. The first weekend in October it becomes the host of the premier event in storytelling - the National Storytelling Festival, October 7-9. This three day event showcases storytellers, stories and traditions from across the country and around the world. Info: (800) 525-4514.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) October is time for Oktoberfest. This fall traditional celebration of German culture may be found in a number of places around America:

Hermann, MO - Oct. 8-9;15-16; 22-23;29-30; St. Charles, MO - Oct. 8-9; Seymour, Indiana - Oct. 7-9-(812) 523-1414; Fredericksburg, TX; (830) 997-4810.
 
 Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) It's apple harvest time. In Gettysburg, PA they're staging the annual Apple Harvest Festival, October 7-8. The event includes tours of orchards, apple-butter boiling and an antique cider press. Info: (717) 334-6274...Nearby at Franklin, PA, the Applesfest is held on October 7-9. It features over 350 arts and crafts vendors and all kinds of apple deserts. Info: (888) 547-2377......In Weston, MO the Applefest, October 7-8, you can process apple cider and learn to make apple butter. Info: (816) 640-2909....And in Coshocton, Ohio on October 21-23 it's the annual Apple Butter Stirrin' Festival at Historic Roscoe Village. This event, over 40 years old, features pie-baking, hog-calling,. corn-husking and spelling bee contests as well as apple stirring and other traditional fall harvest activities. Info: (800) 877-1830.

 Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Apples are not the only harvest food of the season. There are a couple of communities that are serving up seafood this month as well. For example, the North Carolina Seafood Festival offers up seafood ranging from Down East chowder to sea urchin on a stick. There is also live entertainment and more. Info: (252) 726-6273....Bridge City, LA celebrates its annual Gumbo Day, October 14-16. This event promotes Cajun-French culture and features continuous Cajun entertainment, as well as gumbo for all comers. There is also a gumbo cooking contest. Info: (504) 436-4172....Going back to chowder, closer to its New England home can be found a Chowderfest to be held at the Mystic Seaport on October 7-9. Info: (860) 572-5315 or (888) 9SEAPORT.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) The harvest on Nantucket Island is over cranberries at the Cranberry Harvest Weekend, October 14-16. There are tours of the bogs, cooking contests, a marketplace, crafts, and great ambiance and scenery. Info: (508) 228-1700.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Harvest as it was in days gone by will be marked at Conner Prairie's Agricultural Fair Weekend, Fishers, IN - October 7-9. Visitors will experience farming from the 1800's to today. Festivities offer exhibits of heirloom vegetables and flowers, livestock and textiles, hands-on activities and demonstrations. Visitors may observe, take part or just reminisce about various aspects of historic and modern farming. Info: (317) 776-6000.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Fall in Springs, Pennsylvania means the Springs Folk Festival, October 7-8. Over 140 craftspersons bring life to times past as they recreate work skills of earlier times. There are hayrides for kids, as well as entertainment, and a highlight - Pennsylvania Dutch foods such as sausage dinners and funnel cakes. Info: (814) 662-2051 or (814) 662-4158.

 Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) The South is famous for its Spring Pilgrimages in which private properties and their interiors are opened to the public. But there are Fall Pilgrimages as well. .One example is the Natchitoches Pilgrimage, October 10-November 5. Here one can tour homes in the National Historic Landmark District and plantation homes in Cane River country. A highlight is a Saturday night candlelight tour. Info: (318) 352-8072 or (800) 259-1714.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) In Virginia, the annual SmithMountain Lake Charity Home Tour features 10 lake homes with special architecture, unique interior decorating, unusual collexctibles, and interesting landscape design - the only tour of its kind because each home is accessible by car or boat. Info:(540) 297-TOUR

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Southern grounds tours are also featured in Beaufort, South Carolina at the Fall Festival of Houses and History, October 28-30 in historic Beaufort. There are Saturday tours, a candlelight tours and an event called Kitchens & Cuisine where local chefs create regional specialties in local kitchens in the Newpoint and Spanish Point neighborhoods. Info: (843) 524-6334.

 Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) The fall classic to most means baseball's World Series. This month is also the fall classic for the world of wristwrestling. October 15 in Petaluma, California marks the World Wristwrestling Championships. This nationally recognized event brings together more than 500 entrants who vie for title of the top wristwrestler Info: (770) 778-1430.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) A fall classic in the world of teddy bear collectors takes place at the Great American Teddy Bear Jamboree Show and Sale, October 14-15 at Bristol, CT. This event brings together teddy bear lovers, collectors and others to view bears -old and new. There is a teddy bear hospital and other teddy bear related activities. Info: (860) 583-2562.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) In Hannibal, Missouri October means the annual Folklife festival, October 13-14. This 25th annual event features original folk arts, crafts, music food and performing arts of the mid to late 1800's. Info: (573) 221-6545.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) A highlight in the Pine Barrens Region of New Jersey is the annual Pine Barren's Jamboree or October 15 at Wells Mill County Park in Waretown. This all-day event features a live stage of musicians from the nearby Albert Music Hall playing country, bluegrass and traditional music. There is also tree climbing, demonstrations and other wood activities, regional foods, children's games, canoe rides and more. Info: (609) 971-3085.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Also in New Jersey, the Lighthouse Festival, October 15-16. Sponsored by the NJ Lighthouse Society, all 11 of the state's lighthouses are open for visits and tours. They range from Sandy Hook in the northeast down through Sea Girt, Long Beach Island, Atlantic City, Cape May and up[ along ythe Delaware River to Finn's Point and Tinicum. For a complete list and further details, contact: (973) 328-3615.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) You can learn how ancestors prepared and preserved apple butter, dried fruits, and eggs in the 19th century at the Harvest Days at the Landis Valley Museum in Pennsylvania, October 8-9. There's Pennsylvamnia Dutch foods, crafts and blackismith demonstrations. Info: (717) 569-0402.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) A unique seasonal event is unique for its very name. Neewollah is Halloween spelled backwards. That's what they call the Halloween event in Independence, Kansas. Activities there include a Broadway music presentation, carnival, street acts, parade and lots of shirts and stuff with Halloween misspelled. Info: (800) 882-3606.

Blue Arrow.gif (140 bytes) Finally, The Museum of Appalachia's Tennesee Fall Homecoming has been called the most extensive and authenticgathering of old-time musicians, pioneer-type craftspeople and folk artists in the country. It features over 250 musicians and hundreds more carftspersons. It takes place October 13-15 in Norris, Tennessee; Info: (865) 494-7680.

See you in November !