Appalachian Festival

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker "African American voices from spirituals to freedom".

Children’s laughter, informative seminars, and great music, are just some of the many sounds that could be herd at the Appalachian Festival this weekend. The festival was a three day event filled with a plethora of activities that many people had a chance to partake in. The atmosphere was real inviting, families gathered, people brought there pets, no one was turn away at any of the free events. Each day in the three day festival consist of different themes. The first day was “Appalachian Adventures: Celebrating the Region’s Entrepreneurial Spirit,” which carried over into the following day. This collection of activities was assembled, so different business could exchange knowledge towards making Frostburg community a much more lucrative community. They also had a talent portion where kids where able to showcase their talent.

Friday night was a film festival held at the historic Palace Theater. The film festivals showed two films “Bonecrusher,” and “Split Estates.” The two films chosen both give an example of the day to day human struggle. Bonecrusher is about an old man who takes pride in his job as miner, but at the same time the job he is taking pride in is also killing him slowly. Split Estates is about how major companies take the land of everyday Americans just to acquire the oil and energy that the land holds.

The final day of the festival was a big festival on the campus of Frostburg State University. Petting zoo, great food, interesting exhibits, and entertaining music performances where all present at the grand finale of the Appalachian Festival. One exhibit that caught the attention of a lot of people was the “Scales and Tales” exhibit. This exhibit showcased different animals that people usually do not get the opportunity to get very close to. For example; the animal handlers introduce several owls to the public, which a nocturnal animal, so it’s a privilege to get up close to such an amazing creature. One of the owl’s had a very interesting story off how they became apart of the Scales and Tales organization. He was found on the side of the road, being pursued by a cat, when a lady and her dog walks up, the lady commanded her dog to chase the cat a way, and then she got the owl the help it needed.

The festival also had a lot of great music acts through out the course of the 3 day celebration. One of the more popular acts was brought to Frostburg by Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, “African Americas Voices from Spirituals to Freedom.” Their musical performance was a display of how Negro spirituals help the progression of the African American race from the humble beginning of the Underground Railroad, until the Civil Rights Movement. Rhonda Rucker had this to say, “A lot of negro spirituals helped African American persevere through a lot of the trying times and tribulation they faced.” Sparky and Rhonda Rucker have been performing for sometime now, Sparky since the early 1970’s and Rhonda Rucker since 1989.

The Appalachian Festival was a treat for everyone who had the privilege to part take in it.

It is sad to see it come to an end, but it is a bitter sweat thing, because who knows what they have in stored for next years?