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Contact: Effie Houston, 423-569-9778 Contact: Dave Carney, 423-569-9778 In conjunction with National Park Week, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area will host the Thirteenth Annual Spring Planting Day Celebration on Saturday, April 26, 2014. The event will take place in the areas adjacent to the Bandy Creek Visitor Center and the Lora Blevins home place from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Prospective Junior Rangers will be able to earn a Junior Ranger patch and badge at Spring Planting Day which also coincides with National Park Week and National Junior Ranger Day. In order to preserve the historic landscape of the homestead, portions of the festival will be held at the Bandy Creek Visitor Center, while other activities will take place at the Lora Blevins homestead. Visitors may park in the lot across from the Bandy Creek Visitor Center. Transportation to the Lora Blevins homestead will be available. Bring a picnic lunch and plan on spending the day.Food and cold drinks will also be available for sale through onsite food vendors. Demonstrations at Bandy Creek will include such activities as old timey toys, quilting, flint knapping, woodcarving, soap making, basket weaving, hand spinning yarn and old fashioned embroidery. Demonstrations scheduled for the Blevins farmstead include blacksmithing, plowing with mule and horse teams, planting sorghum seed, and making wooden farming implements. Other displays at the farm include herbs and their uses and historic photographs of people who once lived in Big South Fork. Visitors will have an opportunity to see a bit of an earlier way of life when people depended on the land for their survival.Park rangers will be presenting interpretive talks scheduled throughout the day. The Spring Planting Festival began in April of 2001 as a celebration of spring and as a way to involve local communities and park neighbors. Over the years the event has become somewhat of a homecoming for area residents. The event is free of charge and open to the public; however, the festival may be cancelled in the event of inclement weather. For more information, call Bandy Creek Visitor Center at (423) 286-7275 or visit the website at www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/springplanting.htm. |
Last updated: April 14, 2015