Townsend Tennessee News From the Valley Voice

Covering to News from Townsend to Walland

This Week in The News...

• Townsend Fall Festival: A Step Back in Time for the Whole Family
  Experience Appalachian culture through music, fun, and entertainment
  
  TOWNSEND, Tenn.-If bluegrass music makes you tap your feet, storytelling legends captivate your mind, or southern style cooking makes your mouth water, the 16th annual Townsend Fall Heritage Festival and Old Timers Day offers these treats and much more. On September 26-27, 2008, thousands of people will gather at the Townsend Visitors Center to take a step back in time and enjoy a variety of bluegrass bands, storytellers, arts and crafts booths, Appalachian traditions and children's activities.
  The two-day festival takes place from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (exhibit room: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for crafts) on Friday and Saturday, and admission is free. Voted several times as one of the top 20 events in the Southeast, the festival celebrates Southern Appalachian Mountain culture and heritage.
  "Every year it is exciting to see the families that come to the festival, not knowing what to expect, and they learn about Appalachian traditions, have the opportunity to hear some of the best bluegrass music around, eat delicious food and enjoy the beauty of the Smoky Mountains," said Herb Handly, executive vice president of tourism for the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau (SMCVB). "It's a wonderful way for us to carry on traditions and share our mountain culture with visitors and locals alike."
  The heart and soul of the festival is music, and more than 20 bluegrass bands perform on the pavilion stage and side porches in the Townsend Visitors Center. Around 200 additional musicians can be found entertaining visitors on the festival grounds.
  Activities during the festival include Appalachian displays such as herbal harvest, antique tractors and engines, and Cades Cove Preservation Association exhibits; as well as beekeeping, and blacksmithing. Also included, are demonstrations of mountain berry baskets, lye soap, sorghum molasses and apple butter.
  Additionally, visitors can experience arts and crafts displays in the Exhibit Room of the Visitors Center. Skilled artisans will be doing rug hooking, quilting, weaving, charcoal and pencil work, basketry and woodcarving. More than 30 arts and crafts booths will also be set up along the bike trail, offering unique items and souvenirs to take home.
  The festival also has fun, cultural and educational entertainment planned for children and families on Saturday morning from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., including visits and activities with musicians, storytellers, potters, and animals. Children will be invited to engage in songs and tunes with Park Ranger Lisa Free, Robin Goddard will lead a spelling bee, Carol Ware will help them make pots, Sherry Liles will introduce them to her llamas, and the program will conclude with a haywagon trip to the Little River Railroad Museum.
  For those who want to take an oral journey through the mountains and its past, storytellers such as Dwight McCarter, Lendel Abbott, Robin Goddard and special guest Jimmy Claborn, will share tales of Appalachian culture to entertain visitors from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Additionally, two featured authors, Bill Lea, photographer of "Cades Cove: Window to a Secret World," and Sam Venable, author of "Mountain Hands: A Portrait of Southern Appalachia," will have books signings during the festival and be on-hand to discuss their works.
  "Storytelling is a great time for children to expand their imagination and learn about the traditions and cultures of those who came before us," said Handly.
  "Meet the Llamas" will be a new program at this year's festival. The llamas will be visiting the festival on Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Liles Acres Organic Farm will be providing the llamas along with fascinating demonstrations on how to spin their wool into yarn.
  This year's festival will also feature a "parade of power," with its antique tractor and engine show from the Foothills Tractor Club, and sponsored by Foothills Farmers Co-op. And, the cake walks and bake sale will raise money for the Hearts and Hands Scholarship fund.
  This year, the festival will be an "Earth Friendly" event, and with the help of Keep Blount Beautiful and Spectra, Inc., the Visitors Center will have recycling for plastic and aluminum waste, with proceeds also benefiting Hearts and Hands Scholarship Fund.
  "Our events in Townsend are all centered around sustainable tourism and preserving our heritage, so we are doing our best to make sure our events have a low impact on the environment to help ensure the beauty of our mountains will remain that way," said Handly.
  The festival is hosted by the Smoky Mountain Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Blount County Partnership. Sponsors include Knoxville Coca Cola, Great Smoky Mountains Association, 'Bear'ly Rustic Cabin Rentals, Dogwood Reality, L.L.C., Little River Realty, Parkside Realty Services, Big Meadow Campground, Econo Lodge, Tennessee Real Estate/Kinzel Springs, Townsend Shopping Center, Townsend IGA, The Carriage House, Wood-N-Strings Dulcimers, Woodland Homes, Citizens Bank of Blount County, Hideaway Cottages, Foothills Farmers Co-Op, BankEast, WIVK-FM Radio Station, WBIR-TV Channel 10, and The Daily Times.
  The festival takes place on the grounds of the Townsend Visitors Center, located 7906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, in Townsend, Tenn. The festival showcases mountain culture and has been named one of the Southeast Tourism Society's top 20 fall events. Admission to the festival is free. For more information on the Townsend Fall Heritage Festival, including updates on the schedule, please call the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitor's Bureau at 1-800-525-6834 or (865) 448-6134 or visit www.smokymountains.org.
• Brook Trout Restoration Project in Tremont Area
  
  Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have announced the closure of several streams in the Tremont area of Blount County, Tenn., starting at 8 p.m. September 7-September 19, 2008, to public use for the purpose of conducting native, Southern Appalachian Brook Trout restoration. Park biologists will use Antimycin A, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved compound which acts as a fish toxicant, to remove the non-native rainbow trout on an 8-mile segment of Lynn Camp Prong, a half-mile section of Indian Flats Prong, and Marks Creek, all tributaries of the Middle Prong of the Little River.
  The affected streams will be closed to all water-related recreation during the 2- week operational period. Park visitors are prohibited from entering the closed areas to minimize interference with the project and eliminate direct exposure to this chemical while it is being applied which potentially can cause irritation to the eyes and nostrils. In addition, backcountry campsite 28 will be closed for the first week, September 7-13. While the Middle Prong Trail and other trails in this area will remain open, hikers should be aware that project personnel will be using all terrain vehicles on the trails to aid in the operation.
  After the antimycin treatment, a second chemical (potassium permanganate) will be added to neutralize the antimycin. A substantial body of research has shown that, even without the "antidote" chemical, antimycin is quickly broken down into inert chemicals as it washes downstream, posing no threat to human health or other animals.
  Following the initial treatment phase and analysis, approximately 1,000 native brook trout will be collected from streams across the park and released in the renovated streams. The reintroduced brook trout population will be monitored annually. The treated sections will remain closed to angling for several years during the recovery process so brook trout populations can thrive without fishing pressure. Once the population has stabilized, the stream will be opened to recreational fishing.
  Park Fisheries Biologist, Steve Moore explained, "The only other fish species located here besides the nonnative rainbow trout is the native black nose dace. We will use a backpacking electrofishing technique to capture and relocate this species temporarily to holding tanks in a nearby stream before applying the chemical. Then the fish will be returned to its original habitat. This chemical will not harm crayfish and salamanders, nor will it eliminate all aquatic insects. Insects will begin repopulating the area in 1-2 weeks so that food for young fish will be plentiful by next spring.
  Moore continued, "We have conducted similar brook trout restorations using the same chemical on three other streams, nearby Sams Creek and a portion of Indian Flats Creek in Tenn., and Bear Creek in N.C., which have natural barriers, such as waterfalls that prevent nonnative trout species from returning. Follow-up research has shown this to be an effective means of re-establishing displaced native brook trout populations which historically has lost 75 percent of its range. The park has had an active brook trout restoration program since 1987 and we have made great headway in our restoration program. Due to 30 years of extensive brook trout restoration efforts and decades of research and analysis, the park opened brook trout fishing on a permanent basis in 2007."
  An Environmental Assessement was prepared and approved in 2000 for the restoration of 6 stream segments within the park. Funding for the restoration project has come from various partnerships and private sources including Trout Unlimited and its Little River Chapter, Friends of the Smokies, Trout and Salmon Foundation, Federation of Fly Fishers, Wal-Mart, Orvis, and Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture whose mission is to preserve and restore native brook trout to its native range.