The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History’s 14th Appalachian String Band Music Festival will be held July 30-Aug. 3 at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop. The popular annual gathering of string band musicians and fans, which draws crowds from around the world, features contests, concerts, dancing and workshops.
Daily admission to the festival is $15 for adults and $10 for children under 10 years of age and seniors. Rough camping for the five-day festival is available on a first-come, first-served basis for $35 per person or $75 per family. The rough camping rate includes admission to all activities.
Music contests include banjo and fiddle on Thursday, non-traditional string band on Friday and traditional string band on Saturday. The top five winners in each category will receive prizes ranging from $100 to $700 for bands and $50 to $400 for fiddle and banjo. Senior (age 60 and over) and youth (under 15 years of age) categories in fiddle and banjo also are available, with the top three winners in each receiving awards. The old-time dance contest on Saturday, with prizes ranging from $25 to $75 in three age categories, emphasizes the flat foot style.
Workshops, including beginning old-time square dancing and flat foot dancing, will be offered and are included with festival admission. Nightly square dances in the Great Chestnut Lodge and outdoor concerts on Friday and Saturday evening are additional festival attractions. Highlights for children and families include nature hikes, storytelling, yoga, living history characters, bingo, sing-alongs, basket and toy making, and arts and crafts. Instrument vendors and craft demonstrators will be set up on the grounds. Home-cooked meals, snacks and vegetarian selections also will be available.
A beautiful retreat listed in the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, Camp Washington-Carver serves as the state’s mountain cultural arts center. The facility nurtures the cultural heritage embodied in the site since its dedication in 1942 as a 4-H and agricultural extension camp for West Virginia’s African Americans. The camp is located in Fayette County adjacent to Babcock State Park, just off Rt. 60 (Midland Trail) on Rt. 41.
For more information and a complete schedule of festival events, call (304) 438-3005 or (304) 558-0162 or visit the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org.
The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Visit the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org for more information about programs of the Division. The Department of Arts, Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
- 30 -
Photo Captions:
#6406 - String band musicians and fans from around the world flock to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, which will be held July 30-Aug. 3, 2003, at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, W.Va. The festival is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.
#073 - Nightly square dances are a highlight of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, held annually at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop. The dates for this year's festival, which is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, are July 30-Aug. 3.
Ginny Painter
Director of Public Information
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East
Charleston, WV 25305-0300
Phone (304) 558-0220
Fax (304) 558-2779
ginny.painter@wvculture.org
