In 1928, Bascom Lamar Lunsford turned his vast knowledge of traditional music and his organizational skills to the creation of a local music festival. The Asheville Chamber of Commerce had long sponsored an annual Rhododendron Festival, highlighting mountain arts and crafts. Lunsford developed music and dance to accompany the celebration and thus gave birth to the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, now the nation’s oldest folk festival. The festival has a long tradition of promoting local musicians and dancers. Many credit it with the creation of the popular clog dance teams. In the 1970s, the festival spawned the Shindig on the Green, held on Saturday evenings during the summer on Pack Square in Asheville. The festival is held the first weekend in August.
Multimedia:
Below is the Digital Heritage Moment as broadcast on the radio:
[audio:http://dh.wcu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/MtnFolkDance60Mx.mp3|titles=MtnFolkDance60Mx]
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