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The Fourth Annual Harvest Boone Festival Held Sept. 25-28 to Benefit the Hunger and Health Coalition

By Madison Fisler Lewis

Sept. 23, 2014. The fourth annual Harvest Boone Festival will be held Sept. 25-28 at the High Country Fairgrounds. The event will collect food for the Hunger and Health Coalition to add to the seven tons of food raised for the organization so far in the years since the event’s inception.

imgres110Harvest Boone is the sister festival to the Boone in Blossom Festival, another community outreach festival that strives to build and support local businesses in the High Country.

The annual festival includes great live music, workshops, performances and camping all weekend long at the High Country Fairgrounds.

The festival got its start years ago when a yoga student decided to throw a festival for a project.

“Four years ago I was in yoga teacher training and we had to do a Karma Crew project,” said founder Jeremiah Brown. “It was a service project, and I decided to throw a festival. The first one went really well and we had a lot of yoga and music and other workshops and we got really positive feedback, so we decided to do another one. This is the eighth one, including Boone in Blossom, that we have done so far and it just keeps growing.”

Aside from a fun weekend, the festival also serves to collect food to help support local causes.

“We like the idea of people using canned goods as their admission cost,” Brown said. “People can see directly where their contribution is going and the Hunger and Health Coalition reaches out to those in need in our community. It is a direct sharing of resources. We try to make it so this is a true community festival, so we have also done fundraisers for Farm Cafe and a Waterfall Cleanup for entry into the festival. We want it to do as much good as possible.”

Harvest Boone includes plenty of workshops for guests to enjoy. At this event, there really is something for everyone. This year’s workshops include yoga, parades, cooking workshops, poetry, permaculture, liquid fermentation, flow arts and much more.

“This is so much more than a music festival,” Brown said. “We have workshops, ten yoga classes, classes on different things that people in the community want to share. Vending is free with the cost of admission, so anyone who wants to sell anything is welcome to sell and trade.”

Performance acts will include acro-yoga, African Drum and Dance courtesy of AfroLachian, Inspiral Fire Troupe and the High Country Poetry Society.

Live music and performances will take the stage all day long during all three days of the festival. Enjoy acts like Free the Optimus, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, OneTrackMind, Spice Creek Ramblers, Dr. Bacon, Nomadic and Demon Bow just to name a few! For a full list of the performance lineup and the performance schedule, visit the website here.

“We are really trying to stress that this is a family event,” Brown said. “We have great kids activities and Elkland Art Center is doing a costume parade. We want to emphasize that this is not a college party, it is a family festival where everyone can have fun.”

This year, there will be no dogs allowed at the event. There will also be no glass bottles allowed at the venue, and the event is BYOB. Also, feel free to bring a dish to share for the potluck dinner on Friday evening.

Camping for the event is encouraged and is completely free. Attendees should bring their own tents, sleeping bags and blankets as well as all the gear they will need for the three-day festival.

Admission options for the festival are almost as varied as the performance lineup. The options are as follows:

  • Bring $15 and 15 non-perishable food items to the venue
  • Pay $30 cash at the gate
  • Volunteer four hours of time at the festival (contact gativisions@gmail.com)
  • Day passes are available for $15 per day

“This is a true community building event,” Brown said. “It is a true entertainment experience. You will hear poetry, you will see acrobatic performances, you will see people painting live on stage with the bands and then there is all of the community art. It is an intentional gathering and not so much a party. It is a great festival and we encourage everyone to come out.”

For more information about the festival, click here.