A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, plus jazz, bluegrass, folk and more will be featured at the 2013 Old Oak Festival at Tusculum College, set for April 19-21.
The arts and music festival will span three days and will feature something for everyone, including music, art, theater and creative writing, as well as gallery and museum exhibits on the Tusculum College campus.
“On stage, the festival will present the sounds of the region with a wide variety of music from bluegrass to jazz to regional and local vocalists and musicians,” said Susan D. Crum, associate vice president for institutional advancement and coordinator of the event. Music will include bluegrass, rock, gospel, jazz, folk, contemporary Christian and acoustic performances.
Scheduled bands include local favorites the Threetles, a Beatles tribute band, Tusculum College rock band Original Copy and Jimmy D, playing blues, straight up. Also in the lineup are soul and R&B group the Scat Cats and Bootleg Turn, playing their version of hillbilly rock. The Tusculum College Jazz Band will take the stage, as will the Stoney Creek Cloggers and protégé fiddler Carson Peters.
A new addition this year is Shiloh, a group of Tusculum College alumni who played on campus during 1970s. The group will play primarily rock music and include Herb Rupert, George “Shadow” Winterbauer, Wayne Hensley and Steve Swicker, who each still play professionally, only not as a group. This is a reunion appearance for the band at their alma mater.
Sunday will feature a variety of Christian music, including Strong Ties, a blue grass gospel group, The Foundations and the Dugger Band.
Many other groups and individual artists are set to perform throughout the weekend at a variety of venues. For a full music schedule, visit www.oldoakfestival.org.
For the younger crowd, there will be two nights of dancing. Friday night will feature a Silent Disco and Saturday a Dubstep concert. Both will be held from 7-10 p.m. in Chalmers Conference Center in the Niswonger Commons.
The arts and crafts show will offer everything from watercolor paintings to handmade quilts.
“This year is a dramatic increase in the number of fine arts and crafts vendors who will participate in the festival,” said Crum. “Visitors will have a wide variety of items to choose from, including custom jewelry, wood crafts, handmade furniture and sculpture.”
Other items include barn wood frames, walking sticks, handmade children’s clothing, baskets, candles and many handmade items. Vendors will be both indoors and outside.
Sponsors for this year’s event include The Greeneville Sun, WQUT-Radio, WXSM Radio, WIVK Radio, WNML Radio, WOKI Radio, 106.1 The River, Holston Valley Broadcasting, WJHL Daytime Tri-Cities, Morristown Radio Group, Merle FM Radio, WVEK Radio, WKPT, WTFM, Kingsport Times-News, WGRV Radio, WIKQ Radio, WSMG Radio and WCYB-TV.
A variety of food will be offered. Expected this year are vendors selling pretzels, hotdogs, corn dogs, kettle korn, strawberry shortcake, ice cream, pizza, baked goods, healthy wraps, spiral-cut French fries, barbecue and more.
A parade and welcome ceremony will be held on Saturday at noon at the Rankin Hall stage, and at 2 p.m., officials from the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council will be on hand to recognize the Tusculum College old oak tree as an official historic tree. The large, white-oak tree that the festival is named for has officially been added to the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council’s Tennessee Landmark and Historic Tree Register.
An old-time outdoor church service will be conducted by a circuit rider on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. The service will re-create the feel of the frontier church experience. The service is open to the public and will be followed by traditional and contemporary gospel music performances throughout the day.
In addition to arts, the festival will feature a number of local and regional writers. Participating authors include Joe Tennis, Emory Raxter, Ray Rowney, Lisa Hall, Bruce Stafford, Matilda Green, the Bachmans (P.B. and Amanda), Keith Bartlett, Bob Laws, Wayne Zurl, George Sample and Susan D. Crum. Copies of the Tusculum Review will also be available for purchase.
Storytelling has been added to the festival this year, with everything from Mother Goose tales to Cherokee and Appalachian tales. Storytellers on the agenda include Molly Catron, Linda Poland, Pam Miller, Jeff Straton, Madge Rohrer, Marjorie Shaefer, Judy “Butterfuly” Farlow, Leon Overbay, Kate Agmann and Saundra Kelley.
In theater, there will be three performances during the festival of “5 X 10,” written by students and Wayne Thomas, chair of the Department of Fine Arts and associate professor of English. Show times are 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
“5 X 10” presents five, 10-minute plays. The shows will be performed in the Behan Arena Theatre in the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Center. The plays will be under the direction of Thomas and Frank Mengel, Arts Outreach technical director and instructor of theater.
There will be a Tusculum Review Launch Party on Friday, April 19, at 4 p.m. in the Shulman Atrium. This event will feature the poetry of Nate Pritts and Jan LaPerle.
The Tusculum Review, the college’s literary journal, features fiction and nonfiction, poetry, drama and art. Copies of the 2013 edition will be available at the event.
Pritts, who served as judge for The Tusculum Review poetry contest this year, is the author of five books of poetry, most recently “Sweet Nothing.” His poetry and prose have been widely published online and in print, as well as on barns. He has been published in the Southern Review, Forklift, Ohio, Court Green, Gulf Coast, Boston Review and Rain Taxi where he frequently contributes reviews. He is the founder and principal editor of H_NGM_N, an online journal and small press. He is from Syracuse, N.Y.
LaPerle, visiting assistant professor of English, joined the Tusculum faculty in the English Department in 2011. She has had numerous works of fiction and poetry published in various magazines and journals including the Tusculum Review. Her most recent publication is “Hush,” a collection of poetry released earlier this year. LaPerle has received her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing as well as a Bachelor of Arts in English with honors from Southern Illinois University.
The Clem Allison Gallery at the Rankin House will feature the work Amanda Hood, visiting assistant professor of art at East Tennessee State University. Hood’s exhibition will be in the gallery April 11-20. Hood’s work was selected as the cover art for this year’s Tusculum Review. On Saturday, April 20, a reception will be held for Hood, which will be paired with the annual Curtis-Owens Literary readings, featuring students J. Phillip Reed, a senior from Florence, S.C., and Ben Sneyd, a senior from Greeneville, formerly of Unicoi. Reed and Sneyd won the literary prizes this year. The reception and readings will be held on the Rankin House lawn beginning at 3 p.m.
Gallery hours during the festival will be Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the Gallery will not be open on Sunday.
The Big Box experience will be held in the Pioneer Gym continuously during festival hours. The Big Box project is an exhibition of video art created by Chris Jacek, assistant professor of digital media, and students in the digital media department. In the Big Box experience, projection is used to create an enclosed video room that offers both surround sound and surround vision.
The Big Box experience is free of charge.
Both the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library and the Doak House Museum will be open to visitors during the festival and will have special activities planned for adults and children.
Come join the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library and a Confederate States of America Recruiting Officer on Friday, April 19, from 2-5 p.m. and Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. t o 3 p.m. Lt. Col. Mack Cothran will be recruiting civilians into the army and informing visitors of local Civil War events, people and duties as recruits tour a Civil War tent with personal effects. Local visitors can also receive passes to freely cross CSA lines in Greeneville.
Cothran, originally from South Carolina, has been living in Baileyton for the past seven years. During the past 28 years, he has traveled throughout the southeast participating in living history events and re-enacting Civil War battles. He served in the U.S. Navy is active with the Battle of Blue Springs.
There will be children’s activities and an Olde Time Photo Booth outside the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and historic Doak House quilts will be on display Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free tours of both museums will be available both days.
The festival will feature face painting, frontier-era toys and games and a llama exhibit. The Children’s Corner behind McCormick Hall will offer origami, lawn croquet, karaoke, balloon decorating and a puppet show.
The Antique Automobile Club will have vehicles on display throughout the weekend.
There is no fee to attend the festival. Hours will be Friday from noon until 9 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. and Sunday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 423-636-7303.
Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the entertainment. Service animals are welcome; however, no pets allowed. Coolers and alcohol are also prohibited.
For updates and more information, visit the website at www.oldoakfestival.org or on Facebook at www.facebook/OldOakFestival.