The Old Oak Festival will return to the Tusculum College campus April 19-22, and will include artists from a variety of genres, as well as live music ranging from blues to blue grass.
The arts and music festival will span four days and will feature something for everyone, including music, art, theater and poetry, as well as gallery and museum exhibits on the campus of Tusculum College.
The festival runs from Thursday, April 19 through Sunday, April 22. Activities will be going on all four days; however, vendors, artisans and musicians will be performing and have their wares available for sale Friday and Saturday. For complete schedule of events please see the website at www.oldoakfestival.org.
“The festival will feature a lot of local musicians and regional favorites. Several groups will feature students from Tusculum College and local schools,” said David A. Price, director of music and special events at Tusculum College.
Music at the Old Oak Festival will feature acoustic rock, blues, blue grass, electric rock, R&B, jazz, Broadway and gospel. Musicians will perform on three stages scattered throughout the campus on Friday and Saturday and will feature groups like Jimmie D and the B Movie Blues, the Great Smokey Mountain Blue Grass Band, and the Tusculum College Jazz Band.
Music begins at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and continues until 8 p.m. with a closing performance by The Mudbugs, performing classic New Orleans music. Music begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday with Michael Cable and the Hot Mountain Caravan, and runs throughout the day. Closing out the music portion of the festival will be hillbilly rock band Bootleg Turn.
Other music acts include Stephen Winslow and Ben Kirk, Zach Wampler, Tusculum College rock band Shiloh Road, Wayne and Jean Bean, Lonesome Pine, Mike Joy, The Kevin Wilder Group, The Scat Kats, The Mudbugs, Sandy Ray and the Cold Shoulders, The Foundations, The Madisons, the Threetles, Joyce Carroll, Greeneville Middle School choirs, Charles and Susan Tunstall and Ben Sneyd.
Art vendors vary from glass and metal jewelry from Jewelry by Gloria (Lenon) to ink prints from Ben Clark and crochet rugs from the Crafty Lady.
The Evergreen Woodcarvers will demonstrate the art of woodcarving and provide lessons for those who wish to learn the skill.
Other vendors are Tusculum College art students; Richard and Freda Donoho, artists in glass; Jimmy and Judy Rader, artists in wood; Buckthorn Artistic Originals, painted feathers; Joan Beaver, pencil and oil prints; Broyles Oak Rockers; Josh Swatzell, photography; Betty Goudy, oil paintings and bird houses; W.T. Hines, cooper (metal arts); Light Images, photography; Channa Payne, jewelry; Nick Hankins, mixed media paintings; Walnut Ridge Llamas, spinning and weaving; Collins Lane Art, wheel-thrown pottery; Rew Art, acrylic painting, and Mike Willis, wood items.
There will be three performances during the festival of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” presented by Theatre-at-Tusculum. Show times are Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21 at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Tickets may be reserved in advance by calling 423-789-1620.
The play is based on the diary of Anne Frank, a young Jewish teen whose family is in hiding in German-occupied Holland. The diary covers a two-year span and is a both a coming-of-age story and a peek into the daily existence of a family in hiding during the Holocaust.
The college’s Allison Gallery at the Rankin House will be open throughout the weekend, featuring top student work in a “best of” show for student painting, sculpture and photography.
Food vendors will be on campus and will include the Pioneer Perk; John Price, hotdogs and Polish sausage; Ella Price, strawberry shortcake and hot fudge cake; Debbie Haney, gyros and Philly cheese steak sandwiches; Rural Resources, health food including veggie wraps; the Smoking Pig BBQ, Karly’s Kettlecorn, and the Creamy Cup offering coffee and ice cream.
The festival is being coordinated by a committee of college and community representatives who are working to bring the historical event back as a major arts and music event in the East Tennessee region.
On Thursday, April 19, a launch party will be held for the “Tusculum Review,” the literary journal produced by faculty and students. The journal features works of top creative fiction, non-fiction, art and poetry from writers across the country. Special guest readers are essayist Katie Fallon and poet Gary McDowell. The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Shulman Atrium.
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.
A special Civil War exhibit, “Scholars then Soldiers” will be featured during the weekend of the Old Oak Festival at the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library. Exhibit hours are Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Also at the museums, internationally known balladeer and storyteller Shelia Kay Adams and accomplished local musician Judy Rhodes will perform Friday, April 20. The duo will bring one of the pillars of Appalachian music to the stage – ballads that have been used to tell stories and impart emotions in a distinctive sound born of the mountains. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. in the Pioneer Perk in the Niswonger Commons. Tickets are $10 and seats are limited for the performance, which is part of the Old Oak Festival.
On Saturday, Adams and Rhodes will be conducting a ballad singing and performance coaching workshop at the Doak House Museum on campus. The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The fee for the class is $45, which includes materials and instruction. Workshop attendees can attend the Friday night performance for $5. Following the workshop on Saturday, attendees can participate in an open mic time, beginning at 4 p.m., at the Pioneer Perk.
For more information, to reserve tickets for Friday’s performance or to make reservations for the workshop, please contact Leah Walker at 423-636-8554 or email lwalker@tusculum.edu.
The festival will also feature children’s activities and storytelling performances, as well as a chapel service on Sunday morning at the Garland Library.
There is no fee to attend the festival. Art vendor hours will be Friday from noon until 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information, contact Susan Vance at 423-636-7303.
Parking will be available off Shiloh Road and across the Erwin Highway. No alcohol will be sold or permitted on campus.
No pets allowed on campus during the festival, however, service animals are welcome.