Appalachian Culture Fest

Today I went to the Appalachian Culture Fest at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  I would post a link, but I can't find anything on the CMC website about this year's Culture Fest series, :(.  The snow is starting to melt which meant that it was a nice warm day (my car thermostat read 51 so I rolled my window down part of the day) but the nice white blanket is starting to disappear.  I spent most of the day inside so it didn't affect my photography greatly.

I met up with Jen and Adam (I work with them at the Creation Museum) and Anna Jones who is a formerly frequent volunteer at the Creation Museum who is staring to volunteer again.

Here you can see the three of them listing to one of the artisans.  This guy is a wood carver who specializes in making bowls.  Some of his pieces are simply amazing.  The bowl in the bottom right of this picture took him about forty hours of work to complete--but he said that was spread out over about a year and a half.  It was an interesting idea and I know that is how things used to work.  Craftsmen were paid by the job instead of working on an assembly line being paid by the hour.  The big bowl was for sale for $1400 which works out to about $35 an hour.

Below you can see just a bit of what he talked about--I didn't want to record for too long as I wasn't sure how large a video I could upload.

There were several other artisans/vendors in the area called the "Appalachian Trail."  One that I remember talking to last year stepped away before we could go to her area.

There was also an area with brooms and walking sticks.  Anna had to try out one of the strangely shaped brooms.  I tried it also--it looks pretty strange, but is actually not that hard to use.

Walking around the rotunda in search of stamps (if you collect four stamps on a "passport" you get a coupon good for one free Museum admission) we stopped to listen to music for a bit.

I enjoyed the music and heard from a distance some better music later--but we were listening to a storyteller.  I wish that I could have done several things at once a couple times, ;-).  This video, like the one above was taken on my iPhone.  I was quite surprised that the audio came out as clearly as it did.  As I've said the iPhone definitely won't replace my camera but there are many features that are quite enjoyable and useful when I don't want to carry my largeish (not compared to a DSLR, but still larger than a typical point and shoot) camera around.

I'm not sure what this display had to do with Appalachia...it seems more "hippie" than hillbilly...

When I got to the building I sent a text to Adam, thinking that they might still be on their way.  He replied that they were in the Newsreel Theater.  Noah and I walked in and discovered that they were listening to a storyteller.  There were a couple spots in the guy's stories that were rough (he didn't foretell some plot twists), but overall I enjoyed his stories.

We went back later for his second session.  He did mention that there would be a local festival in May with many more storytellers (amongst other Appalachian cultural events).  I might have to look up more information on that event and see if it is worth attending.

I also ran into some people that I haven't seen in quite a while.  Al and Regeana are awesome volunteers that I've worked with on several exhibits.  Emily is another person that I worked with on several exhibits who has since moved from part-time work to a full-time job at the Museum Center.

I know it isn't the greatest shot of Al, but I didn't think to get a shot when Regeana was around.  And Emily?  Well she knows how to give a good glare.

If you know Adam and Jen then you'll be excited to see this next picture.  They found the perfect house while looking through a photography booth.  This is an amazing place with three porches, an attached garage, and a detached garage.  It even has two stories!

I did manage to capture Jen's reaction on camera so that you could experience the happy moment with her:

This last video gives you a taste of what the entire Rotunda looks like decorated for the Culture Fest.  I didn't move around too much, but you can see at least half of the stuff that was set up.

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone (I posted the videos from my iPhone and then added text and pictures on my computer)
(c) 2010 iWolff Ltd.

Location:Union Terminal,Cincinnati,OH,United States