Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017 - 31

sport, Tennessee, on May 20 for Racks
by the Tracks, featuring food, music
and beer-tasting, starting at noon (netta.
com).
Art takes center stage in downtown
Greenville, South Carolina, during the
annual Artisphere festival, May 1214. This event provides opportunities to
meet exhibiting artists while purchasing original works (artisphere.us). A similar opportunity to meet masterpiecemakers comes up on May 27-28 with
the 42nd annual Arts in the Park
at Blue Ridge, Georgia. (blueridgemoun
tains.com).
Come hungry to East Tennessee in
mid-to-late May. The International
Biscuit Festival celebrates all things
biscuit (biscuitfest.com) in Knoxville,
Tennessee, on May 20, with a breakfast, brunch, bazaar and bake-off. Nearby, on May 19-20, you'll find the largest event of the year in Sevierville with
Bloomin' BBQ & Bluegrass (bloominbbq.com), featuring the Tennessee
State Championship Barbeque
Cook-Off plus free bluegrass concerts
and kids games. Later, Dollywood cel-

ebrates Barbeque & Bluegrass on
May 26-June 4, with mountain music
as well as saucy pulled-pork and ribs by
the slab in Pigeon Forge.
About 20,000 trail hikers are expected to dance into Damascus, Virginia,
on May 19-21, during the Appalachian Trail Days festival (traildays.
us). A few miles east, yet also just off
the Appalachian Trail, the remote village of Whitetop, Virginia, hosts the
Ramp Festival on May 21. This party
celebrates the ramp, a pungent member
of the leek family that grows wild and
tastes great with fried potatoes-even
though it leaves your breath smelling
foul (mtrogersvfd-rs.com). A few days later, in nearby Abingdon, Virginia, you'll
find the popular Plumb Alley Day,
mixing crafts, yard sales and bagpipers,
on May 27 (abingdonkiwanis.org).
On May 26-27, look for the annual
Memorial Day Festival and Parade in Shenandoah, Virginia, featuring a service for veterans, dog show,
parade, "cruz in" on Friday and servings of steamed shrimp on Saturday
(townofshenandoah.com).

JUNE
Lift up to the air on June 1-3 with the
44th annual Helen to the Atlantic
Hot Air Balloon Race, headquartered
at the Helendorf Inn (706-878-2271) of
Helen, Georgia. You can also raise your
fork for the Poke Sallet Festival in
downtown Harlan, Kentucky, on June
1-3 (harlancountytrails.com).
Get artsy: Take the Toe River
Spring Studio Tour, June 2-4, in
both Yancey and Mitchell counties of
North Carolina, as 100 participating
artists open their homes to visitors
(toeriverarts.org).
Music-lovers can follow The
Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail (thecrookedroad.org) for a string
of celebrations, June 9-17, during
the Crooked Road Homecoming
series. These concerts in southwest
Virginia include old-time, bluegrass,
gospel, traditional singing and dance.
(Also, check out the Carter Fold Memorial Festival, which has moved

March/April 2017 31

http://www.artisphere.us http://www.harlancountytrails.com http://www.tains.com http://www.mtrogersvfd-rs.com http://www.toeriverarts.org http://www.biscuitfest.com http://www.abingdonkiwanis.org http://www.thecrookedroad.org http://www.inbbq.com http://www.townofshenandoah.com http://locknfestival.com

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017

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