Not a Sleepy Town

Not even close! Weekend before last I ran around between volunteering for Art of Sound, and listening to the performances of as many as I could fit in. I missed a few that I really wanted to see or heard about from other folks.

My biggest surprise was The Old Ceremony from Chapel Hill. I guess it would be labeled as Indie Rock, but those guys were alternately soft and lyrical or loud and driving fast. There were marimbas, and I bet they called it a violin instead of a fiddle. I especially liked that they were performing in Blanton Hall at First National.

I did get to listen to my old favorites Slate Mountain Ramblers and traveled back to my homeplace and childhood through music with the Bowman family that I’ve been hearing for the better part of my life it seems. If I hadn’t been raised by seriously sober minded Quakers and Baptists I’d probably have been dancing. But Shelby was spared that awful spectacle.

I’m hoping we can keep the quality of the music performers this high going forward and get the word out so more folks will take advantage of the variety and fun this festival brings to town.

Now, this past weekend was a completely different celebration. The Shelby Fall Festival & Liver Mush Expo combine our own Uptown Shelby Association and the folks at Travel & Tourism to create what turned out to be a really nice day of fun, kid-sized spectacles, tasty treats, farmers market and more.

The day began with clouds, but things warmed up and folks came out in good numbers. I’m going to say that we had almost 2,000 folks in total. Mayor Ted Alexander delivered the Liver Mush Proclamation for the City of Shelby, and we even had major national media present. Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods on Travel Channel was here to sample our local delicacies, and we’re hoping to see Shelby on TV sometime early in 2009. There was old fashioned ice cream from a paddle-style maker that was powered by an old John Deere motor. Plus Sundrop and Cheerwine. We ran the popcorn popper and gave away a few hundred bags to kids of all ages.

I think we’re already feeling in our bones that next year’s Liver Mush Expo will be bigger and better, and we’re always ready to expand the fun crafts for children and make pets a part of the show. I saw some fine looking dogs Uptown on Saturday. Maybe next year I can bring mine.

Now it’s time to do another newsletter, get ready to enjoy the Art Gallery Crawl on Thursday and then Hog Happenin’ on the weekend. Never a dull moment it seems!