MECC To Host 52nd Annual Home Craft Days Festival

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HCD Poster 2023-1Big Stone Gap, VA – Mountain Empire Community College will host the college’s annual Home Craft Days Festival, October 20-22, featuring the unique music, crafts, food, and artistry of the Appalachian region.

The 52nd Home Craft Days Festival will feature two full days of concerts, craft vendors, and demonstrations of weaving, pottery making, grist milling, wood crafting, basket weaving, broom making, quilting, tatting, and more. A special free Friday night concert, with an opening reception, will also be held.

According to festival coordinator Lee Davis, “This year’s festival will feature all of the amazing vendors, music, and food options that Home Craft Days is recognized for. We will have several new vendors in all three areas – crafts, food, and demonstrations. The staff at MECC love seeing our community come out to enjoy the music, food, & crafts.”

Heading this year’s Friday night concert are Martha Spencer & the Wonderland Band; Elizabeth LaPrelle & Family; Todd Meade, Tyler Hughes, Tommy Bledsoe, and Rich Kirby. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. in MECC’s Phillips-Taylor Hall Goodloe Center. Guests are invited to join us for free Dough & Joe and Mr. Kettle Corn while supplies last from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Black Bear BBQ will also offer paid dinner options for guests. 

Craft and food vendors will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday only. Saturday’s music schedule includes featured performers: Todd Meade, Katie and Maddie Pearcy, Sarah Kate Morgan, Rich Kirby & Nate Polly, Angie DeBord -Mountain Tales, Ed Snodderly, Whitetop Mountain Band & the Center Stage Cloggers, Town Branch Bluegrass, Empty Bottle String Band & Square Dance, Jim Lloyd, Tommy Bledsoe & Ben Kiser, Nobody’s Business & the Center Stage Cloggers, Jack Wright, Richard Phillips & Friends, The White Brothers, Adalyn Ramey, Brandon Maggard, Anne Lough, Hillbilly Hippies, Trevor McKenzie, Jamie Colls, Richard Hood, Zach Wiles & The Mill Holler Ramblers, Blue Ridge Girls, and Sulphur Springs String Dippers.

Sunday’s performers include: Ron Carson 4-Him, George Reynolds, Doug Dorschug and Pam Randolph, Gap Civil, John Haywood, The Crooked Road Ramblers, Siegan, Smith Family Singers, Oscar Harris and Heather Pace, Danny Whited & Friends, Russell County Boys, Roxanne McDaniel, Steve and Tracey Edwards, Mountain Melody School, Bailey George & Jess Stiles, Nathan Sykes, The Childress Girls, MECC String Band, and Ron Short. 

Admission is FREE to all the festival events. MECC is located on US Route 23 just south of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Parking and shuttles for the festival will be offered at five locations in Big Stone Gap. Shuttle rides are $1 per person, or $2 round-trip, at boarding. Locations include:

  • Union High School (formerly Powell Valley High School) – Front Parking Lot
  • Curbside, Wood Ave, in Front of Food City
  • Curbside, Municipal Parking Lot behind Post Office/Federal Building
  • Country Inn
  • Comfort Inn

For more information on the event, including a detailed schedule of vendors and musicians, visit the Home Craft Days website at www.homecraftdays.org.

-MECC-