The Movement

The Movement

The culturally thriving Appalachian Festival at Frostburg State University was held on September 13th-15th, 2012. This event has become a tradition that all Frostburg citizens and many more attend annually. On the blustery warm fall mid-evening of September 15^th at the Upper Quad at the Appalachian Festival the attendees were singing, dancing, and eating to their favorite tunes. The air smelled of sweet kettle corn and apple cider. The entire festival buzzed with the sound of embracing conversations from all of the attendees. There were about fifty vendors originating from various parts of Western Maryland to share their prized possessions, entertainment, crafts, and delicious food with everyone who cared to attend.

At the Upper Quad near Guild there was a stage set up for The African-American Voices: From Spirituals to Freedom by Sparky and Rhonda Rucker who played music that engulfed people in their story. Mr. Rucker opened the performance by announcing he and his wife would be playing folk music that touched on a broad topic. Mr. Rucker stated his music ranged from, “let freedom ring from the women’s rights movements”. Everyone around the stage had a welcoming smile on their face, a constantly beating foot to the beat of the music, and lips that sang along to every song the Ruckers played. Mr. Rucker embraced the citizens around his stage by letting them be a part of his music. He stated, “folk songs belong to you and you can sing them too. We would love you to come with us and be apart of our journey of music because one thing I noticed about music and life is that it may be hard, but if we go through it and produce it together we will become our brothers keeper”. This warmed every audience member surrounding the tiny stage.

Mr. Ruckers first statement empowered the crowd to think more about the statement and become engaged in his music. It was the perfect introduction to his first song, “The Movement” which was a lovely melody about the civil rights movement. When his first song started to come to an end Mr. Rucker yelled, “I hope ya’ll liked our first song. We would also love you to stay with us now so someone can put you between us and the law, because it’s a movement”! This got the crowd even more excited than before. Everyone around the stage was clapping and whistling for more from the Ruckers. The Rucker’s “Movement” was meant to inspire the crowd to become involved within their community and even the tinniest act of kindness was a step forward in the Ruckers movement. That act of kindness could be distributed to any through music. Mr. and Mrs. Rucker ended their performance by engaging the crowd once more by telling them “everyone is like a tree planted by the water…we are here to stay and ready to make a stand for what we believe in”. This was such an inspiring statement from Mr. Rucker who said, “My wife and I have come to the Appalachian Festival for years and constantly come here because of the selection of bands and the vibe from the community and interesting folk”.

This was a once and a lifetime experience that the Ruckers planned to bring back every year to the Appalachian Festival. The “Movement” brought everyone together for a life changing festival that brought not only music but good times to the citizens and travelers of Frostburg.