Music, food, and animals brought people out of their
homes to enjoy the different types of music and dance ranging from Bluegrass to
Celtic.
On Saturday, September 21, 2013, the Appalachian
Festival took place at Frostburg State University in the upper quad. The
festival brought together many different types of people from a variety of backgrounds
to share their style of music with the public.
Out of the various wonderful activities three stood
out: the Garret Highlands Pipes and Drums, the petting zoo, and the Horn’s Punch and Judy Puppet Show. These three
events all brought unique history and fun to the festival.
Men and women piping and drumming proudly in kilts described
the Garrett Highlands Pipes and Drums team. At 12:20 p.m. the group met in the
center circle where people gathered around to enjoy the performance and to see the
group play the bagpipes and drums in kilts.
During the performance, background noise was heard from
little kids saying mommy that man is wearing a kilt and people trying to say
the word kilt in Irish to fit in with the Irish pipe song being played at the
time.
In the air the smell of popcorn and crab cakes was eminent,
but many people locked their eyes on the performance and seemed to want to
smell the Irish air the songs portrayed. To people’s surprise most of its
members are local from Frostburg, Cumberland, and West Virginia, although the
band plays traditional Scottish-Irish songs.
Furthermore, the second event, the petting zoo,
brought a smile to the children and people around. The petting zoo consisted of
many goats from all different sizes. The children were playing and petting the
animals despite the strong odor in the air.
Laughter was heard, as well as happy screams, as a
little boy ran in the goat cage as a goat slowly followed him. In front of the
petting zoo, Mrs. Terry Farris, a local resident was giving out raffles to
support her daughter’s goat club, the Capering Kids.
Farris, a two year visitor at the Appalachian
Festival enjoys coming to the festival for different reasons. “I like coming to
the festival and looking at the crafts and children’s activities.” In addition,
I like coming up here and sharing the history of Frostburg.” Farris is originally
from Mount Savage and now resides in Cumberland.
Lastly, the third event was the Horn’s Punch and
Judy Puppet show. The puppet show made the kids laugh. One little boy was
laughing so hard that by the end of the show he was on the floor laughing.
Mark Walker or Professor Horn (his stage name), was
the puppeteer of the show and definitely likes making people laugh. “I love
doing the show just to hear the little ones squeal with laughter,” Horn said.
All three events brought laughter and smiles to people’s faces. The events even
brought some far away visitors.
Sean Gowen, a visitor from Laurel, Maryland came to
the event for the first time on Saturday. He said, “I thought it was interesting
and different to see performers from a variety of genres come together.”
Overall, most people seemed to enjoy the festivities
despite the rain throughout the day. Farris said next year she hopes to see
more events added. “I hope to see more
vendors and hands on activities,” Farris said.
For more information on the goat club and petting
zoo, contact Carol manager at 301-724-3673. The goat group has meetings on the
third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Full Gospel Seventh Dav
Baptist Church in Cumberland, Md.
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