AUGUST 6, 2009 ISSUE
Daniel Boone Days Is Back!—Big Bands, Big Family Fun, Small Price
2nd Annual Music & Culture Festival Returns to High Country September 4 and 5
Hundreds of visitors and locals chose the High Country for their Labor Day holiday last year, attending the inaugural Daniel Boone Days Festival, which returns for its second year this September.Back for a second year with hopes to continue building a local tradition of gathering the community annually at Horn in the West on Labor Day Weekend, the 2nd annual Daniel Boone Days Music & Culture Festival will take place on Friday and Saturday, September 4 and 5. On Friday, the festival includes the Dr. Edwin Arnold Daniel Boone Symposium at ASU and the Fess Parker Wine Dinner at Gamekeeper, and on Saturday, it features an all-day family festival at Horn in the West that is affordable, diverse and community-oriented, yet nationally significant for its lineup of famous touring acts.
Yes, the national radar is focused on the festival’s headliner Donna The Buffalo and their much-anticipated debut in Boone after 20 years touring the world, but for locals, the band’s performance at Horn in the West is only a small portion of what there is to get excited about.
For one, families of all sizes (including as many neighborhood kids as you can fit in the mini-van) can enter the festival on Saturday, September 5, between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. for a lump sum of $20—no questions about direct lineage asked. Not coming with your family? No worries, tickets to Saturday’s event are only $16 in advance and $20 at the door—recession-friendly prices, if you will.
Two, Saturday’s festival is jam-packed with family activities of all sorts—the same activities you will find at festivals that charge four times the ticket price—including inflatables, arts and crafts vendors, chalk art, historians, unique musical instruments, living history, storytelling, educational musical performances, contests, fun and games and a World Record attempt.
Three, Saturday’s festival takes place at Horn in the West, a gem of a venue that is the envy of event organizers up and down the East Coast for its towering oaks and hemlocks, cascading stadium seating, log cabin-peppered homestead, captivating stage setup and meandering wooded trails. If that wasn’t enough, the festival slips into nighttime on September 5 with live performances under the stars at Horn by Boone’s Upright & Breathin’, Virginia’s flat-picking legend Larry Keel and his band Natural Bridge and old-time-reggae-zydeco rockers Donna The Buffalo.
2nd Annual Dr. Edwin Arnold Daniel Boone Symposium at ASU
Friday, September 4, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., $3 per person
For those into academia or for those who wish to know more about Daniel Boone and his connections to this region, Daniel Boone Days 2009 features the 2nd annual Dr. Edwin Arnold Daniel Boone Symposium from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 4, in room 1018 of Thelma C. Raley Hall on the ASU campus. For only $3, visitors and locals will enjoy presentations on the history and significance of Daniel Boone from award-winning author and historian Robert Morgan—author of the Oprah’s Book Club selection Gap Creek and New York Times bestseller Boone: A Biography—and award-winning author Randell Jones, author of In The Footsteps of Daniel Boone. What’s more, the symposium includes a break for lunch in downtown Boone. Attendees will receive walking maps of downtown restaurants and businesses that also include information on an historical scavenger hunt that can be completed during the break. After lunch, attendees will reconvene for a one-hour question and answer session that includes a PowerPoint on the locations involved with the scavenger hunt.
Tickets cost $3 per person and are only available on the day of the event at the door on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Downtown Boone Development Association and North Carolina Humanities Council sponsor the symposium.
2nd Annual Fess Parker Wine Dinner at Gamekeeper Restaurant
Friday, September 4, 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. Seatings, $95 per person
On Friday evening, after the academic portion of the festival comes to a close, wine, television and celebrity lovers will flock to Gamekeeper Restaurant, located at 3005 Shull’s Mill Road in Boone, for the 2nd annual Fess Parker Wine Dinner. Parker, television’s original Daniel Boone, has hung up his thespian cap these days and makes stellar wine with his family at their private vineyard in Los Olivos, Calif. A selection of Parker’s finest vintages will arrive at the Gamekeeper on Friday, September 4, to be paired with some of the best wild game entrees on the East Coast for the annual wine dinner. Special guests are scheduled to attend. The evening features two seatings—one begins with a social at 6:00 p.m. and dinner at 7:00 p.m. and another with a social at 7:00 p.m. and dinner at 8:00 p.m. Reservations are required and seating is limited. To view the menu, click to www.DanielBooneDays.com. To make reservations, call 828-963-7400.
2nd Annual Daniel Boone Days Music & Culture Festival at Horn in the West
Saturday, September 5, 1:00 to 11:00 p.m., $16 advance/$20 door/$20 Boone Family Pass (only available between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.)
Underneath the shade of late summer, Horn in the West, located at 591 Horn in the West Drive in Boone, will come to life on Saturday, September 5, with arts and crafts vendors, living history, storytelling by Orville Hicks, kids’ activities, an inflatable 15-foot AIRWALK slide, fun and games, a telling of the adventures of Daniel Boone by author Randell Jones and Celtic fiddlers the Forget Me Nots, a World Record attempt benefiting the Watauga Education Foundation, a Daniel Boone Look-Alike Contest, the 2nd annual Watauga Arts Council Fiddlers’ Competition and live performances by Boone’s Upright & Breathin’, Virginia’s Larry Keel & Natural Bridge and national touring powerhouse Donna the Buffalo, who will make Daniel Boone Days 2009 their last stop on their 20th anniversary tour. And the best part: tickets are inexpensive—advance tickets are $16, door tickets are $20 and families can come as a group during the early afternoon and enter for just $20 total.
Tickets are available now via PayPal by clicking to www.DanielBooneDays.com or by stopping by High Country Press, located at 130 North Depot Street in downtown Boone, between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Whether it is to come and interact as a member of the community, to hear and dance to national-level touring bands, to spend an afternoon with the family, to eat fatty food and laugh with your friends, to admire local talent, to support the town and its businesses or to just take in the beauty of the grounds of Horn in the West, organizers hope locals and visitors will make it a point to join them for Boone’s newest annual tradition. Come on up and get down—we’ll provide the mountain hospitality.
High Country Press and Mountain Fountain Productions are the presenting sponsors of the 2nd annual Daniel Boone Days Music & Culture Festival. The Downtown Boone Development Association, North Carolina Humanities Council, Horn in the West, Appalachian Hospitality Management, Watauga Education Foundation and Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc. also sponsor the two-day event.
For more information, call 828-264-2262. For more information on the festival, including performer bios, ticket sales, lodging options, photo galleries, sponsors, vendor information and more, click to www.DanielBooneDays.com.
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