The Art League of Marion will host the 35th Annual Hungry Mother Festival where attendees will be greeted by artists and crafters along with musical artists, dancers, magicians and a variety of food vendors. The festival will be held July 18-20 at Hungry Mother State Park, U.S. 16N, Marion. The festival runs from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday.
Items offered for sale include baskets, decorative wood, pottery, furniture, jewelry, candles, fine art, soaps, stained glass and much more. Exhibitors will display their work through the park overlooking Hungry Mother Lake.

The 35th annual Hungry Mother Festival entertainment schedule for July 18-20 at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion.

Craft vendors scheduled to be at the Hungry Mother Festival July 18-20 at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion.

Somewhere, I ran across a Web site displaying signs that appear in front of cemeteries. “Dead End” happened to be on the road leading into one cemetery. Another cemetery sat on a one-way street, so an arrow pointed into the cemetery, and “One Way” painted on the arrow greeted visitors at the gate. That would certainly cut down on cemetery traffic.

I remember back a few years when I was in college. (I hate saying that, it reminds me of the older men I knew as a kid and the old stories they would tell.) I’m not sure what class it was, perhaps a sociology or philosophy course, we read excerpts from a book that had just been released. I don’t remember the author’s name either but he was someone who was fashionable at the time to call a “futurist.” Now, these were folks who made a pretty fair living writing books telling everyone else what the future would be like (mostly bad news). Today, I realize these learned scholars knew no more about it than I did at the time. But they made a few bucks and gave us something to argue over in class and out.

I continue to have so much fun restoring my oak sideboard.  You may remember from several columns back that it had been stored in the damp under my front porch for 50 years, and all of its glue joints came apart.  I am in the process of reassembling it from its many pieces.  In fact, since it was made of glued-up wood, each piece is now four pieces which have to be glued back together. 

When Israeli security pulled me aside in the Tel Aviv airport, I decided that sporting a beard while traveling in the Holy Land was not a good idea. All of the clean-shaven, blond-haired people were moving through customs. On the other hand, I was standing in line with dark-haired, bearded men waiting for a security screening.

By the time this column is published, my favorite holiday, Independence Day, the Fourth of July, will be passed. Coming however as it does, on a Friday, many Americans will celebrate the entire weekend. Though most of us never gave it a thought, Independence Day is the only holiday that celebrates the United States.

Jimmy Hunt and Nick Barringer, long-time friends and Appalachian State University students, are organizing a music festival they hope will build their fledgling entertainment business, promote Boone as a national-caliber music town and raise awareness about renewable energy. 

Barter’s new play, The Cure for Love, is a farce.  Depending on the source of the definition, the word farce means different things, but for the purpose of this review, farce means a comedy with an improbable plot, exaggerated characters, and sexual innuendo.  (Signs at the box office say it contains “risqué humor.”)