About the Appalachian Festival

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Appalachian Festival Community

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Great News!

The Appalachian Festival is a Mother's Day weekend tradition in the Greater Cincinnati Are. Located along Cincinnati's scenic Ohio River at Coney Island, and we are excited to announce that we will continue that tradition at Coney Island for 2024!

 We transform Coney Island into an authentic mountain-life village celebrating the area’s rich Appalachian heritage. The festival will be held on May 11 and 12, 2024.

Have you ever wished the music wouldn't stop? Well, your wish just came true.

New this year we're keeping the music going on Saturday, May 11th...we will be open until 9:30 pm!  Be sure to save the date and come out and enjoy the Ohio River, Coney Island, and Appalachian Traditions!

More details to come soon.


 

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Calling all Vendors

Do you or someone you know have a unique handmade product made in the Appalachia's? Are you spinning your wheels trying to get traction in the heavily saturated online market?

Jumpstart your summer with one of Cincinnati's first outdoor festivals of the season and be a part of one of the area's finest outdoor Mother's Day shopping experiences.

Continuing the tradition at Coney Island, we have opened our 2024 Crafter / Vendor Applications...

Download 2024 Application

 


 

Highlights for the Appalachian Festival

Featured Music in 2024

This year the festival is featuring mountain music on three stages, with some of the greatest local bluegrass bands, including: 

 
Ron Thomason & Dry Branch Fire Squad, Danny Burton & The Thunderbirds, Cecil Jackson & Dry Ridge, Sammy Adkins & Sandy Hook Mountain Boys, Wayfarers, Vernon McIntyre and Appalachian Grass, Forest Hills Bluegrass Band, Red Idle Rejects........... and regional favorites!

Storytelling is deeply rooted in Appalachian culture.

Storytelling is a huge component of Appalachian culture, you might even say it's the cornerstone of the entire cultural foundation. We will have new local storytellers telling all weekend. Stephen "Doc" Hollen,  and Hanna Sue Cooper will be performing at Doc's Wagon Twain and it will be set up right by the living history area.  

No experience is necessary for the Saturday night Fun Dance.  This dance will be back at our Dance tent. During the weekend, local dance troupes will be performing a variety of energetic clogging and line dances on all our dance stages. 

The Appalachian artisan shops, mouthwatering food, and Pickin’ Porches will be lining the walkways, as you take a stroll through various Appalachian traditions. The most popular area, the Mount - Pioneer Village, will feature Native American dances with one of our most loved drums back this year, Southern Singers. We will also demonstrate tin smithing, blacksmithing, broom making, soap-making, spinning, and more. Be sure to stop and say hello to Douglas Taylor, Master Distiller talking about mountain distilling. Douglas had the honor and privilege to compete on the reality show, Moonshiner’s Master Distiller in February 2021. He won the title of “Master Distiller” for his signature Honey Peach Brandy.

 


 How we make a difference...

Next year the ACDA is excited to grow and help even more local organizations and artists on our Land of Oz stage over the 2024 Mother's Day Weekend.

This past year we helped sponsor stage time for...

Place Keepers Wide Open Mic Showcase

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Join rising Appalachian artists in their teens and twenties, sharing their original music, creative writing, and visual artwork alongside community-teaching artists across the genres. This showcase celebrates apprenticeship values and the dynamic power of place keeping in our region's natural, community, and imagined homeplaces!

Directed by Sherry Cook Stanforth and co-sponsored by the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition and Originary Arts Initiative (origininaryartsinitiative@gmail.com)

 

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Community Partners

Willis Music Coney Island Miami
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