Hayesville High Art Club Students Prepare for Exciting Summer Music Events

Come to the square May 16th to eat $5 barbeque and enjoy a favorite local band, the Gnarly Fingers. This event will be the first of the Music on the Square series, free concerts on the square each month all summer. Hayesville High art club students have been working hard to publicize these events. Under the direction of art teacher, Ashley Snowden, art club members Isaac Hogsed, Berek Westfall, Keegan Wingate, Keri Griffin, Rockelle Reagan, and Emily Teems prepared 20 publicity posters now on view at local businesses and other locations. The May 16th concert will run from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm. Volunteers are needed to serve barbeque. Please contact Candy at 828 389 9601 to volunteer.

From left to right are Isaac Hogsed, Berek Westfall, Ashley Snowden (art teacher), Keegan Wingate, Keri Griffin, Rockelle Reagan, Emily Teems.

Car-B-Que Comes to Hayesville Again

Do you like barbeque? Do you like antique cars? You will be able to enjoy both on June 13, 2009, and participate in a blood drive at the ninth annual Clay County Car-B-Que. This event, which runs from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm on the Hayesville Town Square, is sponsored by the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association. Chuck Krauz is the event coordinator; he also serves as master of ceremonies. Money raised by the Car-B-Que is used to support various local development activities funded by CCCRA.

As in prior years, this year’s event will feature:

§ A Red Cross blood drive.

§ Antique cars parked around the square.

§ Chicken barbeque and hotdogs on the lawn of the historic Clay County Courthouse.

§ 50s and 60s music, with “Cousin Tom” and “Be Bop Brittany” providing the music.

The whole family will be able to play games at no cost. Here are some of them:

§ “Do You Remember” a guessing game of items of yesteryear. Players will be able to win by naming antique items correctly. Molly and Me, a consignment shop on the Square in Hayesville, will supply the antiques.

§ Triva.

§ Musical Trivia. Players who guess songs correctly will be eligible to win prizes.

§ “Coin Toss,” a game for children aged 12 and under. Coins of different amounts will be thrown in the grass. Children can scramble to get them. They can keep the money they find.

§ “Millionaire Trivia,” a trivia game with a large prize. This game features a lifeline from which any player can receive help one time. Players who have used the lifeline once and do not know answers are out of the game.

§ Scavenger Hunt. Chuck will be looking for items that the crowd might have.

As part of the event, the Red Cross will conduct a blood drive. Red Cross representatives will come from Asheville to run it. The blood drive will run from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm. Blood donors will receive a complementary Red Cross T-shirt.

Antique car owners who wish to enter their vehicles in this event need to have cars made no later than 1974. Registration costs $15 per vehicle. Pre-registration is open until June 6, 2009. Those who pre-register by that date will be able to receive a free T-shirt and barbeque dinner. Those who pre-register and donate blood will also receive a 1950s CD.

To pre-register, send a check to Chuck Krauz, 233 Forest Cove Trail, Hayesville, NC 28904.

Registered vehicle owners will be eligible to win awards. Some awards will be specially designed plaques featuring antique cars. Awards will carry such names as “People’s Choice,” “Mayor’s Choice,” “Top 20,” “Ladies’ Choice,” and “CCCRA ‘s Choice.”

Local businesses are invited to sponsor various activities and awards. Several businesses have already agreed to do so. The Cottage Deli has agreed to sponsor Millionaire Trivia and will provide free meals to the winners. Molly and Me and Chinquapins will sponsor plaques. Other business sponsors are needed.

An event as large as this one needs the help of many people. Volunteer workers are needed to help cook the goodies and help with registration. To help and/or to get further information, call Chuck Krauz at 828 389 2906 or contact him by email at chuckkrauz@verizon.net.

It’s going to be a big day again…Don’t be square - Be there.

Nelson Heritage Park Moves Closer to Reality: Construction of the Cherokee Exhibits to Start Soon

Over the last several weeks, the site of the Cherokee exhibits at the Nelson Heritage Park has been graded and hydro-seeded, and money had become available to finance construction of Cherokee summer and winter houses. Work on them will start soon.

Construction is possible because the Nelson Heritage Park has received several grants through the work of the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association (CCCRA) and the Clay County Historical and Arts Council (CCHAC).

The most recent grant, received in the last several days, is for $9,500 from the Creating New Economies Fund (CNEF). This grant will fund the construction of the Cherokee summer house. The park had previously received a $12,500 grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area for the construction of a Cherokee winter house. A grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center under the NC Small Towns Economic Prosperity Demonstration Program (STEP) is funding the creation of a mural on the retaining wall at the edge of the park.

Dr. Jane Eastman, associate professor of anthropology and sociology and director of Cherokee studies at Western Carolina University, hopes to make available some of her students to help with the construction of the Cherokee exhibits.