Apple Atcha Fest 2024 is coming to Downtown Wytheville this October 18th & 19th! For the second year, the Millwald Theatre is hosting a Fall festival. Surprisingly, apples are not actually involved. Let us explain...
Apple Atcha Fest is a celebration of the creative people and ideas that shape the fabric of life in our region. This festival focuses on the arts – written, visual and performance – as a medium to bring people from diverse backgrounds together to celebrate the past, present and future of what makes Appalachia unique.
Don't forget 'If you're missay'n Appalachia, we'll throw an Apple Atcha!'
Lineup
Thursday 10/17/24
Hoot and Holler | 6pm | Wytheville Farmers Market
Bring your instruments for a community jam session for our first ever Hoot and Holler with Food Trucks and local spirits.
Friday 10/18/24
Applachian Art Panel | 8pm | Millwald Theatre
Join us for a event where we discuss our sense of place surrounding the question, “What does Appalachia mean to you?” The panel will be moderated by Deanna Bradberry.
Panelists:
Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry
Born and raised in the Soviet Union, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry moved to Bland, Virginia, in 1995. Writing in English, her second language, she’s published over fifty stories and received eleven Pushcart Prize nominations, as well as four special mentions in the Pushcart Prize Anthologies. Kristina is the winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction for her first collection of stories, What Isn’t Remembered, long-listed for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize. Her debut novel, THE ORCHARD, was a finalist for the 2023 Chautauqua Prize and was picked by the New York Post as one of the best books of the year. It has been translated into many languages. She’s just finished her new novel set in Appalachia in 1986.
Bluz Rogers
Bluz has risen through the ranks of spoken word entertainment. A graduate of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, he is the slam master and coach of SlamCharlotte, A competitive team of poets whom he led to back to back National Poetry Slam victories in 2007 and 2008 and a historic 3rd win in 2018. Bluz is also a 2010 Southern Fried Poetry Slam Champion. He has featured and hosted at the LA Poetry festival as well as the National Poetry slam in 2012 and the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2013. Bluz also served as a delegate and writer at the All-America City awards where he helped Charlotte win the very sought-after award of All-America City.
Elizabeth LaPrelle
Elizabeth LaPrelle has been performing Appalachian ballads and old-time songs since she was eleven. Her magnificent voice, her respect for the songs, and her authentic mountain sound and style brought her to the attention of first Ginny Hawker and then Sheila Kay Adams. Raised in Rural Retreat, Virginia, Elizabeth attended old time fiddlers’ conventions and sang harmonies with her family, who taught her traditional singing styles and encouraged her to sing their own favorite American folk music. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in Southern Appalachian Traditional Performance, and now tours the US regularly both performing and teaching.
Saturday 10/19/24
Appalachian Artifacts | 10am | Millwald
Susi Lawson Photography Exhibit | 10am | Millwald
Hogslop String Band | 9pm | Millwald