Thank you for another wonderful Seedtime!
Visit the Seedtime 2008 Photo Gallery
Seedtime on the Cumberland 2008, the 22nd annual celebration presented by Appalshop, involved more than 1900 participants during its June 10 through June 14 run in Whitesburg. Attendees enjoyed performances by Kathy Mattea, Darrell and Wayne Scott, Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Jim & Ada McCown with Paul Smith, Lee Sexton, Kentucky Wild Horse, Brett Ratliff and the Clack Mountain String Band, Rich and the Po' Folks, Music of Coal, and the Cowan Creek Pick and Bow All-Stars.
Participants also delighted in jam sessions, a series of film and video screenings from Appalshop filmmakers and the Appalshop Archive, picking contests, gallery exhibits, Singing on the Mountain presented at Indian Bottom Church by Roadside Theater, literary readings featuring the work of Gurney Norman, a square dance with caller Randy Wilson, a residency by the Fossil Fools Collective, a Youth Bored concert, Appalachian Media Institute (AMI) work, international exchange activities featuring Indonesian and Texas media makers, nature hikes, and craft and food vendors. Storyteller Angelyn DeBord performed Saturday afternoon, while The Cowan Women who will presented an original play, "It's About Time," in the Appalshop Theater.
Using a formula developed by Appalachian State University for MerleFest, Seedtime exerted a local economic impact of $261,000. Seedtime drew participants from Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Indonesia, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Louisiana. Three-quarters of the attendees came from Kentucky, but only 31% from Letcher County itself. Data from interviews with 55 festival participants indicated that they attended an average of two days of the festival and spent one and a third nights in Letcher County. Not counting tickets, the average Seedtime attendee spent $128 in Letcher County.
Please join us next year at Seedtime 2009, part of Appalshop's 40th anniversary celebration, June 10 through 13.
