SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
WHERE AND WHEN President Mirta M. Martin’s Welcome Welcome home! I am pleased to welcome you to our beautiful campus for the 53rd Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show. For more than a century, Ferrum College has provided distinctive educational experiences to students from our region, throughout the Commonwealth, and around the world. This year’s Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show builds on this proud legacy by honoring the traditions, craftsmanship, music, and stories that make our region so special while welcoming new artisans and creating memorable, family-friendly experiences for generations to come. Thank you for joining us for this special celebration of our shared heritage and bright future. I hope you enjoy the festival, the fellowship, and the vibrant spirit of community that make Ferrum College and the Blue Ridge region so unique. Welcome home! Mirta M. Martin, Ph.D. President, Ferrum College
Coon Dog Water Racing
Coon Dog Contests Field west of Adams Lake
• Open Grade Bench Show – 10:00AM • Treeing Contest – 12:00 PM • Virginia State Coon Dog Water Race – 1:30PM
Please Note
• Festival activities run all day except as noted in schedule. • Last-minute changes will be posted on festival grounds. • Please bring lost children and found objects to the Information Tent in the field southwest of Adams Lake.
Coordinated by Adam Alley & Friends.
Information
Find information at the BRIM and the Information Tent in field southwest of Adams Lake.
First Aid
First aid is available in parking lot located across Route 40 from the car show and below Ferrum Elementary School.
ATMs
Find ATMs at the BRIM back porch and outside Franklin Hall.
Panther Grounds & Campus Store
Shop the Folklife Sale and get 20% off Ferrum College merchandise. Offering We Proudly Serve Starbucks , plus pastries, bottled drinks, and snacks. TM
Old-fashioned Children’s Games
Old fashioned children’s games will be held 10:00AM to 4:00 PM at the Blue Ridge Farm Museum. Coordinated by Booker T. Washington National Monument.
Virginia State Championship Coon Mule Jumping Contest
Horse & Mule Events
Living History Demonstrations
Blue Ridge Farm Museum
Living history demos will take place throughout the day at the Blue Ridge Farm Museum.
• Team Horse & Mule Log Skidding & Barnyard Pull – 10:00–11:30AM
Alumni Hospitality Center
• Virginia State Championship Coon Mule Jumping Contest – 11:30AM
Find the Ferrum College alumni hospitality center on the lower patio and in the Virginia Room of Franklin Hall from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. 2
• Horse Pulling Contest – 1:00PM
53rd Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show
WHERE AND WHEN Indoor Crafts
Crafts
Car Show, Steam & Gas
Franklin Hall Crafts include quilting, chair caning, leather work, painted gourds, corn husk dolls, herbal products, tatting, carved canes, crocheting, birdhouses, soap making, wood carving, instrument making, turkey calls, and more.
Outdoor Crafts
Franklin Quad & Wiley Drive Crafts include 3D printing, knives, tie-dye, handbags, soaps, resin flowers, saw blade art, jewelry, fine art, wreaths, recycled products, baked goods, canned goods, gourmet dip mixes, jams & jellies, carvings, candles, and more.
Outdoor Crafts
Blue Ridge Farm Museum Crafts include blacksmithing, bread making, guitar making, bird houses, banjo making, vegetable dyeing, distilling, basket weaving, soap making, hog butchering, and more.
Vintage Cars
Thunder In the Blue Ridge Car Show Field west of the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum
See 1987 or older original & restored cars, trucks, street rods, street machines, oval track racers, drag cars, and more. Coordinated by Outlaw Cruisers Car Club of Franklin Co., VA
Moonshiner’s Lore Featuring the Law Family Blue Ridge Farm Museum • Tales from Makers–10:30AM & 2:00PM • Book signing by Henry Lee Law–11:30AM & throughout the day
Merchandise Tent Museum Exhibits
Blue Ridge Institute & Museum • Raising the Shade: Franklin County, Virginia 1850-1910: Raising the Shade is a community-led project honoring 70 local African American men who served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, commemorated by a monument at First Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, VA. • The Vanishing Schools of Franklin County: Father and son Abe and Benny Gibson uncovered nearly 200 schools that operated in Franklin County, VA, over 50 years. They’ll be available to sign their new book, Vanishing Schools in Franklin County: A History of Public Education in Rural Virginia. 3
Antique Powered Hay Baling Demonstration
Antique Engines and Tractors Field southwest of Adams Lake • Wheat Threshing 10:30AM, 12:30PM, 2:30PM • Shingle Milling 11:30AM, 1:30PM, 3:30PM • Rock Crushing 11:00AM, 1:00PM, 3:00PM Coordinated by Southwest Virginia Antique Power Association
53rd Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show
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Ferrum Fitness Center
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Information
Event
Music Stage
Crafts
First Aid
Water Vendor
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Chap man Hall
Food
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Farm House
Barn
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Hog Butchering
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Antique Gas ngines & Tractors
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oon Dog Water Race & Treeing Contest
Gospel Stage (indoor stage)
ROUTE 40
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53rd Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show
Trish Fore & The Wildcats
Midnight Traynhams
Up Jumped Trouble
2:30–3:00
3:00–3:30
3:30–4:00
4:30 - 5:00
4:00–4:30
Up Jumped Trouble
Larry Sigmon & The Virginia Girls
2:00–2:30
1:30–2:00
1:00–1:30
12:30–1:00
Denise O’Sullivan
Jim Lloyd
11:30–12:00
12:00–12:30
Orville Hicks
11:00–11:30
Jeffery Scott
10:00–10:30
Trish Fore & The Wildcats
Dale Morris
Announcers
10:30–11:00
STRINGBAND STAGE
TIME
Three Top Serenaders
The Revernz Mazon Jarrs Project
Wayne Henderson & Friends
Jeffrey Scott
Orville Hicks
The Life & Times of Kinney Rorrer: A Tribute
Big Ivy Band
Jim Lloyd
Midnight Traynhams
Greg Kimball
FARM STAGE
The Hollifield Brothers
Jim Lloyd
Ben Miller & Friends
Little River Bandits
Valley Grass
Orchestra Appalachia
Jim Lloyd
YOUTH STAGE
2026 Music Schedule
Envue
Beyond Blessed
The Joy Bells
Bishop Milton Hardy & The Sons of Thunder
Larnell Starkey & the Spiritual Seven
The Faithful Travelers
John Mitchell
GOSPEL STAGE
53rd ANNUAL BLUE RIDGE FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL & ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW
ARTS, CRAFTS, & FOOD VENDORS Blue Ridge Farm Museum
Wiley Drive
Franklin Hall Quad
Joe Allen – Blacksmithing Lois Brubaker – Bread Making Cedar Bluff Church of the Brethren – Apple Butter Jackson Cunningham – Guitar Luthier Peyton & Jane Fenton – Birdhouses & Books Finger Bean Farm - Canned Goods Kevin Fore – Banjo Luthier Joyce Gordon – Canning (10AM–12PM) Grammy & Papa’s Kettle Korn – Kettle Korn Clyde Jenkins – Baskets and Apples Henry Lee Law & Family – Distilling Terry Peters – Hog Butchering Reynolds Homestead – Vegetable Dyeing Rocky Mount Smokehouse - Brunswick Stew, Pulled Chicken, Pulled Pork, Sides Ethelene Stanley – Soap Making Tammy’s Grill – Chicken Wing Plates Wax & Wares – Candles Brinn Willis – Tintype Truck
Susan Beall – Dog clothes Cosmic Jackpot – Stained Glass & Jewelry Dog ’on Time – Hotdogs & Sausages Melissa Grimes – Soaps Pat Guilliams – Saw Blade Art Ashlin Hicks – Jewelry & Art Koehler Hollow Arts – Paintings & Books Libby Legg – Recycled Wallets Jennifer Leslie – Crocheted Items & Candles Tom Lister – Gourmet Dip Mixes Meadow Creek Cannabis – CBG & Wellness Products Moonlight Ridge Farm – Jams & Jellies Jennifer Scales – Crocheted Items & Towels Michelle Sitton – Handbags Stillhouse Products – Herbal Salves Sweet Indulgence Bakery – Baked Goods Christa Williams – Crocheted Items & Woodworking
Fillingame Homestead – Teas & Cider Michael Hefner – Cakes & Decorating Mike Hullet & Marcus Norberg – Knives & Tie-dye Raven Mack – Hailu Carvings Adaline Menh – Jewelry & Candles Metz – Hamburgers & Hotdogs Morning Dew Acres – Baked Goods Susan Murphy – Handbags Eunisa Street – Wreaths
Moonshine Area – Blue Ridge Farm Museum Bison Head Cigars
Car Show Area Tom Van Norwick – Pinstriper
Library Parking Lot – Wiley Drive Bolt Milling – Ice Cream & Cornmeal The Crispy Pig – Pork Rinds & Hot Apple Cider Hiatt Farms - Apples Maw Maw’s – Country Ham Biscuits & Coffee Wyatt Family – Honey
Franklin Hall Quad
Blue Ridge Institute & Museum Field Bounty & Bloom – Plants, Snacks, Canned Goods BBQ Man – Pork BBQ, Roasted Peanuts, Lemonade Moon Mountain Farms – Pies Poobie’s Kwik Stop – Funnel Cakes
Phillip Allison – 3D Printing Bees Wraps By Eva – Beeswax Food Wraps Garrett Brockwell – Canned Foods Denise Crews – Peanuts Rebecca Dabney – Resin Flowers
Franklin Hall – Inside Mallory Ballard – Soaps Beeman Leather – Leather Goods Libby Bondurant – Quilting Arthur T Boyd – Wooden Bowls Tony Boyd – Turkey Calls Tom Brown – Apple Lore Pat Carper – Wooden Barn Quilts Sonya Forte – Studio 43 Pottery Verily Simpkins & Sarah Gillenwater – Corn Husk Dolls Jeanne Haselier – Painted Gourds I-Tal Acres – Herbal Products Debs McLaughlin – Tatting Lace Reynolds Homestead Hook-In-Hand Exchange – Rugs Sandy Sampson – Jewelry Al Stewart – Canes & Carving Randy & Megan Winn – Chair Caning William Wray – Crocheting Dwayne Young – Birdhouses Michael Zimmerman – Dulcimer Luthier
SPECIAL THANKS Virginia Tourism Corporation Virginia Humanities Virginia Commission for the Arts Southwest Virginia Antique Power Assoc. Outlaw Cruisers Car Club Ferrum Elementary School Heavenly Manna Food Bank Tri-Area Community Health Center-Ferrum Franklin County Public Safety Franklin County Parks & Rec Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Ferrum Forward Community Group
Ferrum College Maintenance Department Ferrum College Conferences & Events Ferrum College Campus Police SSC Services Housekeeping Ferrum Lions Club Virginia State Police VDOT Franklin County FFA Aztec Rentals Roanoke Golf Carts Stage Sound, Inc. Booker T. Washington National Monument
Adam Alley Terry Austin Loretta Cooper Nancy & Matt Cross Karl Edwards Gess Gallien Dianna Hernandez-Garcia Abby Hudson Daniel Jackson Robert & Ruth Journell Maria Isabel Montero Harry & Natalie Norris
IN MEMORY Roy Johnson • Kinney Rorrer 7
53rd Annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show
Lindsey Oakley Spook Parcell Bobby Radford Jean Redelman David Rotenizer Tim Tatum Don Vineyard Pam Vineyard Betty Worley
BLUE RIDGE INSTITUTE & MUSEUM 2026 Event
Christmas at the 1800 Farm Friday, December 18
YEAR-ROUND! Monday Night Music JAM Did you know we are a major venue on The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail? And every Monday at 7PM you can join us for an evening of authentic old-time and bluegrass music.
2027 Events Visible Mending Workshop Saturday, February 6
Spring Plant & Seed Swap Thursday, April 8
Fincastle Company Encampment Saturday, April 10
Moonshine Heritage Car Show and BBQ Cook-Off Saturday, April 24
Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Arts & Crafts Show Saturday, October 23
Fall Seed Swap Saturday, September 11
Christmas at the 1800 Farm Friday, December 17
For More Information Visit www.blueridgeinstitute.org, follow @BlueRidgeInstituteandMuseum on Facebook, email bri@ferrum.edu, or call 540-365-4416.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
Ferrum Lions Club