Antique tractors, craftsmen and quilters and food throughout the day highlight the annual Gowensville Fall Festival on Nov. 12. The event takes place from 8 a. m. until 2 p. m. at the community building on Highway 11 near the intersection with Highway 14. Additional parking will be available this year.
Tomato-bacon gravy, grits and biscuits are on the breakfast menu. A hot dog lunch is also served. The bake sale features cakes, pies, cookies and Ute Schmitt’s Austrian apple strudel.
Author Jim Stehlik will autograph copies of his book on Hogback Mountain from 9 -10 a.m.
Bargain hunters can browse among the books and a variety of items found in the attic treasures building. The Artisans Market offers Christmas shoppers a variety of handmade items including quilts, wall hangings, jewelry, wooden benches and bowls, paper twisted figures of Christmas carolers and pilgrims and hand-knitted and felted items.
A focus on local history includes the Dark Corner documentary DVD, wooden ornaments depicting Campbell’s covered bridge, Gowensville Community Center, Gowensville license plates and two books, “Eyes To the Hills: A Photographic Odyssey of the Dark Corner” by Dean Campbell and Jim Stehlik’s “Distilling the Mysteries of Hogback Mountain: An Historical Record and Photo Essay of Hogback Mountain.”
The Foothills Antique Power Association stages its last tractor and farm equipment show of the season during the festival.
Planned and carried by residents of Gowensville, the festival helps financially support the community center, built in 1922 as the Gowensville school. It closed in the mid 50s and now serves as a place for birthday parties, family reunions, weddings and meetings of the Landrum Quilters, under the auspices of the Greater Gowensville Association.
Tickets will be on sale for a handmade quilt and a gas grill from Freeman Gas. Drawings take place at 2 p. m.
– article submitted by Ellen Henderson