Festivals Combine For Sunflower/Sunrise Event

By Lois Carol Wheatley
Special to the Herald Courier
Published: July 24, 2008

MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. – The sunflower swivels its head to track the sun’s progress across the sky, and the sun rises in a slightly different place every day.
So it stands to reason that Mountain City’s two annual festivals, the Sunflower Festival (run by the Mountain City Downtown Merchants Association) and the Mountain Sunrise Festival (run by the Johnson County Arts Council), should undergo some minor changes from one year to the next.
This year, they have been combined into the Mountain City Sunflower/Sunrise Festival, to take place downtown on July 26 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In this way, everyone in the geographic vicinity, no matter what their connection, can be expected to bring offerings of art, entertainment and food to a venue most ideally suited to a celebration of summer – shady tents set up along small-town, tree-lined streets in a rural setting naturally air-conditioned by the cooling forces of the surrounding mountain ranges.
Heritage Hall, the old high school auditorium now refurbished as a community theater, will set up a booth on the street to sell tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance of “Living Legends,” which features impersonators up from Pigeon Forge, Tenn. to recreate Elvis, Conway Twitty, Kenny Rogers, Buddy Holly and Barney Fife.
The Tennessee Sunrise Quilt Guild will mount its annual show, a patchwork of local textile talent, in the First United Methodist Church on Church Street.
The chamber of commerce will sell embroidered shirts that proclaim, “You are no stranger in Johnson County than anywhere else.”
Local musical talent will take the stage throughout the day as visitors browse the festival’s treasure troves of photography, jewelry, walking sticks and canes, gourds, dolls, soaps and lotions, candles, paintings, wrought iron, quilts and bonnets, jams and jellies, and breads and pies.
Various organizations will serve up barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, funnel cakes, cotton candy, kettle corn and ice cream. Craig’s Coffee Shop will offer sandwiches, coffee and cheesecake. The Positive Thinkers are cooking polish sausage.
The Johnson County Art Council will put on a kids’ art contest, challenging young contestants to bring in finished artwork – pen, oil or acrylic – to be displayed at the arts council’s booth and judged by the public. A cash prize is offered for first place and trophies for first, second and third place.
And speaking of judging, a couple of contests will have to be decided. A Little Miss Sunflower Festival Pageant begins at 12:30 p.m. in front of the Johnson County Bank, with beauties competing in different age categories. If interested in entering, call Karla Prudhomme at (423) 727-1950.
The sunflowers themselves will have to withstand some public scrutiny. Ribbons will be awarded for the biggest, the prettiest and the most unusual.
Spectators can also look at classic cars during a cruise-in of the Johnson County Cruisers.
Culinary experts and history buffs couldn’t possibly go home without a cookbook from the Johnson County Historical Society.
Mayberry fans may find themselves challenged by a trivia quiz from the local chapter of the Andy Griffith Show Re-Run Watchers Club – one of 1,500 chapters nationwide devoted to the classic ’60s television show.
While in Mountain City, don’t forget to visit the shops that lend so much character to this little town.
Barbara Coyne of the Downtown Merchants Association (and owner of Victoria Rose, an antiques mini-mall on South Church Street) deserves much of the credit for carrying on this fourth annual festival through its ever-changing solar phases. Call her with any questions at (423) 727-4776.

BAND SCHEDULE
9 a.m.: Teresa Cooper (gospel)
9:30 a.m.: Johnson County Chorale (choral)
10 a.m.: Sugarfoot Shufflers (cloggers)
10:30 a.m.: Lindsey Debord (gospel)
11 a.m.: Young at Heart (square dancers)
11:30 a.m.: Kerry Gentry (old-time rock)
12:15 p.m.: Kenny Price (bluegrass)
1:15 p.m.: Danny Whittington (reggae)
2 p.m.: Jaining Ground (gospel)
3 p.m.: Danny Whittington (reggae)

LOIS CAROL WHEATLEY is a freelance writer. Contact her at .