More From The Black Walnut Festival

As we were getting our place to watch the parade, I checked out who was performing on the stage. Boy, that fiddle sounded familiar! It was our old friend Lester McCumbers. You will remember that this past years WV State Folk Festival was dedicated to Lester and his wife Linda.

What is a festival without food? Food selections are always so healthy. (chuckle)


In the shot below Judy is pointing out one of the heathier foods- the infamous Italian sausage sandwich smothered in onions and peppers. This shot is for our good friend Dan who loves gourmet food - especially such treats as sausage sandwiches, country ham, and fried baloney sandwiches!


After the parade we visited the craft area.

Sister Judy was busy selling knives and food items in the Eastern Star booth. The crafts are housed in the National Guard Armory and it always seems very crowded. Grandma Meads always enjoys shopping!

Outside the armory was a vendor who we thought was unique and had a great craft for sale. This fellow was from Ghana in West Africa and was selling these wonderful handcrafted baskets. The baskets are exclusively woven by the indigenous Frafra people of a historical town in Northern Ghana called Bolgatanga. Bolga is known as the crafts center of northern Ghana, with a large central market. Weaving has been a traditional skill of these people over the years. The geographical land area of Bolgatanga is not fertile enough for extensive agricultural activities. Coupled with an erratic rainfall pattern and generally harsh weather conditions, handicraft activities such as basket weaving, leather work and pottery are undertaken mostly by the women to supplement their incomes from the subsistence of farming activities. He explained that on his last visit it had rained for a month and extreme flooding washed out the majority of mud houses. He said that instead of farmers the local folks had resorted to fishing.


I thought I would share with you the basket making process.

Elephant grass straw is collected from the tops of the stalk, then each piece is split in half vertically by biting through it.
Each half of the split straw is then twisted tightly by rolling it against a weaverÕs leg to give it strength.
The straw is put in bunches and dyed in boiling water with the dye added. For bright colors the straw is dyed yellow first, then the color.
The weaver carefully selects appropriate straw for the base, sides and handle. The selection of the proper grass for the proper parts of the basket is critical to good weaving.
Weaving starts at the base and works up to the rim. The rims are generally finished flat, or wrapped with straw to form a tube like edge.
There are a variety of different handles, but all are made with a sturdy wrapping technique around a grass core.
Remaining bits of straw that are sticking out of the basket are carefully trimmed off. The trimming is important because it determines how the basket feels to the touch.
Leather handles are usually applied by local leather workers. A medium basket takes 3 days to complete.


I will leave you with a few views of the quilt show that was held in the Roane County Library.