Director General Scott Goddard outlines Mountain State Forest Festival changes
ELKINS – The Mountain State Forest Festival is more than just a community festival. It’s a time to take a step back from the trials and tribulations we encounter every day on a national, state, community and individual level. It’s a time to reflect on our traditions and heritage and a time to move forward with future plans and goals.
As this year’s director general of the Mountain State Forest Festival, Scott Goddard readily admits the event is “a real life fairytale, and it’s for all of us to experience and enjoy.”
Goddard outlined to members of the Rotary Club of Elkins Monday several new activities that will be part of the 80th “magical” event.
“As director general, I felt it my duty to stay true to the traditions, but breath new life into the festival,” Goddard said. “We also had to stay within a budget and for that reason we departed from hiring a national Saturday night entertainer and made the decision to go with ‘Mountain Stage.'”
Heard weekly on NPR stations across the country, “Mountain Stage” is produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and has celebrated more than 30 years on air, and is the longest running live-performance radio show of its kind. The concert, at the Myles Center for the Arts at the Harper-McNeeley Auditorium of Davis & Elkins College Oct. 8, will be recorded live and broadcast at a later date on the internationally syndicated radio program that is aired on more than 170 NPR stations around the nation and on the top-ranking Mountain Stage Podcast.
Goddard noted that during the time he and the MSFF Board of Directors were looking at national acts, the state Legislature was in a “fairs and festivals budget crisis.”
“We were not sure if the money we were counting on would be there,” he noted.
Festival officials were looking at the possibility of bringing in Kenny Rogers, since Rogers had just announced his final concert tour. However, money considerations outweighed the desire to see the country star in Elkins.
“We have gone down this road many times before,” he said. “It would have cost us $70,000 to bring Kenny Rogers to Elkins. With Mountain Stage, we have the opportunity to see a 14-time Grammy Award performer such as bluegrass heavyweight and former Lonesome River band member, Dan Tyminski, plus a full line-up of top-notch musicians including Ronnie Bowman, Sara Watkins, Eric Johnson, Elise Davis and Mountain Heart.”
Heading the Mountain Stage lineup, Tyminski is best known as the singing voice of George Clooney in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Tyminski’s powerful rendition of the Stanley Brothers’ version of “Man of Constant Sorrow” became a surprise hit single. The song was given the CMA Single of the Year award in 2000. That same year, IBMA named the tune the Song of the Year, and the soundtrack to the film won the Album of the Year, as well.
Also new this year will be the Friday night Block Party on Kerens Avenue. Goddard said the Block Party was initiated by Mayor Van Broughton as a token of thanks to El Gran Sabor for having to tolerate the lengthy completion of the water project on Kerens Avenue.
“The El Gran’s business was affected financially by the project,” he said, “and this was a way of giving back.”
Also of note is the Saturday evening performance of an Elkins native, illusionist Joshua Jordan. Goddard noted there would be “magic in the air” that evening and that he hoped Rotary members would help support and advertise this new addition to the festival line-up.
Also on Saturday, “Celebrate Appalachia Banjos, Burgers and Beer Festival” will be offered.
“The banjo and fiddle competition used to be part of the festivities years ago, but disappeared for awhile,” Goddard noted. “We are bringing it back with a bang. We’ll be bringing in top fiddle and banjo players from across the state to this state-sanctioned event and connecting it to a burger cook-off and craft beer and West Virginia wine offerings.”
Other changes attendees will see is the absence of the local favorite Winged Wheels’from Toronto, Canada.
“The Winged Wheels were taken off the road,” Goddard explained. “We’ll be replacing them with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Drill Team.”
Also of note, Dr. E. Gordan Gee, president of West Virginia University, will be the guest speaker at the Distinquished Guest Dinner on Thursday evening.
In other business:
- Dr. Frank Mams of Elkins, along with Chelsey Jones, executive director of the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce, introduced to members “The Leadership Project,” a collaboration between Mams, as facilitator, WVU Extension Services Director of Professional and Organizational Development Debbie McDonald and special guest speaker, U.S. Federal Judge Irene M. Keeley.
The Leadership Project, Mams said, will be a four-day workshop where interested individuals and business owners can learn leadership skills.
“Leadership is a topic that is highly written about,” said Mams, “but less often taught or discussed. No one teaches leadership skills anymore, and our aim is to help those who want to learn leadership to learn skills integrated with leadership.”
Topics will include: Leadership definition, the introduction and handling of change, emotional intelligence, the challenges and risks of leadership and the the skills to apply in leadership situations.
A fee will be charged for the four-day course, which will include the dates of Oct. 17, 24, 31 and Nov. 7, and Mams noted that support from any Rotarian would be appreciated.
Space is limited and the Chamber of Commerce office should be contacted prior to Oct. 7 to receive a reduced course price. The cost covers all reading materials and speaker fees.
The Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce may be contacted by calling 304-636-2717, or by visiting the web site at erccc.com