Augusta Festival

Arts, crafts and music celebrated

Arts Center Executive Director Dani Cade, left, looks over several tables of bowls that were being sold during Saturday’s Bowl Fest held at the Center. The fundraiser was held as part of the Augusta Heritage Center’s Festival and Craft Fair at Elkins City Park.

Arts Center Executive Director Dani Cade, left, looks over several tables of bowls that were being sold during Saturday's Bowl Fest held at the Center. The fundraiser was held as part of the Augusta Heritage Center's Festival and Craft Fair at Elkins City Park.

ELKINS -- Saturday's Augusta Festival and Craft Fair at Elkins City Park capped off three consecutive weeks of educational programming, concerts and dances from the Augusta Heritage Center.

"The festival on Saturday was fabulous, the weather was perfect and everyone was in such a good mood," Augusta Heritage Center Chief Creative Officer Emily Miller told The Inter-Mountain. "We had a bunch of new vendors this year and many returning ones as well. We had a lot of visitors throughout the day and everyone had a good time." 

The event, the finale for Augusta's summer programming, featured crafts, food, art, music and more. One of Saturday's highlights was the West Virginia Open Banjo and Fiddle Contests. 

"We had 10 contestants in each category for the fiddle and banjo contests, and we had a Randolph County sweep in the fiddle event," Miller said. "It was really cool to see first, second,and third place, as well as the youth category, all go to Randolph County fiddlers."

First place went to Jason Chewning in the fiddle competition, while Bob Smakula placed second andJosh Wanstreet finished in third place. The youth fiddle champion was Vernon Casseday.

The banjo winners were: Bob Smakula, first place; Rachel Dunaway, second place; Adam Casseday, third place; and Sam Dittemore, youth champion.

"We had a really good crowd watching both of those contests," Miller said. "Overall we are really pleased with how everything turned out. I received some really good feedback from parents whose children had a great time visiting the Interact Children's Museum."

After the festival concluded, the celebration moved to Kerens Avenue for the annual Augusta Block Party, which featured musical performances from the Shoats, and the Annie Neeley Band.

"The Block Party was wonderful," said Miller. "We had a great turnout and the crowd seemed to be really excited. Both of our performers for the Block Party were incredible. It was a great cap to the summer."

Augusta's Summer Programming Workshops were offered on the campus of Davis & Elkins College for the three weeks prior to Saturday's finale.

"The program was very successful this summer," Miller said. "We grew from last year with more students, and we got great feedback from everyone who attended. Everyone had a wonderful time, even during the heat, when we had an entire week over 90 degrees. It was a very successful month of classes and concerts."

For more information about the Augusta Heritage Center, visit augustaartsandculture.org or go to the organization's Facebook page.