Appalachian Festival
A little history for you of our involvement with the Appalachian Festival. Back when the club was rather young we were pursued by the folks who ran the Festival to bring our lathes and wares to Coney. They were very interested in our involvement. They provided a space (we have been placed all over the grounds), tables and a tent for free. To help promote the event they asked that we demonstrate wood turning on TV, Channel 19 was a sponsor. I carried the lathe, wood, plastic tarp, and tools to the studios of Channel 19. (This was probably in the middle 1990's)
I took the tarp for the shavings and dust. I demoed right in with cameras and the TV personalities. I told them that the dust was bad for the cameras, but we did it anyway. The next year it was in a different room and the 3rd year it was at Coney outside on the grass with remote TV. What a deal that was to set things up. I believe I had to be ready for the 7:00 news and the dew was still on the ground. The really bad part for me was that I never had my 15 minutes of fame because they never showed anything more than my hands, not my best feature, but maybe the best for TV ratings. They stopped televising woodturning after 3 years. The TV demonstration was a boost for woodturning and the club. I was hoping people would stop me on the street and ask for autographs, but no one recognized my hands.
Our presence at Coney was rather interesting for the people who came to the show as most of them had never seen wood turning or chips flying in the air. People today still get a kick out of seeing the chips fly. We had people stand close and enjoyed getting showered with wet shavings. We also demoed at Summer Fair for some years and attracted big crowds and answered many questions.
David Morrical
May 3, 2019