On Saturday, March 1, 2025, visitors in winter coats and elaborate handmade masks gathered with locals for Helvetia’s community-wide Fasnacht celebration. As part of the event, a rapt crowd filled the pews of the town’s Zion Presbyterian Church to hear Heidi Fahrner Arnett, Eleanor Betler, and Maura Hofer share personal stories about what it was like to grow up in Helvetia and their memories of the festival’s early years.
Tag: West Virginia Folklife Program
Save the Dates: 2025 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcases
Save the Dates: 2025 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcases Come celebrate the achievements of the 2024-25 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program participants! West Virginia Folklife is hosting TWO free showcases featuring demonstrations and performances, open to the public. Refreshments provided. Meet the folklife apprenticeship pairs and learn about traditional arts of West Virginia! Saturday, November 1, 2025 Location: West…
West Virginia Day 2025 feat. Storytellers Bill Hairston & Bil Lepp
You’re invited to West Virginia Day at the West Virginia Humanities Council on Friday, July 20, 2025! Hosted at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E. Charleston, WV 25301 from 2-4pm. Free to the public.
Meet the 2024-25 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Participants
These 10 pairs from across the Mountain State are carrying on important traditions in old-time music, fiber arts, storytelling, and more.
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Mushroom Foraging with Sharon Briggs & Anthony Murray
Turkey tail. Lion’s mane. Red reishi. Crown tip coral. These are just a few of the countless mushrooms that Sharon Briggs and her apprentice, Anthony Murray, have found together over more than a decade of friendship and professional collaboration…
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Soul Food Cooking with Xavier Oglesby & Brooklynn Oglesby
Brooklynn Oglesby apprenticed her uncle, Xavier, to learn their family’s tradition of soul food cooking, a creative practice shaped and passed down by over four generations before her…
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Appalachian Storytelling with Bil Lepp & James Froemel
When Bil Lepp first entered the West Virginia Liars’ Contest in 1990, he was following in his older brother Paul’s footsteps…
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Clawhammer Banjo with Joe Herrmann & Dakota Karper
The 2022-2023 round of the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program was not Joe and Dakota’s first rodeo…
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Old-Time Fiddling with Gerry Milnes & Annick Odom
Gerry Milnes and his apprentice, Annick Odom, dove deep into West Virginia old-time fiddling tunes, techniques, and stories…
2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Fiddle Repair with Chris Haddox & Mary Linscheid
Chris Haddox and Mary Linscheid are both fiddlers—Chris, neck-deep in traditional Appalachian old-time tunes and lore, and Mary, a sponge for all things West Virginia…
“Rediscovering Old Friends” in Retirement
Bob Smakula, owner and proprietor of Smakula Fretted Instruments in Randolph County looks forward to devoting time to his own long-awaiting projects in retirement. Over the last 50 years, Bob built his instrument repair career based on his passion for vintage stringed instruments, teaching, and playing music.
Watch the 2022-2023 Folklife Apprenticeship Showcases
If you missed the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship showcases last fall, you can now watch the recordings on the West Virginia Folklife YouTube channel! These showcases celebrate traditional art forms in West Virginia and their practitioners who are passing on creative traditional knowledge. The videos are filled with engaging stories, experiences, performances, and conversations among…
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