heritage center to repeat country fair event in 2008

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center will repeat its popular Blue Ribbon Country Fair in 2008, with the date set for Saturday, September 27 on the Center’s grounds in Townsend. The event will again run from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

“Many of last year’s participants and visitors have asked if we’re going to have the fair in 2008,” Director Bob Patterson said this week. “It didn’t take long to decide we should hold it again.”

Specific divisions, classes and contests will be announced this summer, but fall vegetables are expected to be a part of this year’s produce division, so growers may want to plant accordingly. Though classes have not been determined, some possibilities are late tomatoes, peppers, beans, winter squashes and ornamental gourds.

The popular “Best Pie in the Cove” baked goods class had 33 entries in 2007 and will be split this year to include one class for amateur home bakers and a second class for professional bakers, or those who derive at least some income from baked goods. Two “Best Pie in the Cove” awards will be presented.

Other changes and additions will be announced as they are added, with a full schedule of classes to be released this summer.

The 2008 Blue Ribbon Country Fair is being made possible through the generosity of the

following sponsors (additional sponsors to be added): Akins/Crisp Public Strategies, Joy Bishop, Blackberry Farm, Citizens Bank of Blount County, Clayton Homes, Fletcher Architects,

Inc., Foothills Farmers Coop, Green Bank, Miller’s Funeral Home, Oak Ridge National

Laboratories, Smith Mortuary, Barry and Jeanie VanWinkle, and Williams Realty.