The centerpiece of the event is the sorghum syrup demonstration, which the national park has provided each fall for more than 35 years. The syrup is made much the same way it was produced a hundred or more years ago using a horse-powered cane mill and wood-fired cooker. The syrup making demonstration is provided by students, staff, and volunteers from Swain County High School through a cooperative agreement with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains Association. The association is the national park’s non-profit partner that operates the bookstores in the park’s visitor centers.
Other activities during the day include hearth cooking, hominy making, apple butter, apple cider, soap making and traditional toys. Tools, farm implements, and historic photographs from the national park's archives and artifact collection will also be on display. Music will be provided by Marshall Crowe and the Bluegrass Singers. Featured participants at this year’s event include the Woodard family from Bryson City, NC, who will provide the hominy making demonstration; Ila Hatter, well-known naturalist, author and native plants instructor from Stecoah, N.C.; and Ron and Suzanne Joyner from Big Horse Creek Farm in Ashe County, N.C. whose small family-owned orchard and nursery maintains more than 300 varieties of custom-grafted heirloom apple trees.
The purpose of the Mountain Life Festival is to share with park visitors some of the traditional fall activities that were an important part of rural life in the southern mountains. The spirit of cooperation that existed among families and neighbors is reflected in this event.
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