NORTH WILKESBORO
Tens of thousands of people will pack into North Wilkesboro on Saturday for the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival.
But a prefestival slate of music tonight will offer a less crowded venue for folks who can't wait.
The Apple Jam will begin at 6 p.m. today, offering down-home music downtown at the corner of 10th and Main streets. That's the site of a park being developed by the Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club.
The club owns and organizes the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival, which is one of the biggest single-day arts-and-crafts festivals in the Southeast.
The festival is also a major fundraiser for more than 100 civic, church and nonprofit organizations. Admission is free, but many of the groups make money by offering paid parking lots. They also sell food or crafts.
The festival will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, with an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. There will be more than 425 arts-and-crafts vendors, 100 food vendors, and four stages with live bluegrass, gospel, country, folk and Appalachian-mountain music. The Wilkes Arts Council will have a juried art show on Ninth Street.
The grand marshals for this year's apple festival are Dave and Phyllis Moulton, a Millers Creek couple who have logged thousands of volunteer hours since moving to the area four years ago. The Moultons are active in local mission work through their church, North Wilkesboro Presbyterian, and in various civic groups, especially Wilkes Habitat for Humanity and the Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club.
"It, like so many other organizations in Wilkes, does a great job of serving the community, and that's what we want to be part of," Dave Moulton said.
Among other things, the club spends about $8,000 a year on scholarships, providing financial aid to qualifying students throughout their college years.
Phyllis Moulton said that the apple festival offers a glimpse of Americana at its best.
"This festival is a big festival for a small town," she said. "It really says small-town America to me, with all the music going on, and the crafts and all the apples for sale."
Visitors are invited to meet the Moultons throughout the day in the lobby of the Wilkes Towers and to sign the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival quilt.
The forecast for Saturday is for a typical fall day, mostly clear with a high of 77, according to the National Weather Service.
Also, expect to see more than a few apples in downtown North Wilkesboro. There will be Red Delicious, Gala, Suncrisp, Jonagold and many more, as well as apple pies, apple cider and applesauce.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
■ For more information, call the Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club at 336-984-3022 or visit www.applefestival.net.
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