Festivals & Events in Upcountry South Carolina

Come join the friends of the Pickens County Museum as "Music in the Mountains 2013" continues with the Hagood Mill's Sixth Annual KidsFest, this year becoming a "SUPER KIDSFEST" concert  and music competition, on Saturday, March 16. Starting at 11:00 and continuing until 6:00 on the outdoor stage, the event's emcees and hosts, Gregg "Buffalo" Barfield and Steve McGaha - the "Wizards of Odd" -  will present a great variety of performances of students in the Young Appalachian Musicians (YAM) program of the Pickens County schools.

     Youngsters are also invited  to participate at 11:30 in a "Found Instrument Workshop," learning to build and play homemade instruments and to perform with them in "Buffalo's Jug Band Jam" (performance at 1:10 p.m.).

     At 2:00 p.m. there will be a Youth Music Competition conducted by the YAM sponsoring board, "Preserving Our Southern Appalachian Music" (POSAM). Categories include fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, vocal, stringband and open (for other instruments). There will be two divisions - one for middle and high school - the other for younger kids. Registration is at the site. The Sweet Potato Pie Kids (featuring YAM students) will perform while the judges decisions are being made.

   One of the many highlights of the day will be the featured performances by students from the School District of Pickens County’s Young Appalachian Musician (Y.A.M.) program that celebrates the “passing on of the musical torch” to the next generation of Upcountry musicians. This pioneering program teaches children in public school to play traditional instruments such as fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar by ear and is now a highlight at seven Pickens County Schools. Through this effort, Y.A.M. students have the opportunity to not only learn to play an instrument, but to play a keen role in preserving our musical heritage today and in the future.

The Hagood Mill KidsFest is designed to be an entertaining, educational and fun way to introduce children to the traditional music, folk instruments, and traditional arts of the Appalachian Region, and to promote an appreciation for the visual and performing arts, all while helping to preserve our unique mountain culture.

   KidsFest entertainment will run from 11:00 to 6:00 on the Mill’s outdoor stage. The site itself will be open from 10:00 until 4:00 with the old gristmill running and a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, open-hearth cooking, metal-smithing, pioneer toys and games and more!

   The water-powered 1845 gristmill is one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upstate and operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half…the mill will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits and wheat flour will be available, as well as Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items.

   The Annual KidsFest, a part of “Music in the Mountains,” is sponsored by a private benefactor. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts..