Action Fair Connects Potential Volunteers With Organizations By Mike Shands Several High Country non-profit and volunteer organizations will turn downtown Boone into a celebration of volunteerism and community activism this weekend. They will hold the Mountain Communities Action Fair Saturday, Aug. 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Howard Street. The free fair will feature music, food, raffle prizes, speakers, children’s activities plus information booths and displays representing a wide variety of non-profit, self-help and volunteer organizations devoted to improving life in the High Country. “It’s a celebration of volunteerism and the activist spirit that so many people in this county possess – the spirit that tries to make the local community better from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of issues,” said Jerry Williamson, a member of the fair’s organizing committee. Some of the 20 to 25 non-profit groups scheduled to provide booths and information at the fair include Appalachian Voices, Partnership for Watauga’s Future, MountainKeepers, the Watauga Humane Society and the Sierra Club. Others include the Watauga County Democratic Party, High Country Peace and Justice, Appalachian Coalition for Just and Sustainable Communities, Middlefork Greenway Association, Hospitality House and Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary. Another member of the fair’s organizing committee, Nancy Reigel, said the fair will provide a way for those non-profit organizations that support social or environmental issues or provide service to inform the public about their missions and recruit volunteers. “This is an opportunity to learn how to participate in local volunteer efforts and to get people aware of what’s going on and how important it is to get involved, and this gives them a way to find out,” Reigel said. “It’s also a wonderful opportunity for all new Appalachian State students, faculty members and their families to learn about how they can get involved in the community. “We have an excellent lineup of speakers and a powerful mix of just fascinating musical groups.” One of those speakers will be Robert Cox, the former president of the U.S. Sierra Club, who is a professor of communications studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Another speaker will be Maria Gunnoe, a resident of Bobwhite, W.V., who will offer an account of how her family farm was affected by mountaintop removal, a form of strip mining for coal. Lenny Kohm, a resident of Todd and a major organizer of the nationwide effort to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, will also speak. In addition to the featured speakers, an official “soapbox” will be available for those visitors to the fair who feel moved to address the crowd on a wide range of topics. Musical groups scheduled to appear include Melissa Reaves at 10:30 a.m., Diana and the Vintage Boys at noon, Lisa Baldwin and Dave Haney at 1:30 p.m. and Wiseapple at 3 p.m. Baldwin, a well-known performer of old-time mountain and folk music, will also conduct a children’s music hour to provide an entertaining and engaging interactive experience for children of all ages. To enter for free raffle drawings visitors simply need to have a ticket card signed at a majority of the information booths, then turn it in. The grand prize will be a $100 gift certificate for dinner donated by Jackalopes View at Archers Mountain Inn in Banner Elk. Some of the other prizes will include several items donated by Earth Fare. A variety of food vendors will be selling tasty treats, including Coffey’s and The Old Jailhouse. The fair will also feature face painting. Reigel said the fair’s organizing committee wanted to thank several High Country businesses and individuals for donating funds, items or services to the fair. They include Earth Fare for providing funds and prizes, Blue Ridge Motors for providing a stage, Phil Halbedel from Phil’s Citgo for the use of sound equipment and GDS for providing free delivery of empty garbage containers and free pickup of full ones. The fair will take place on Howard Street from Depot Street to the Wilcox Emporium. For more information about the fair look online at www.boonenc.org/mcaf.