Photo by Jeff Eason Trade Days Annual Celebration of Mountaineers & Native Americans Starts Friday By Jeff Eason The border between western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee is more than just an arbitrary dotted line that our forefathers drew on the ground. It marked the area near the continental divide and some of the highest elevations in the eastern half of the country can be found along those two states’ border. Trade, Tennessee, is one of those border towns and it is the oldest community in the state. It got its name from being a busy trading center where pioneers such as Daniel Boone met Native Americans to swap furs and goods from the west for spices, metal tools and cotton fabric from the east. This weekend the Trade Community will honor its history with the 17th Annual Trade Days Celebration Friday through Saturday, June 24-26. The celebration will feature Native American dances and demonstrations, vendors, mountain food, live music, a petting zoo and much more. Trade Days is held at the Community Center at 288 Modock Road in Trade, Tennessee. Tickets are available in advance and at the gate. This weekend’s Trade Days Celebration will feature a Native American Pow Wow with storytelling, dancing, music, drumming, and poetry. Native American writer Ron Colombe will be one of the highlighted poets this year. Trade Days will also feature special shows and attractions throughout the weekend such as Kirby’s Congress of Rough Riders, T.J. Hilton the Clown, Javier Alarcon and the Papantla Flyers, Bunji Jumping, Rock Wall by the National Guard and the petting zoo. Stage shows include master fiddler and Native American Arvel Bird, Jerry Harmon the Smoky Mountain Gypsy, and the Malkuri Performers from the Highlands of Ecuador. Inside the gymnasium at the school at Trade, demonstrations of traditional mountain crafts will take place. Watch as artisans create apple butter, lye soap, wooden toys and other items right before your eyes. There will also be demonstrations of tobacco twisting, quilting, weaving, crocheting, butter churning and cheese-making. The local branch of the North Carolina Bee Keepers will also have a demonstration area inside the gym. Musical and dancing entertainers at this year’s Trade Days include Lindsey Debord, Cove Creek Ramblers, Kathy Terrell, Sugar Foot Shuffles, the Senior Citizens Band, Leftover Bluegrass, Debbie Hyder Line Dance, Dance Explosion Cloggers, Boone Trail Band, Arvel Bird, the Horn in the West Singers, Mary Hawkins, the Winning Side, Trail Blazing Cloggers, Slapping Leather, and Meritte Cloggers. Saturday’s celebration will begin with the Trade Days Parade, starting at 10 a.m. at the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. The Papantla Flyers Returning to Trade Days for the first time since 1998, the Papantla Flyers is an act that is not to be missed. The Flyers consist of a group of five Aztec Indians from Cancun and other parts of Mexico. They perform death-defying feats of aerial bravery and spend time with their audiences to teach folks about their native culture. Since 1997 the Papantla Flyers have performed throughout the world from Europe to Japan, sharing the magic of their peoples’ sacred dances with delighted audiences. One of the athletic dancers in the Papantla Flyers, Javier Alarcon, will lead the ground blessing ceremony on top of Snake Mountain to officially start Trade Days. The origins of their sacred dance go back some 1,500 years to the Native tribes living along the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Over the years, the ritual spread throughout Mesoamerica and a special square was reserved for it in many towns and villages. In the Sundance, four flyers ascend an 80-foot pole topped by an 8-inch diameter drum and rotating platform. After the priest joins them at the top, the four flyers drop backwards into the air and perform traditionally choreographed maneuvers, making 13 revolutions before reaching the ground. Tickets Gate admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Friday tickets for senior citizens are $5. Advance tickets for all three days are $20 for adults and $8 for children. Single day advance tickets are $8 for adults and $3 for children. Kids five and under get in free. For more information, call (423) 727-3007.