This Saturday, the Downtown Boone Development Association will present the 15th annual Kraut Creek Festival on Howard Street between Water Street and Depot Street.

Kraut Creek gets its name from Watauga County’s leafy heritage. Watauga County was once one of the state’s top cabbage producers, as the cool mountain summers are ideal for growing the hearty vegetable.
Needless to say, where there’s cabbage, there’s kraut. Boone’s Blair family opened the Watauga Kraut Factory in 1922, located next to the creek, close to where the Agricultural Extension office is located today. After the cabbage was cooked, excess water from the factory would be piped into Kraut Creek, and thus the creek was named.

Nowadays, the factory is closed and Kraut Creek smells noticeably less kraut-like, but the community’s pride in its agricultural heritage remains.

The Sept. 22 event will be free and open to the public. The schedule is as follows:

* 10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Children’s Council of Watauga: Children’s Activities
*10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Arts and Crafts Vendor Booths Open
*10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Mountain Peace Keepers: Peace Celebration Fair
*10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Bands to Play
*10 a.m.-5 p.m. – High Country Water Media Society: Art Show at High Country Press – Depot Street
*10 a.m.-2 p.m. – Watauga Arts Council: Local Musical Program
*12 -12:15 p.m. – NC Extension Office: Clean Sweep Awards Presentation
*12 – 5 p.m. – Thistle Meadow Winery: Wine Tasting at Moonshine Restaurant

The music line up includes the Forget-Me-Nots (Celtic Fiddling Trio) at 10 a.m., the Sugar Grove Sweet Talkers (Old-time String Band) at 11 a.m., The Lazybirds (Country Blues & Jazz) at 12 p.m. and Barefoot Manner (Bluegrass) from 2-5 p.m.

Cooperative Extension service agent and Big Sweep coordinator Wendy Patoprsty said volunteers who participated in Sept. 8’s Big Sweep will receive special recognition at this year’s festival. The annual event hosts more than 100 volunteers as they clean up the streams of Watauga County. This year 118 volunteers collected 5,500 pounds of trash, much of which was then recycled. They cleaned a total of about 19 miles of stream.

Patoprsty said Earth Fare will be treating the volunteers to lunch in the festival’s Peace Village, to be located in the gravel parking lot across from Wilcox Emporium on Howard Street. At noon, she said, Betty Bond, dressed as Mother Nature, will take the stage and present awards. The award categories include the most trash collected in the smallest area, the most polluting item, the most reusable item and the most peculiar item.

For additional information, contact the Downtown Boone Development Association at (828) 262-4532.