A pottery festival and August break

My August break is over, and I have to go back to work Monday (tomorrow). I didn't accomplish much except some work on the grammar blog, which got good traffic.

Chris, Jake and I went to my folks' house in Catawba County for a pottery festival that my brother Tim Blackburn thought of and helped organize with the congregation at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, which is my family's home church. It was billed as "A Day at the Wheel" and all went well Saturday. The weather was perfect -- a little warm but sunny. The exhibition included about nine area potters including Steve Abee, who is shown at right above working on a piece at the exhibition. He is a very fine potter who follows the Catawba Valley tradition. A group of local musicians, Rosie and the Flattops played old-time and bluegrass music. The group includes my lifelong friend Janice Richard Ford and her husband, Cecil.

Tim, pictured at left, has a special interest in North Carolina pottery, and he has a renowned collection of old and rare pottery from the Catawba Valley tradition. He is also president of the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove. The church has a strong connection to the early pottery tradition in the area. Many of the leading potters are buried in the church cemetery. The church produced a booklet that catalogues all the graves, and made a special note of the potters. including my great-grandfather Henry Blackburn and his brother Cornelius. The speaker for the opening ceremony was Charles "Terry" Zug III, who wrote the book  "Turners and Burners" about North Carolina folk potters. He also had some nice things to say about Tim and the great efforts Tim has made to keep the pottery center going in tough financial times.

Chris made a batch of iced tea that we sold and donated the money to the church. He wanted to see how the tea would sell. We've often thought that this could be a side business for us -- selling home-brewed tea at street fairs. We sold 16-ounce cups for $1; we donated $42 to the church, which included what we sold plus a bit extra. He bought some piggy banks, shown at right, made by B.R. Hilton, also someone I've known all my life and a member of a well-known potter family.

The church sold food and some of the church ladies' crafts, and they took in a good amount of money for a first time event. I hope they keep it going.