4th of July + Planning for Session Two
Every good thing needs time to rest and that is exactly what the PAGE team spent the past week doing. We, interns, had the long weekend of the 4th of July off as a holiday, and the week after we spent simply engaging in more of the immersive experiences that we had been gifted within week one. Since we were free to explore the surrounding area of Mars Hill, Hot Springs, and Asheville North Carolina, we took this opportunity to seek out community events, things that the girls that we had taught over the previous two weeks would be engaging in as well.
Since I grew up in the rural parts of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, I am familiar with small-town activities, especially the kinds that go on during the 4th; activities like seeing how fast one can slurp down a firecracker popsicle or throwing down “popper” firecrackers onto the hot pavement are an experience that I hold in common with the people’s celebrations here. Still, there is something to be learned, always more to see and love wherever you go. Indeed, and to truly feel like a part of the communities and families that these girls spoke so highly of and excitedly about, I, along with the other interns; Lilly, Elyse, and Lisa, filled the 3rd and the 4th with celebrations that had been recommended to us by our literature group students from session one.
The first event was a fireworks show in Hot Springs, a town about 30 minutes from our apartments, nestled in a cove and surrounded on all sides by the towering Blue Ridge Mountains. After arriving, we parked in a grassy field and collectively pooled our loose dollar bills to put into a fire boot that was being carried around for donations for the fireworks; which were funded by the local fire and police departments. Off in the distance of our parking space, we could see the Hot Springs Resort, a place where people come from all around the world to relax in the town’s legendary water springs. During World War One, the hotel was actually used as an internment camp for German war prisoners and the town as a whole currently has a solid reputation for being a stop on the Appalachian Trail. There are many elements of a thriving trail town; including outdoor shops and places to grab a bite — things that would probably not exist was it not for the natural resources that many who pass through the area are able to enjoy. We spent a couple of hours counting down to sunset wandering around to some shops, taking in the breathtaking views of the mountains, and dancing along to the festive music pouring out of pickup trucks and Subaru speakers. The festive spirit continued into the fireworks show as twilight turned to dusk and the first explosions of light colored the sky.
The following day, July 4th, was just as exciting as the night before, as we all squeezed into Elyse’s car and headed down to Marshall, a town halfway between Mars Hill and Hot Springs, to attend a highly recommended rodeo at the Madison County Fairgrounds. Here, we saw several of our PAGE students, who were excited to see that we had taken their advice, and I took in the sights of attending such an event. This was something that I had never seen before in my life; cowboys and cowgirls on horses freely trotting around on their horses, barrel racing, and bull wrestling were all events that went on for hours. As the night once again came to a close with fireworks and the twang of Conway Twitty seeing us out we all sat perched on fences and the grass since the bleachers themselves were far too full to fit the hundreds of people who had come out for the event.
These events were followed by a restful Monday, then followed by a week of planning for the start of session two. To start off, the PAGE team traveled to Cherokee, North Carolina to meet with tribal elders and work on a garden plot near the Kituwah Mound, which is a highly sacred space known for being the location of the first Cherokee town in the area. This history is another part of Appalachian culture that the PAGE program hopes to explore in more depth in the near future.
Finally, to complete the week of training we met with Jenny Pickins who is a highly regarded artist and quilter in Asheville, and who is an individual who will be leading a lab project with the session two girls, on creating a quilted wall hanging, to be gifted to the historic Mars Hill Rosenwald School. This school serves as a monument specifically to Black history in the county, as it was part of a system of schools built by Black communities as a way to work around the struggle of segregation in the early 1900s. This is another facet of Appalachian history that the girls will be engaging with over the next two weeks of programming.
