Calling All Artisans!

Hot Springs, VA – Calling all artisans! There’s a new tourism initiative, the Artisan Trail, that can help artisans in Bath, Highland, Allegheny and Craig counties get the word out about their work. Maggie Anderson is the Director of Tourism for Bath County and she’s working on the creation of the Artisan Trail.

“We are partnering with Allegheny, Craig and Highland to develop a tourism trail that will identify the artisans in our community on a map,” says Anderson. “So that when folks come to our area and they are interested in perhaps buying a piece of homemade furniture or a carved gourd or some wonderful handmade item, that they’ll be able to find the artisan in the area that they are visiting and go to that artisan and buy that product.”

Local artisans who want to be included in the Artisan Trail information should contact Maggie Anderson in Bath County or in Highland contact Carolyn Pohowski or Tiffany White at the Highland County Chamber of Commerce. Artisans need to have information submitted by May 31 in order to be included on the map.

Another tourism project recently completed in Bath is a documentary on the county that’s part of a series on public television called Road Trip to History. There was a premiere showing of the documentary in Bath on April 19.

“We think we have an airdate for Road Trip to History,” says Anderson. “For those of you who joined us at the premiere, thank you, and we hope you enjoyed the evening. It looks like PBS now is going to air our particular chapter on June 19, as part of an entire series, but we’re going to be the kickoff show.”

Bath County’s Road Trip to History documentary is available on DVD for $10 at the Bath Tourism office in the Courthouse. After the show airs on PBS, the DVD will also be available at the Bath Chamber and other public outlets for $15.

And summer festivals are coming up in Bath. The Virginia Blues and Jazz Festival at Garth Newel Music Center is Saturday June 16 and the Bath County Triathlon is Saturday June 23. And August 4th is the Wings and Wheels Festival at Ingalls Field.

“We have some new attractions and I know none of you are going to want to miss the flying lawnmowers,” says Anderson. “That’s all I’m going to say, we’ve got flying lawnmowers. You can’t miss it.”

And plans are underway for all the activities at the second annual Harvest Moon Festival on September 22.

“I want everyone to think about their hay bales, because we’re going to have a lot of different categories in which you can win prizes,” says Anderson. “We’re going to have an expanded Farmer’s Market and we’re going to start introducing things like cooking and recipes. We want to build a wonderful cookbook for Bath County using a lot of our local homegrown kinds of things. I think the contest this year is going to be pumpkins and apples and what can you do with those things. I believe we’re going to have an auction and I know we’re going to have a wonderful free concert up at Garth Newel.”

For more information about any of these events and activities, contact Maggie Anderson at 540-839-7202.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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