Second Diplomatic mission…A Success!

Your Ambassador has returned from attending the dedication of the sculpture in Waynesville, North Carolina.   

This piece of public art has been titled, “Celebrating Folkmoot” and was commissioned by the Waynesville Public Arts Council.  For those of you who are not familiar with the word, “folkmoot”, let me enlighten you. 

Twenty-six years ago, the concept of “Folkmoot” or “a meeting of the people” was introduced to the tiny mountain town of Waynesville by Dr. Cliff Border and other interested citizens.  This was to be a hosting of international dancers by the town of Waynesville for about one week and would take place in July.  The first festival featured groups representing nine countries: England, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Turkey and some bluegrass musicians from our Appalachian area. Over the years, some 200 groups from 100 different countries have participated with a new slate of performers each year. 

As you can imagine, this was no small task to find the groups, plan the events & venues, organize lodging and to sell not only the tickets but to sell the community on this newfangled idea.  Mountain people don’t always take to change with enthusiasm but for the first event, the folks came from all over western North Carolina.  At that time, I was living in Waynesville and teaching high school.  This was beyond exciting and some of my students were asked to serve as hosts and hostesses for various groups. That meant staying with the group for the entire visit, even sleeping in the classrooms and dining with their group.  It became the opportunity of a lifetime for many mountain kids and a life-changing event for even more.  Two of my favorite students realized that they had personalities plus; began to wonder about the rest of the world and went on many excursions outside the States as they progressed through college.  One young man became so enamored with the Romanian Ballet Troupe, that he followed his true love to Romania; proposed and began the saga of waiting for Visas while continuing college.  That story has a wonderful ending with marriage, children and living in Waynesville.

Now, I am not saying that our town was backward but I taught students who had never been outside the county.  Really, in 1984!  They had never heard another language other than English and some referred to me as “a foreigner” since I had lived all over the state of North Carolina and spoke precise English.  I was an English teacher, after all.  This influx of “strangers” in their curious costumes, odd eating habits, and their love of dance managed to cross the language barrier and endear the locals to wanting Folkmoot to survive.  For many years, our international guests were housed in one of the schools…yes, cots were set up in classrooms; meals were served in the school cafeteria and school activity buses were volunteered to take the guests to their venues.  As word-of-mouth spread the news of Folkmoot, visitors began planning vacations around the July event and buses were traveling to surrounding counties to showcase the dancers.  All the volunteers were just local people who gave their time and love for our visitors.  My two favorite times with Folkmoot would have to be the International Parade on Main Street and the closing ceremony.  My all-time favorite group is hands down, the stilt walkers from France!  If this has intrigued you, please go to the website for more information.    
                                               ( http://www.folkmootusa.org/)

Anyway, back to my evening visit to Waynesville…The council had commissioned an artist, Wayne Trapp, (http://www.waynetrapp.com/) after reviewing numerous applications to design a sculpture that would say: “FOLKMOOT”.  The contest to design a flag and create a country was left up to interested individuals.  These creations, including Zapponia, were submitted to Mr. Trapp and then he worked his magic.  The link below has an excellent photo of the sculpture. http://www.townofwaynesville.org/content/view/362/363/) 

Ok.  You really can’t see the glorious flag of Zapponia since the artist incorporated all the designs submitted but some part of Zapponia is evident.  As the sun set rather quickly and the temperature dropped into the thirties, the crowd assembled for the dedication of “Celebrating Folkmoot”.  Your Ambassador was introduced as one of the designers and then several speeches later, we followed the bagpiper, a few steps, to The Gateway Club for a warmer gathering of friends and hospitality.  Wayne Trapp gave an informative presentation of his background and works he has completed, which you can see on his website.


Then it was time to head to my “sponsor’s” home for a long visit over an excellent Zinfandel.  Check out her darling cats, who were thrilled to have another human in the house for the night.  We kept her husband busy taking pictures and pouring wine.  By the way, "said" husband is almost ready to publish his first book but more on that another time.