Blue Ridge National Heritage Area
Escape. Refresh. Discover. Welcome to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, a place unlike any other on earth,
where ancient landscapes enchant the eye and age-old traditions warm the heart.
As you travel the Blue Ridge Parkway and visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
you’ll encounter waves of blue-misted mountains, graceful waterfalls, and welcoming smiles
from people who are proud of their rich cultural traditions.
This is the Blue Ridge, where
you can get away from it all, refresh your spirit, and discover one of the most beautiful
and unique landscapes in America.
Established by Congress in November 2003, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area recognizes
and celebrates the natural abundance and richly varied cultural history of the North Carolina mountains.
Smoky Mountain Folk Festival
The 37th Annual Smoky Mountain Folk Festival is August 29 & 30, 2008. Featuring two nights of the
finest traditional Southern Appalachian music and dance the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival is held
annually Labor Weekend in Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska, NC.
Both nights of the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival include a rich variety of the region's
finest fiddlers, banjo players, string bands, ballad singers, buck dancers, square dance
teams as well as the marvelous sounds of dulcimer, harmonica, jew's harp, bagpipes, spoons,
saws, and folk ensembles of all sorts
