Arts Festival celebrates state talent, heritage

Known for its folklore, music, literature, art and even dialect, Appalachia has never lacked culture.

Beginning Memorial Day weekend, this culture will be celebrated at the third annual River City Festival of the Arts in Rowlesburg, W.Va.

Anna Nassif, one of the event's coordinators, said the event was developed to create a sense of state pride and to come together to recognize the state's talent.

"The mission and purpose of The River City Festival of the Arts is to celebrate life and art at the grassroots level. It's to preserve and build on local heritage and to encourage community pride in artistic achievement," Nassif said.

The festival will begin Friday evening at 6:30 in the Szilagyi Center Auditorium as the Sheila Coleman Quintet and the piano music of Thomas Harttung Nassif take the stage.

Tickets are $10 and are available at local Clear Mountain Banks.

Beginning Sunday at 11 a.m., an open church service will be held at the Christ United Methodist Church followed by a tribute to soldiers who have served in all of the nation's wars.

Lunch will be available for purchase at the River City Cafe afterwards.

Although the festival is to appreciate the local area and its people, Nassif said the event is also to teach outsiders about the state and to offer a sort of cultural outsourcing.

"We want to increase cultural tourism, to raise awareness and interest in the arts, to provide cultural and artistic opportunities for interested artists in the town, county, state and nation," Nassif said.

As Thomas Nassif and the Sheila Coleman Quintet represent West Virginia's jazz talent and Thomas Nassif's daughter, accomplished soprano Cristina Nassif, lights up the stage with a program of art songs and arias, Andrew McKnight and Beyond Boarders will take care of representing the state's folk talent.

Playing as both a solo act and with Beyond Boarders, McKnight and friends will close Saturday evening's activities as they take the stage at the Szilagyi Center Auditorium. Tickets for this portion of the festival are $10.

Beginning his career as an environmental engineer, McKnight turned to music after a short stint in the engineering business, taking an interest in music early on in his childhood, inspired by his father's musical endeavors and aspirations.

Supporting himself in college and grad school by playing bar gigs with his rock band, McKnight eventually began to write his own songs in a markedly different style, and released his first album "Traveler" in 1995.

McKnight's music is environmentally conscious Appalachian music using acoustic instruments including guitar, banjo and string bass to evoke the Americana roots West Virginia is known for.

Although most of the material performed at McKnight's Saturday evening concert is composed by him, songs written by other members of the group will be featured as well, including Stephanie Thompson and Lisa Taylor.

"My music is an incubator. (As a group,) We're slowly transitioning to other members' material," McKnight said of working with his new group.

With an active week of practicing and playing for two major shows, McKnight said he is hopeful that the RCAF will be a
success and is looking forward to what he thinks will be a special night.

The night preceding McKnight's performance at the RCAF, he and Beyond Boarders will be recording a live concert scheduled to be released as a DVD in the near future.

The weekend will end with a production of French playwright Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster" performed by the Preston High Theater Company and directed by Lynn Broderick.

Tickets for the play are $7 for adults and $5 for students.

A weekend pass for the entire weekend's activities is available for $30.

For more information and the itinerary for the festival, visit www.rowlesburg.org/rivercity.html