Downtown in Asheville in Buncombe County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Shindig on the Green

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 25, 2023

1. Shindig on the Green Marker

Inscription.

Shindig on the Green. . What began as a small show in a city festival resulted in two of the most important cultural events in the region. In 1928, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce asked musician and folk historian Bascom Lamar Lunsford to arrange a folk song and dance program as part of the city's Rhododendron Festival. When Lunsford brought the music and dance out of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and onto the stage for the public to experience, he created one of the nation's most important historical and cultural performance events. Asheville's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival is the nation's first and oldest continuously running folk festival. , Lunsford's cultivation and promotion of the region's folk heritage brought attention to Asheville and Buncombe County, and, in 1967 Shindig on the Green grew from the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival as a way to encourage and present a wide variety of performers in an informal outdoor atmosphere. Founded by members of Asheville's all-volunteer Folk Heritage Committee, Shindig presents authentic, traditional music and dance in a stage show on summer Saturday evenings “along about sundown,” while offering a gathering place for musicians to jam together around the park. With the completion of Pack Square Park in 2010, the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage offers a permanent location for Shindig's stage shows. Musicians and dancers come from all over the mountains to fill the park with music and mountain camaraderie. , www.folkheritage.org. , [Captions] , (Bottom) Left: View of Shindig on the Green in Pack Square Park from the top of the Jackson Building. Top right: The Montreat Smooth Dancers perform during Shindig on the Green at City-County Plaza, c. 1960. Middle right: Traditional folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford calls a big circle mountain dance inside the Old City Auditorium during a Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, c. 1960. Bottom right: The Stoney Creek Boys have been the house band and a fixture on the Shindig stage since 1963. , (Top) Left: Musicians play for a dancer at Shindig on the Green, c. 1960. Right: People gather to listen to jammers play around the park. , The North Carolina mountains and foothills were designated the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area in recognition of their natural beauty and living traditions of music, croft, agriculture, and Cherokee culture. This location is part of a regional trail of distinctive heritage sites. Ask for information at area visitor centers. More information online at: www.blueridgeheritage.com

What began as a small show in a city festival resulted in two of the most important cultural events in the region. In 1928, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce asked musician and folk historian Bascom Lamar Lunsford to arrange a folk song and dance program as part of the city's Rhododendron Festival. When Lunsford brought the music and dance out of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and onto the stage for the public to experience, he created one of the nation's most important historical and cultural performance events. Asheville's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival is the nation's first and oldest continuously running folk festival.

Lunsford's cultivation and promotion of the region's folk heritage brought attention to Asheville and Buncombe County, and, in 1967 Shindig on the Green grew from the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival as a way to encourage and present a wide variety of performers in an informal outdoor atmosphere. Founded by members of Asheville's all-volunteer Folk Heritage Committee, Shindig presents authentic, traditional music and dance in a stage show on summer Saturday evenings “along about

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sundown,” while offering a gathering place for musicians to jam together around the park. With the completion of Pack Square Park in 2010, the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage offers a permanent location for Shindig's stage shows. Musicians and dancers come from all over the mountains to fill the park with music and mountain camaraderie.
www.folkheritage.org
[Captions]
(Bottom) Left: View of Shindig on the Green in Pack Square Park from the top of the Jackson Building. Top right: The Montreat Smooth Dancers perform during Shindig on the Green at City-County Plaza, c. 1960. Middle right: Traditional folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford calls a big circle mountain dance inside the Old City Auditorium during a Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, c. 1960. Bottom right: The Stoney Creek Boys have been the house band and a fixture on the Shindig stage since 1963.
(Top) Left: Musicians play for a dancer at Shindig on the Green, c. 1960. Right: People gather to listen to jammers play around the park.

The North Carolina mountains and foothills were designated the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area in recognition of their natural beauty and living traditions of music, croft, agriculture, and Cherokee culture. This location is part of a regional trail of distinctive heritage sites. Ask for information at area visitor centers. More information online at: www.blueridgeheritage.com

Erected by Blue

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 25, 2023

2. Shindig on the Green Marker

Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Notable Events. A significant historical year for this entry is 1928.

Location. 35° 35.748′ N, 82° 32.973′ W. Marker is in Asheville, North Carolina, in Buncombe County. It is in Downtown. It can be reached from the intersection of College Street (Alternate U.S. 74) and Court Plaza. Marker is in Pack Square Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 80 Court Plaza, Asheville NC 28801, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Mountains. It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other

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markers are within walking distance of this marker: Western North Carolina Veterans Memorial (a few steps from this marker); Ellington's Dream (within shouting distance of this marker); Early Milestones in Buncombe County (within shouting distance of this marker); The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail (within shouting distance of this marker); a different marker also named The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail (within shouting distance of this marker); Thomas Wolfe (within shouting distance of this marker); Lynching in America / The Lynching of John Humphries (within shouting distance of this marker); Confederate Armory (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Asheville.

Credits. This page was last revised on July 28, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 28, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 287 times since then and 14 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 28, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.