John L. Dilbeck: Arts and Crafts

Far West Visitor's Guide -- Western North Carolina

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 12:28:25 GMT

The Far West Mountain Economic Partners Heritage Tourism group is putting together their first "Far West Visitor's Guide" for the Far Western Counties of North Carolina. This guide will consist of:

Accommodations
Things to See and Do
Historical Sites and Facts
County information for Clay, Cherokee, Graham and Swain counties
Information about the Cherokee Qualla Boundary (sometimes called the Cherokee Indian Reservation).

This guide will cover June 2005 through April 2006, and then a yearly publication will be produced. The Far West group has recently published two Calendar of Events for this region that have been a great success with the visitors. Visitors love a guide where they can get the regional information in one guide along with a map. For more information on the Far West Visitor's Guide and/or the organization, contact Debbie Jackson, Heritage Team Leader, at 828-389-3704.

SpringFest -- Murphy, NC 28906 -- May 8, 2004

Wed, 07 Apr 2004 23:37:32 GMT

SpringFest 2004 Saturday, May 8, 2004 from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. Downtown Murphy, NC 28906 Call Barbara Hughes at (828) 837-6821 for more info

Spring Heritage Festival -- April 17, 2004 -- Andrews, NC 28901

Wed, 07 Apr 2004 23:15:37 GMT

Come enjoy the Spring Heritage Festival in Andrews, NC 28901 on Saturday, April 17, 2004 from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm. What will you find here? Gospel, Bluegrass, dancing, food, arts & crafts, pets to adopt, clowns, balloons, bubbles and tattoos, moon walk, mini train, and fun, fun, fun! For more information, call 828-321-9553. Anticipate to Participate Celebrate Spring with a Fling It's a Mountain Thing!

Appalachian Heritage Crafters -- Spring Classes, 2004

Wed, 07 Apr 2004 19:40:10 GMT

Appalachian Heritage Crafters (AHC) is offering four classes this spring related to sewing, basketry, and gourds. All classes will be offered at the Penland Senior Center in Murphy, NC 28906. For more details, please visit the thread in the Cherokee County area of my forum: Art and Craft Classes -- Appalachian Heritage Crafters

Heritage Development Plan for Cherokee County

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:49:42 GMT

Agenda: final input on comprehensive plan update (meeting #3 of 3) Facilitator: Ron Ruehl, NC State Heritage Development Officer, western NC region Saturday, February 28 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon Andrews Community Center* *please note the change in location (the old furnace died at the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center, and total heating system replacement is now in progress there) Important Note: for organizations based in Cherokee County with an emphasis on the arts, history, cultural and historic resources, and the natural environment: the updated heritage development plan will be used by a variety of regional and state entities to identify and find ways to support Cherokee County's heritage development initiatives and achieve the economic benefits of heritage and eco-tourism. It will serve as the reference for Cherokee County's priority initiatives being undertaken by local governments, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, community clubs and associations, and other community development oriented entities. If your organization has any role to play in heritage development, please make sure it's actively represented in the process. The resulting plan document will be the authoritative reference for Cherokee County, and will include: (1) a roster of contact and other important information about heritage development related organizations based in Cherokee County; (2) an inventory of sites and attractions; (3) a calendar of major annual events; and most important: (4) summaries of priority projects requiring funding support now, or in the future ("brick and mortar" as well as other program or development funds). If your organization has not received the input forms package, Gabby Hudson says call her at the Chamber of Commerce (828-837-2242) and she'll be happy to oblige. Questions? Contact Heritage Partners of Cherokee County, NC.

Western North Carolina Heritage and Cultural Events

Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:33:15 GMT

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of seeing Ben Utley, owner of the NC Mountain Made website, again. It's always fun being around Ben, who has a cheerful and optimistic personality. NC Mountain Made is a heritage database of authentic music, authors, storytellers, and handmade arts & crafts of western North Carolina. In the not-too-distant-future, Ben will be helping artisans in western North Carolina sell their products over the Internet. He came to the monthly meeting of Appalachian Heritage Crafters and updated us on the progress he is making getting his new venture organized. A number of our members expressed interest in working with Ben and we'll probably see some of their art on his site, soon. Ben's added a calendar covering Western North Carolina Heritage and Cultural Events. Be sure to check it out! Don't forget. If you're interested in what he's doing to promote and preserve our Appalachian heritage, you can sign up for his announcements list and he'll keep you informed. I hope you have great success with this, Ben!

New NC Mountain Made Website

Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:21:10 GMT

Yesterday, for the first time in a couple of months, I attended the monthly Heritage Tourism Roundtable meeting in Andrews, NC. This meeting is held the first Tuesday of each month from 10:00 am until approximately 2:00 pm at the St. Andrews Lutheran Church. I enjoyed seeing friends and catching up on what's happening in the four western-most counties of North Carolina and on the progress we're making for promoting heritage tourism in our area. One of the guests at the meeting was Ben Utley, a lifelong educator who is now residing in western North Carolina. He annouced the upcoming debut of NCMtnMade.com, "A Heritage Database of authentic music, authors, storytellers, and handmade arts/crafts of Western North Carolina." If you'd like to be informed of what's happening at this site, there is a preview page up and running and you can subscribe to their mailing list to be informed when it goes live. Ben has some great ideas about promoting our heritage of fine art, crafts, toys, music and food, and I'd like to send my best wishes for success with this project.

Make Your Net Auctions Sell! is now a free download

Mon, 05 Jan 2004 09:41:28 GMT

One of the continuing successes I've had is selling handcrafted pewter and silver jewelry for Arch Avary in my Dilbeck Metalsmithing eBay store. http://www.ebaystores.com/dilbeckmetalsmithing At the moment, all the items available are store items because the auctions ended earlier this morning and I haven't had a chance to relist them. Two out of four auctioned items sold this week. I also maintain his site at http://ArchAvary.com/ We don't make a huge number of sales, but they're fairly consistent. Over the next few months, I'm going to be helping several other artisans in western North Carolina sell their products on eBay. I intended to get it done months ago, but I'm still playing catch up. I originally got started with eBay after talking to my brother who was selling all kinds of drag racing memorabilia and being very successful at it. I looked around for resources, and found an ebook called Make Your Net Auctions Sell!, published by Ken Evoy. I paid the $30 for the ebook, immediately downloaded it, and studied what was presented. A few days later, I opened my eBay account and it's been active ever since. Recently, I learned that Make Your Net Auctions Sell! has been updated into what Ken calls one of his Masters Courses. His masters courses present quality, useful information, and he offers them free because he uses the opportunity to tell you about his outstanding service, Site Build It! Now, you can download a copy of Make Your Net Auctions Sell at no cost at: http://mynas.sitesell.com/sellmoreonline.html If you have any interest in auctioning your products on eBay or other sites, then you may want to make some time this winter to read this book. I recommend it highly.