Center for Cultural Preservation kicks off 3rd season of “Keep The Fires Burning” series with moonshine & NASCAR

From the Center for Cultural Preservation:

CENTER FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION KICKS OFF NEW SEASON WITH MOONSHINE

(HENDERSONVILLE, N.C., Aug. 30, 2016) – The Center for Cultural Preservation in partnership with Blue Ridge Community College will launch its third season of its popular Keeping the Fires Burning — Heroes of Mountain Culture series with “Fast Cars and White Lightning — Moonshining and NASCAR”. Dan Pierce, author and professor of history at UNC-Asheville will discuss his recent book Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France with a book signing to follow the program on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m.   

According to Our State Magazine, “If you’re a Southerner, by birth or by inclination, and love Southern foodways, folkways, highways, and low-ways, you’ll lap up Daniel S. Pierce’s Real NASCAR . . . like grits and red-eye gravy, even if you’ve never been to a stock car race or watched one on television.”  The moonshining trade in Western North Carolina was dependent upon drivers that could outrun the revenuers as they delivered their “corn from a jar” throughout the country. This program details NASCAR’s origins in bootlegging as well as the close ties between organized racing and the illegal liquor industry.

White Lightning will be held at Blue Ridge Community College’s Bo Thomas Auditorium on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $5 and attendees are urged to get their tickets in advance by registering online at the Center’s website www.saveculture.org or by calling the Center at (828) 692-8062.

Upcoming Keeping the Fires Burning programs include:

• Second Annual Culture Vulture Film Festival
  • November 4, 2016 – 6 p.m. – A fundraiser to support the work of the Center featuring a preview of the Center’s new film, From Knee to Knee — The Roots of Mountain Music, BBQ and music. Blue Ridge Conference Hall, Blue Ridge Community College

• Haywood County Music Traditions — Marc Pruett and Darren Nicholson
  • December 8, 2016 – 7 p.m. – The boys of Balsam Range play their award-winning music, tell stories of mountain music past and present and make the crowd roar. A show not to be missed. Bo Thomas Auditorium, Blue Ridge Community College

• The Savior of the French Broad River — Wilma Dykeman
  • February 23, 2017 – 7 p.m. – Wilma Dykeman is considered the “Rachel Carson” of the mountains.  Through her book, The French Broad River, she was able to galvanize the community to turn what had become a sewer system into a protected and beloved waterway.  Bo Thomas Auditorium, Blue Ridge Community College

• Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland/Ulster to Appalachia
  • March 30, 2017- 7 p.m. – Based on the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award winning book, Douglas Orr, author and former president of Warren Wilson College will present this beautiful musical tribute to the roots of Appalachian music. Bo Thomas Auditorium, Blue Ridge Community College.

The Center for Cultural Preservation is a WNC nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the culture of the mountains through an oral history project, documentary films, public programs and education.  For more information about the Center’s work visit them online at www.saveculture.org or call the Center at (828) 692-8062.