Entice your taste buds at the second annual Taste of Downtown Sylva walking culinary tour on Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 2pm-5pm. Sample items from downtown businesses and enjoy what they have to offer. Cool coffee drinks, gourmet cuisine, delectable sweets, organic, local fare and more!  Participating merchants include:  Papou’s Wine Shop and Bar, Lulu’s on Main, Signature Brew Coffee Company, Eric’s Fresh Fish Market, Bill’s Back Street Take-Out, Spring St. Café, My Place, Ironstone Grill, Heinzelmannchen Brewery, Annie’s Naturally Bakery, and Mill and Main. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience some of downtown Sylva’s culinary treasures!

Tickets can be pre-purchased for $15 (adults) and $7 (youth ages 12 and under) at the above listed participating merchants.  Cash or check only please.  A limited number of tickets are available so reserve your ticket today.  All proceeds benefit the Downtown Sylva Association.

Remaining tickets, if available, will be sold at the Concerts on the Creek Friday June 25th and sold the day of the event at the Jackson County Farmers market from 9am - 12pm and then beginning at 1pm next to Signature Brew Coffee Company and at Papou’s Wine Shop and Bar.

Taste of Downtown Sylva participants will be able to enter a drawing during the tour and win gift certificates from participating merchants.

This year’s Taste of Downtown Sylva is sponsored by the Holiday Inn Express and the Sylva Inn.

For more information on purchasing tickets or on the event, visit our website, www.downtownsylva.org.   Contact the Downtown Sylva Association by phone: 828.586.1577 or by email: info@downtownsylva.org.

Signature Brew Coffee Company of Sylva will host a silent auction to benefit ARF of Jackson County. Artist Jim Knapp will donate his whimsical, outdoor sculptures of animals and aliens with all proceeds going to ARF. The Animal Relief Fund is composed of a small group of volunteers who rescue animals from the shelter, the roads, and the community and keep them in their own homes. ARF has a no-kill policy, which means that volunteers foster the animals until someone adopts them, no matter how long it takes.
The artist, Jim Knapp, has been a sculptor for over three decades and has come full circle. This show will mark a repeat of similar shows of the 1970’s. For 30 years he carved marble, winning awards such as the 26th International Invitational Georgia Marble Festival (2006). He then began creating in composite materials. However, hands and health dictate the material a sculptor can work with and he now has returned to assemblage. Jim Knapp now makes his home in Balsam with his wife, Peggy.
The works, collectively called The Grey Zone, will be on display and silent auction from June 12th through June 26th for consideration. An opening reception will be held the evening of the 12th from 5:00pm-7:30pm at Signature Brew Coffee Company at 633 W. Main St. in Sylva. Call 828.587.6300 with questions.

The Barn Cats, a three-man band from Bryson City, take the stage at the Bridge Park Pavilion beside Scott Creek for a free concert from 7-9 p.m.

The Barn Cats feature Frank Lee on banjo and resonator guitar; Isaac Deal on guitar and vocals; and Bradley Adams on bass fiddle and vocals. The band draws its sound from old-time country and Southern music. Its musical influences range from The Carter Family to Blind Willie Johnson to Tommy Jarrell to Earl Scruggs.

Concerts on the Creek provide live music at no charge for 15 consecutive Fridays this summer from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. The shows are produced by: Downtown Sylva Association, the Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks & Recreation, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Jackson Country Travel & Tourism.

The Downtown Sylva Association will be selling tickets for the second annual Taste of Downtown Sylva on June 26th.  Bring your lawn chair and grab a to go picnic from out local downtown restaurants and join us to have some fun!

Enjoy a night on the town in downtown Sylva!

Come join us  tonight from 6-9 pm for Sylva After Dark.  Visit our restaurants and shops, some which will feature art by local artists and will offer refreshments and live music.  Check out our Sylva After Dark page for more detail.

Concerts on the Creek featuring Mountain Faith will be held at the Bridge Park from 7-9 pm.  Visit one of our restaurants for a dinner to go, bring a lawn chair and enjoy the sounds of bluegrass music!

Tickets for Taste of Downtown Sylva will also be available for purchase beginning tonight at the following participating businesses:  Annie’s Naturally Bakery, Ironstone Grill, Lulu’s on Main, Guadalupe Cafe, Signature Brew Coffee Company, My Place, Heinzelmannchen Brewery, Eric’s Fresh Fish Market, Bill’s Backstreet Takeout, Spring Street Cafe, and Papou’s Wine Shop.

“Lights…Camera…Cure”

Relay for Life of Jackson County

Jackson County Recreation Center
June 4th   6:00 pm - Concession Stand Opens
               6:30 pm - Opening Ceremony
               6:45 pm - Survivor Lap
               9:00 pm - Luminaria Ceremony
June 5th   6:00 am - Fight Back Ceremony

Visit RelayForLife.org

Within the Patchwork Folk & Fabric Festival at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee, NC, on June 5th, 2010 from 9am until 4pm, will be ten authors published by Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, a nonprofit organization (imprint of Ammons Communications) who has now 43 books to their credit.
Featured at the CSA Book Booth will be seven authors scheduled to sign their books during the day long event.
From  9am-11am, Reverend Jack Hinson from Waynesville, author of “Laughter Was God’s Idea” and the Reverend Dr. Fred Werhan from Candler, whose book “Some Things I Said While Trying to Preach the Gospel,” just came out.
At 11am-12noon, Gail Nolen, Whittier author of two books, “Memories of Merritt Island” and “Johnny, My Favorite Mouse,” will be on hand to talk to the public. 
And then, at 12 noon-1pm, Betty Brown from Tuckasegee, sister of Virginia author Kathy Barbar, who wrote the children’s book “I Don’t See the Monkeys,” will spend an hour at the book table.
From 1pm-2pm, you can meet Henderson County author Janie McKinley, who wrote “The Legacy of Bear Mountain.” 
And at 2pm-3pm, come and visit with Edwina Crowe Jones, a Cherokee author of “Return to Riverside,” and the just released “Aliens in God’s Country.”
Two authors represented at their own booths at the festival are Cullowhee’s Harold  “Catman2” Sims, who has written  “Cats Without Cages” and “Kevin, The Helpful Vampire Cat,”  and Tuckasegee author Doreyl Ammons Cain who will have her “Learning to Fly” at her booth.
At the information table, located at the entrance to the festival next to the CSA Book Booth, will be the heritage books of Sylva author Amy Ammons Garza, and Cullowhee’s authors Etheree Burkett Chancellor and Jean Sutton Mincey who wrote the cross stitch/nature photography book “Seizing the Moment.”
Saturday, June 5th, between 9am and 4pm, will be a great time to come visit the 5th annual Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival, and meet these wonderful people who cared enough about their passion to write it down. And what a great time to purchase a special hand-autographed gift for Father’s Day and for those graduating! Pick a topic, and there’s a book especially destined for you at the Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival!  Call 828-631-4587 for more information.

Join the Jackson County and the Franklin County Chambers of Commerce for Business After Hours on Thursday May 27 at 5:00 p.m.,  hosted by Mountain Brook Cottages.  It is a great afternoon of networking and refreshments.  Music will be provided by Tim Beck. 

Call the Chamber at 828-586-2155 or visit www.mountainlovers.com for more details!

Tim Beck

The Sylva Inn and Holiday Inn Express will be honoring Armed Forces Day this Saturday, May 15th by hosting a refreshments table at Holiday Inn Express from 1pm-4pm.  Veterans are welcome and refreshments are first come, first serve!

This Friday is Music Night at Papou’s. Our featured musician is keyboard artist Iva Veazey. She plays a variety of music including contemporary, easy listening, classical and jazz. Come on out this Friday, May 14th from 8:00-11:00 pm for great music, wine and conversation! See you then!

The Jackson County Habitat for Humanity will be hosting a golf tournament on Saturday May 22nd at the Smoky Mountain Country Club.  Registration starts at 8:00 a.m. followed by a breakfast.  Shotgun start at 9:00 a.m.  Check out their website for more information:  http://www.jchfh.org/