Crafts, hikes & a Swiss c

The city of Monteagle, Tennessee, has held Summerfest in previous years as a summer-long celebration central to the town. Summerfest highlighted a variety of aspects that made the summer months special on the South Cumberland Plateau from drinking sweet tea on a front porch to fish fries and concerts to outdoor adventures.

But this month, two annual events are marking milestone anniversaries: the 60th year of the Mountain Market for Arts & Crafts and the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Swiss colony in Gruetli. So the decision was made to combine the three events under the umbrella of one big Summerfest on the weekend of July 26-28, promoted by the South Cumberland Chamber of Commerce.

“All of the Summerfest events are truly community-driven. It’s our neighbors and friends that are putting these things together. We talk about plans and swap ideas at the grocery store, while we’re grabbing mail at the post office and when we’re between rounds at trivia night,” says Stephanie Kelley, a member of the Summerfest committee with Rhonda Atkins and Sue Herrick.

“This year, one of our friends from the Morton Memorial fish fry floated the idea of a mountain-wide festival and asked if the chamber would be willing to take that task on.

“We figured, ‘Why not combine efforts and make a celebration out of it? We’re all going to go out and support everyone anyway.’ This way, it’s just more organized, ” she explains.

So more than two dozen Summerfest events have been scheduled between Friday and Sunday that range from a community yard sale to benefit the library, to a movie night, fish fry, wine-tasting, waterfall hike

and cave exploration to live music in the evenings at mountain restaurants. And even