Catawba Farms celebrates the expanded 2nd Annual Catawba Valley Festival of the Arts
From Friday, April 22nd-Sunday, April 24th, several avenues of local arts collaborated to celebrate the creative culture of Catawba County. Performances and exhibitions were hosted at different venues in a “hub and spoke” configuration with Catawba Farms as the main venue for weekend events. CVFA will be partnering with Centro Latino,
Outright Youth, and Friends of Ridgeview Library. Catawba Farms is a 34-acre events venue, restaurant, and winery, located off of business 321 in Newton. This is their second year hosting The Catawba Valley Festival of the Arts.
“It’s so exciting getting artists to come out after Covid-19 has put a damper on their ability to perform live for the public. We are most grateful for the support of the United Arts Council of Catawba County to help us reach underserved audiences,” discussed Twyla Deese, owner of Catawba Farms and Festival Planning Chair.
This year’s focus of the CVFA was not only to build upon what was presented last year with bringing more artists and performers to the event, but included a vision of engagement with the diversity and underserved communities of Catawba County.
The event held various elements of creativity including graphic, industrial, performance, and culinary arts, with participation from individuals, businesses, and organizations all across the county.
Friday’s events assembled many creative partners the Catawba Valley Quilters’ Guild, CVCC, Seven Seed Soap Co., Carolina Vines, Lenoir Rhyne University, Lady L. Inc. Presents!, and Bunker
Hill High School. Catawba Farms also presented an unveiling of their new line of Kombucha.
Saturday continued the extravaganza with added participation from various vendors selling local crafts by Unique World Gifts, Connections Clubhouse, and Red Hawk Publications, among others. The Western Piedmont Council of Governments hosted a kids’ craft focused on water education. Several food trucks also made an appearance, Bam’s Snack Shack, and opportunities for beer tasting by HAVK Brewing. The Green Room made theatrical performances from Frozen Jr., Mama Mia!, and Thumbelina. Lastly, beginning at 1pm, there were several musical and dance pieces by various performers.
One would think Sunday’s events would quickly bring this packed festival to a close; however, Sunday offered a line-up that any patron would regret missing. From 11am-8pm, the festival held several performances from poetry to music, and continued in the service of quality, mouthwatering food options by Carolina BBQ and Urban Flavor food trucks.
The vision to create a collaborative event bringing together as many aspects of the creative arts in Catawba County as possible was certainly fulfilled in this 3-day event, and will surely be something to look forward to next year.
For more information, call (828) 464-5780 or email catawbavalleyfestivalofthearts@gmail.com.