Cherohala Skyway Festival

Celebrate the 28th Anniversary of the Cherohala Skyway and our mountain heritage with the Charles Hall Museum and Heritage Center at the 8th Annual Cherohala Skyway Festival, October 26, 2024! There will be booth after booth of juried arts and crafts, lots of living history  and plenty of incredible food and treats!  Test your axe throwing skills at On The Road Axe Throw trailer, paint a pumpkin, and have your face painted!  You'll find lots of free festival fun like horse drawn wagon rides, a petting zoo, kids train rides, tractor pulled hay rides, a huge inflatable Kids Zone, a sawdust dig for cash & treasures, and Mecca Camp's Resort's Game Zone!  

Live Bluegrass and mountain music will fill the air all day long at the Josh Graves Music Tribute!

Come enjoy the 2nd Cherohala 5K with an awesome course and ending!

The Cherohala Skyway Festival is the perfect excuse to get outdoors and experience fall colors all along the Cherohala Skyway,  a  National Scenic Byway and one of the most beautiful drives in the Appalachian mountain regions! The Hall Museum is a non- profit 501 (c) (3) history museum. Admission is free to the festival and to the Hall Museum. There will be a $10/vehicle preferred parking fee. Bring cash. Any profits go to support the museum's mission of preserving local, Appalachian and American history!

Activities:

Arts & Crafts

Handmade items from many talented crafters and artisans!

Vendors offer everything from paintings and photographs, pottery, floral arrangements, wood crafts and turnings, doll clothes, dolls, toys, jewelry, candles, soap, and decorative accessories.

All items must be handmade, hand-decorated or hand designed as no commercial products are allowed. The museum gift shops will also be selling their products!

Family Fun

Kids will have so much fun with the endless FREE activities from horse-drawn wagon rides and a petting zoo with the Shadden & Carmley families; tractor pulled hay rides; a Vol Fed Saw Dust Dig for Cash & Treasures with prizes and over $200 worth of quarters hidden in the saw dust; the Tellico Police Kids Train along the Walking Trail; a huge inflatable Kids Zone with a Rock Wall; Mecca Camp Resort's  Gaming Zone;  and Kid’s Crafts & Activities at The Tellico Plains Library area and Tender Heart Ministries booths!

Stop by the Beauty For Ashes Booth for some creative face painting and hair color!

Food

Come hungry to the Cherohala Skyway Festival!
We have food everyone will enjoy!

First Baptist will offer a free pancake breakfast from 8:30-10 a.m.!

The Hall Museum has so much support. We are thankful for our friends who cook for the museum at the Cherohala Skyway Festival! A & A Meat will be grilling thick slices of  bologna on grilled Texas toast with grilled onions or grilled cheese sandwiches. Slim’s Burger Joint with offer burger and cheese burger baskets  and loaded hot dogs with all the southern fixins including French Fries and Mozzarella sticks!    There will be food trucks on site including smoked BBQ,  Mexican food,  Hibachi dishes  and so many other favorite foods!

For dessert, try  funnel cakes,  popcorn, gourmet caramel apples, cotton candy, sno cones, pork skinz, freeze dried candy, jerky & a wide variety of baked goods!

Corn husk doll making, beading, quilting and pottery demonstrations throughout the day!

Antique Tractors & Lawn Mowers, Small Engines, Vintage Farm Equipment & Tools

Live Music:

Live Bluegrass Music All Day!

Award Winning Bluegrass Music Bands!

Tim Graves and The Farm Hands

With over 80 national awards and nominations, Tim Graves and The Farm Hands keep an extensive tour schedule across the U.S. Tim Graves, nephew of Uncle Josh Graves,  plays his signature 'Tim Graves model' Beard resophonic guitar! The Tellico Plains native, Tim, has held the distinction of being the reigning Dobro Player of the Year in bluegrass music, 16 times! in 2020 he was awarded Master Gold Dobro Player of the year. Tim is the first person to ever receive this award from SPBGMA.

Don Wayne Reno , son of the legendary banjo player Don Reno, extensive career includes working with his father and his brothers. An acclaimed banjo player , Don Wayne is now the banjo man for Tim  Graves and The Farm Hands! Jimmy Haynes plays guitar for the group as well as singing parts and doing some songwriting for the group. A performer since his early teens, Jimmy has appeared on many recordings during his career. Bass player and lead singer, Terry Elredge is one of the best bass players/guitar players and singer in the business today! His career took off while playing bass for the Legendary Osborne Brothers for 12 years and later Larry Cordel & Lonesome Standard Time, plus lead singer and guitar player for the Grascals.

More Info on Farm Hands

Wyatt Ellis

“Wyatt has the fluidity, feel, timing, and “ancient tones” that make seasoned pros scratch their head in wonder.”

Bluegrass Today

“I’m so excited to follow Wyatt’s journey as a musician. He’s come so far, so fast. It’s going to be an incredible ride for him and fun for the rest of us to watch!” Sierra Hull

Making a debut performance at the Cherohala Skyway Festival- Josh Graves Music Tribute will be 15-year-old mandolin sensation, Wyatt Ellis! Already a recording artist, Wyatt has performed and recorded with Marty Stuart and performed twice on the Grand Old Opry.  Articles in  Bluegrass Today and Rolling Stone featured the rising star. The headlines of the Rolling Stone article in May reads, “Wyatt Ellis and his Mandolin Are Causing a Big Stir in Bluegrass.”

Wyatt released his debut album, Happy Valley in February.   Music country and bluegrass legend Marty Stuart joins Wyatt in his latest single, “Blue Smoke,”  written by Wyatt.  For more information visit www.wyattellis.com.

Appalachian Smoke

Grounded in the corners of North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, Appalachian Smoke is a new bluegrass band made up of five local songwriters, vocalists and instrumentalists who love the music. Quick instrumentation meets solid harmonies in this mash up of innovation and tradition. Their debut CD, “Colder Side of Love” is 12 tracks of their best picking and singing! Rounding out the talented group are BJ Taylor – Songwriter/Vocals/ Mandolin; Jamie Mason – Vocals/Guitar/Banjo; Kenneth Rymer – Vocal, Dobro ; Mikel Laws – Vocals/Banjo/Guitar and Tim Williams – vocals/Upright

More Info on Appalachian Smoke

Graves Brothers

This trio of talented brothers and nephews of Uncle Josh Graves, look forward to playing in their hometown at the base of the mountains where they romped as boys! Grammy nominated, award winning songwriter and Nashville recording artist, Tedd Graves will play lead guitar. Grammy award winner Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductee, Tim Graves will be on the dobro. He credits Uncle Josh, with giving him his first dobro and teaching him to play the instrument! You’ll also find Tim playing dobro for Tim Graves and The Farm Hands at The Cherohala Skyway Festival. In 2020, Tim was awarded Master Gold dobro Player of the year from SPBGMA. Although his career has not been in music, Mike plays a top-notch bass.

Tim Decker and Tennessee River

Bringing a lot of music in different spectrums, Tim Decker has been a well-known banjo player for over 30 years!  Combining their many talents alongside of Tim Decker are dobro player, Jimmie Rosenbaum from Maryville, TN, mandolin player , Lynn West  from Tellico Plains, TN, bass Player Tim Leo from Kingston, TN, and guitar player John Orr from Alcoa, TN!

More Info on Tennessee River

10am - The Josh Graves Memorial Dobro Pick-Off Competition rewards the best dobroist in the region with cash!

Prizes:

First Place: $300
Second Place: $200
Third Place: $125
No Entry Fee

The JAM Kids will showcase their talents  developed while in JAM by playing fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar in Appalachian style!

Area and well-known clogger, Deb McCarter,  will lead members from the crowd in this old-style form of Appalachian dance!

10am-5pm: Mountain Music String Band

Our local Mountain Music String Band will serenade the early crowd before the stage music begins

Honoring Josh Graves at the Cherohala Skyway Festival!

Why do we honor Josh Graves at the Josh Graves Music Tribute at the Cherohala Skyway Festival ?
Highlighting our mountain heritage of bluegrass and mountain music has been a big draw at the Cherohala Skyway Festival since the first festival in  2016.  The Charles Hall Museum’s Cherohala Skyway Committee welcomes Tim Graves and the Farm Hands and the Graves Brothers (Tim, Tedd & MIke) back to the Cherohala Skyway Festival!  Tim is a celebrated dobroist who weaves in stories about his uncle and credits Uncle Josh for  giving him his first dobro and teaching him to play the instrument! In 2020, Tim was awarded Master Gold dobro Player of the year from SPBGMA.  A day filled with excellent bluegrass music also includes recording bluegrass bands, Tim Decker and the Tennessee River and Appalachian Smoke! Both bands are full of talented bluegrass musicians including some of the best dobro players!

In the spirit of honoring Uncle Josh and his contributions to bluegrass music, Monroe County Tourism  has sponsored  “The Josh Graves Memorial Dobro Pick-Off Competition”  since 2019! The brainchild of our Monroe County archivist, Jo Stakely, this pick-off promotes the best dobro players in the region and rewards them with cash prizes! There is no entry fee and a limit of 10 players. Call Tim Graves  at 615-319-0242 to register.

Burkett Howard Graves was born in Tellico Plains on September 27, 1927. With a music career spanning over 50 years, he popularized  a new instrument to the world of bluegrass, the  resonator guitar (dobro), after joining Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955. Uncle Josh (his stage name) adapted Earl Scruggs’ unique three-finger banjo style to the resonator guitar (Dobro), a new technique to the world of dobroist. This gave Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, one of the most famous bands in the history of bluegrass music, their distinctive sound.

Josh inspired hundreds of musicians to become dobroists and encouraged them to develop their own music. Josh was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 1997. His style to inspire rising musicians to play and perfect the resonator guitar (dobro) continues!

In 2019, the Cherohala Skyway Visitor's Center, next door to the Hall Museum, became a stop along the Tennessee Music Pathways in honor of Tellico Plains being the hometown of Uncle Josh. There is a special display that honors Josh that includes a video of Josh playing the dobro!
To learn more about the enormous contributions Josh Graves made to blue grass music visit the display on Josh and Tim Graves at the Hall Museum that includes an original Josh Graves dobro that is on loan from the Harold and Peggy Randolph family!  We look forward to the Randolph family joining us at the festival!

Cherohala 5K Walk/Run 2024!

Come experience an impressive Cherohala 5K Run/Walk in Tellico Plains, Saturday October 26th at the Cherohala Skyway Festival! Timely registration includes an awesome race Cherohala 5K T-shirt, a keepsake weatherproof  Cherohala 5K logo sticker, chip timed race bib, water before the event and water and snacks after the event!

The spectacular course will start and end along the Cherohala Skyway with sections following the Tellico River! The chip timed race is sanctioned by Personal Best Racing!  Register by October 16th to be guaranteed a T-shirt! First and Second Place Medals will be awarded to male and female division winners in each age group. Participants under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.

Click Here For More Information & To Register....