Happy July Second!

A visit to the Penland School of Crafts is always a good time, but July Fourth is an extra special occasion. So I was delighted when our friend Sandy invited us to her house near the school. With its front row seats on the front porch it’s the perfect place to enjoy a barbeque and the annual parade, ice cream social, and fireworks. Never mind that it was July 2nd—classes ended on the Fourth so the time to celebrate was now! Penland has ten studios offering classes in wood, iron, clay, textiles, glass, metal, painting, photography, printmaking, and book arts (as well as some hard-to-categorize crossbreeds—shrine-a-rama, and giant puppets, for example). Most of the time these studios do their own thing, each holding on to a secret belief that their medium—and its attendant cultural rites and music—is the best. But on July Fourth, they compete fiercely for such prizes as “most enthusiastic” and “eggs-cellent.”

The glassblowers are always a team to watch and this year again they did not disappoint, with a mock “blowing” of a sacrificial watermelon. The school’s director came dressed as a giant cicada, in honor of the group of 17-year periodical cicadas that partied here in the Appalachians all spring. The Fourth is also a community event, and featured local entries celebrating a kid’s 9th birthday, and a VW microbus decked out in red, white and blue.

In years past the parade has been followed by a soap-box derby. The derby was great fun and inspired such vehicles as the “cheese cart,” a yellow wooden wedge of air-slicing speed, stoppable only by its anchor—a block of Velveeta cheese. (Well, it wasn’t really Velveeta cheese but a wood simulacrum of Velveeta cheese. But then again, who knows what Velveeta is really made of, anyway.) But the derby is no more. This reckless outpouring of creativity was eventually tempered with the realization that contestants were rocketing down a steep road in vehicles that were sometimes stronger on concept than joinery, and that even if they themselves were willing to take one for the team, there was the matter of the bystanders, some of whom were probably innocent.

After the parade everyone gathered on the lawn for ice cream while the trophies were handed out. The cognoscenti brought their own Ben & Jerry’s (and beer) but most folks made due with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. By now it was nearing dusk and the bonfire was in full flame, the better to light the fireworks. As far as I’m concerned fireworks are always magical, but there’s extra magic in local amateur works. So the works went off, competing with the bats and fireflies for sky-space, dancing to some secret choreography of the small band of pyromaniacs. The fine display of color and sound was capped by a grand finale which looked to the untrained eye like half a dozen people throwing everything they could into the bonfire at once and then running away. It was magnificent!

There’s a lot more to say about Penland (www.penland.org), but I’ll say it another time. For now I’ll just say, I hope your July Fourth was as fun as the Second of July at Penland, and that we continue to enjoy the freedoms that our fore bearers fought to win, including but not limited to the right to wear any kind of wings you like!