FEAT UPDATE

The FEAT board and county committees have worked together to plan a pilot tourism bus tour into the five counties. This bus tour will be a demonstration to landowners and local businesses as to what can be done in our communities to enhance the economy. The bus carrying approximately 40 tourists will come from Louisville Kentucky on I-64 with the first stop in the FEAT area being Carter County. Tourists will visit each county over the next five days. They will participate in traditional agriculture activities such as making sorghum at a mule drawn mill, making cornmeal on a grist mill, making jams, and jellies and churning butter to eat on fresh baked bread. They will watch, learn, and then participate in traditional dance. Evening activities will include Native American/traditional music around a campfire while roasting marshmallows and hotdogs, and dancing in the street to live traditional music. With directions from internationally known folk artists, they will create a work of art from a hand hued tobacco stick that can be used as a walking stick or a souvenir to hang on the wall. They will enjoy traditional foods such as "soup" beans, chicken and dumplings, mustard greens, corn bread and homemade jams and jellies. Care will be taken to provide for those needing or desiring diverse food choices. They will fish in a farm pond using cane poles and see such sights as water falls, caves, and learn about the cultures that have lived in this area through live exhibits along a pristine stream. A moonshine still hid deep in the cliffs of Laurel Gorge where revenuers can never find it will spark conversation as story tellers bring to life the industry that started NASCAR. The visitors will leave Wolfe County toward home on the Mountain Parkway with an "OH WOW" attitude. The greatest part about the whole bit is that local farmers and residents will get the bulk of the money paid by the tourists. The rest will go to the bus company.

A pending proposal to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, if approved, will fund a position for two years to manage the bus tours and recruit members for FEAT. We hope to grow the tours by five each year until we reach our max whatever that might be.

FEAT Inc. is a continuation of a mini-project from the 2005 graduating class. It’s had ups and downs but now seems to be on an upward swing.

Recently the Kentucky Arts Council awarded the Elliott County Extension District Board a $5,000.00 Arts Builds Communities (ABC) grant. With this money we plan to teach local people to write about interesting parts of our cultures and story tellers will teach them how to tell it to the tourists in an educational and entertaining format. The financial match is from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The people who attend the workshops can, if they desire, enhance their skills, and maybe someday be listed as Kentucky Arts Council Roster Artists. These trainings will be open to people from Morgan, Menifee, Wolfe, Elliott, and Carter Counties.

Elliott County Extension District Board has also been awarded $113,000.00 from the Steele-Reese Foundation to fund an Environmental Educator at the Laurel Gorge Cultural Heritage Center for three years. That position will be announced in the next few weeks. So the winter’s long evenings filled with grant writing is paying off. I’m very thankful to the Steele-Reese Foundation and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation for all the support they have shown to programs and projects in Eastern Kentucky. The ones mentioned above are only a “Drop in the Bucket” to the funds they put into community development and Education of Eastern Kentucky.