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Come to the cauldron Friday November 3rd! Tickets now on sale for our annual fundraiser in downtown Johnson City with proceeds going towards local food and farms for all. This is our second year hosting a shared community fundraiser for the Appalachian RC&D Council and two programs we fiscally sponsor: Build It Up and the Foodtopia Teen Food and Farm corps. Our programs impact K-12 youth and adults across the region, from our nature and nutrition programming in Johnson City, to our Field School for beginning farmers, to the Appalachian Farmacy Coalition that’s bringing more customers to local farmers markets. With a $25 ticket price, it’s a farm to city celebration that you will love attending. Fun, flavorful, affordable, inclusive, for all ages, is what Appalachian Fusion is all about.
Appalachian Fusion: A Farm to City Celebration 2017
Friday November 3rd – drop in between 5:00pm-8:00pm, at the Founders downtown Pavilion, Johnson City
Doña Eva Beccera, is our guest chef this year, of Doña Eva Tamales, serving up a “Mexi-Lachia” fusion menu (set menu / prix-fixe) served from the cauldron, inspired by warm flavors from her home country of Mexico, and using seasonal local harvest.
- Pozole Rojo with tomatoes from Serenity Knoll Farm and pork from Pleasant Valley Farm & hominy, and full toppings bar
Harvest Tamales, filled with a vegetarian mix of beans, potatoes, squash, etc. from area farms
Chips & homemade Salsa
Sweet Corn Flan, with Sunset Valley Farm corn
Agua Frescas Beverage Bar: Hibiscus Tea; Lime Water; and Orange Glo Watermelon Agua Fresca from Small Batch Farm
Yee-Haw pint (for those 21+)
Yee-Haw Brewing is including one pint of brew to all ticket buyers over 21. (No additional beer for sale, but plenty of aguas frescas to enjoy.)
Your meal is prepared and served, under the tutelage of Eva Beccera, by the Foodtopia Teen Internship core. These teens are recruited from across Washington County to earn paid employment and gain important life skills and employability skills in local food and farmwork, overseen by Sheri Cooper at Topper Academy, thanks to a grant from the Washington County Community Foundation.
Music: Entertainment by Amythyst Kiah (5pm-6:30pm approx), “Southern-Gothic songster & powerful vocalist” and the Empty Bottle String Band (6:30pm-8pm approx), “toe-tapping old time string band music” from folks who met at the ETSU Bluegrass, County & Old Time Program.
Amythyst Kiah – 5pm-6:30pm approx
Empty Bottle String Band – 6:30pm-8pm approx
PURCHASE TICKETS ($25) ONLINE: http://www.arcd.org/registration
History: This is our second year hosting a fall fundraiser outdoors in Johnson City. Last year, 150 attendees joined us for Mountain Masala with Appalachian Curry in our harvest cauldron, overseen by Kiran Sirah of the International Storytelling Center, supported by Seeyle Combs and many many volunteers.
Why Fusion? Northeast Tennessee and our Appalachian home have been a diverse melting pot for 250 years and our future sustainability and prosperity depends on a fusion of old and new: preservation and adaptation, tradition and innovation, community and globalization, expertise and youth. The ARC&D has worked this way for 24 years. Appalachian Fusion celebrates diversity and supports us in teaching farming and business skills to youth and beginning farmers, strengthening markets for local growers, and practicing food justice in northeast Tennessee.
Last Year: Local chefs donate their time at last year’s fundraiser in downtown Johnson City that we called “Mountain Masala” with Kiran Sirah and Seeyle Coombs; Namaste from the Foodtopia teen interns before the Curry went in the cauldron.
Last year 150 supporters came out for beautiful fall weather and warm curry. This year we are moving to the Pavilion, serving a Mexican-Fusion menu, and hope to have 200+ guests come out.
Visit us every week at the Food Forest, an edible park on Wilson Avenue, Johnson City, where community kids come to free extracurricular programming on growing food, eating well, and becoming leaders.
The Field School beginning farmer training program provides one-on-one assistance to new farmers, workshops and trainings, and a support network. Graduates are supplying local food, honing their businesses, and expanding to new markets.
Tourism and Agriculture are 2 of Tennessee’s most important economic drivers. The ARC&D has been helping farmers adopt agritourism in their operations since the early 2000s. Agritourism can be a sustaining economic base for farms that are able to diversify and educate the public about farming. The Quilt Barn Trail is our organization’s most visible project.
Conservation of our water and soil. We manage a $100,000+ grant program annually to help farmers and forest owners implement best practices when it comes to good land management.