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The third-annual Possum Fest is set for Saturday, Sept. 7, with the festival taking over Main Street in Cumberland from noon until 8 p.m. bringing music, crafts, games, food and fun for all to enjoy.
According to a press release, the festival is free and open to the public for family friendly festivalgoers to enjoy.
Julie Pitts, owner of Willing Hearts, helped create the event in 2021.
“This started as a possum-themed block party to bring art, entertainment, fun, community involvement and business growth to our region,” Pitts said.
The Possum Fest website at https://www.tricitieskymainstreet.com/possumfest shows this year’s festival will feature entertainment on multiple stages, including the Main Stage, the Playin’ Possum Stage, and the Main Gospel Stage at the Gazebo.
This year’s Possum Fest is the biggest yet, with over 100 vendors expected to be on hand along with the three performance stages featuring bluegrass, gospel, and other types of live entertainment.
Possum Fest founder Valerie Long Hinkle, owner of Hill and Holler, talked about the Possum Fest.
“Our goal is to honor and celebrate Appalachia with a dash of humor,” said Hinkle. “This part of Appalachia is full of grit and faith. It’s full of a rich, unique history with generations of invention and story and song. That’s what Possum Fest wants to celebrate.”
Possum Fest 2024 will showcase a well-known social media personality, Whitney Johnson, known as the “Appalachian Forager.” Her soon to be released book, “Go Forth and Forage,” provides information on foraging for more than 50 of the most common edible and medicinal North American mushrooms.
Blacksmith James Hatfield will also be at the event. Hatfield competed on the History Channel’s series “Forged in Fire” during the show’s eighth season.
Live music will be performed on the Cumberland Tourism Main Stage by acts including Bluegrass Friends, Them Lasses, The Mountain Laurels, The Roadhouse Band, Ben Fugate and The Burning Trash Band, Bill Taylor and The Appalachian Heatherns, and more.
The music performers each bring their own brand of music to Possum Fest.
The Mountain Laurels’ website at https://www.themountainlaurels.com/about-us states the Mountain Laurels is a Celtic, fiddle and folk ensemble.
“The Mountain Laurels began performing in the High Country of North Carolina in 2008,” states the Mountain Laurels’ website. “The founding members included Rhonda Lorence on violin, Connie Woolard on hammered dulcimer and Elaine Gray on guitar.  Dr. Suzi Mills (bass & vocals)  joined the group along with Lauren Hayworth on banjo, whistle, and vocals. This iteration of the group produced their first CD of traditional Celtic and folk music in 2012.”
According to Ben Fugate and The Burning Trash Band’s Facebook page, the band is a six-piece Honky Tonk band from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
The Playin’ Possum Stage will offer a variety of acts, including the 606 Dancers, Center Stage Cloggers, Puppets with a Purpose, and a concert from Bradley Halcomb.
Gospel Music will be the main attraction the Gazebo Main Gospel Stage, featuring Mt. Sinai Spirituals, Sandhill Baptist, Putney Bible Church, Hurricane Gap Primitive Baptist, Gilliam Chapel Baptist Church, Amanda Abner and Dustin Wallace.
The festival will also offer an art contest. Mullet contest, classy trash contest, and the competition for Possum Queen.
The Rebecca Caudill Public Library in Cumberland will host a poetry contest for Harlan County residents age 14 and above. The theme will be “Where I Come From.”
For more information, go to www.facebook.com/PossumFest or www.tricitieskymainstreet.com/possumfest.