Beavers Bend Folk Festival & Craft Show

The Forest Heritage Center Museum will host one of Oklahoma’s most popular autumn events November 14th, 15th and 16th, 2014. The 21st annual Beavers Bend Folk Festival & Craft Show brings about 17,000 visitors to southeastern Oklahoma each year, just in time for the beautiful fall colors.

The festival is a showcase for turn-of-the-century arts and crafts. This year almost 70 exhibitors and vendors will feature crafts and skills like candle making, woodturning, lye soap making, knife making and quilting. Herbalists will share their knowledge, instrument makers will exhibit their work, and quilters will show their best.

The courtyard of the Forest Heritage Center is a haven for the children. Storytellers spin their yarns and the petting zoo offers up-close and personal encounters with furry critters. The children’s activity area will offer kids the opportunity to create a puppet show with their imagination and their own handmade paper puppets.

The twang of banjos, the wail of the fiddles and the ring of the dulcimer strings accompany all this. Four of the country’s best folk musicians will be featured on an outdoor stage throughout the three-day festival. There will be free Mountain Dulcimer workshops offered each day in the courtyard. Folks are invited to bring their own dulcimers or try their hand on the dulcimers provided by instructors Keith and Darlene Vanderbosch.

The always-outstanding food at the Beavers Bend Folk Festival & Craft Show takes a sweet turn this year. Food vendors are offering pork-o-bobs, patty melts, chicken tacos, as well as smoked turkey legs and paninis. Back by popular demand are Indian tacos, cowboy tacos, and burgers. Long-time Festival favorites like kettle korn, caramel apples and funnel cakes will also tempt visitors. Wash it all down with fresh apple cider or old-time root beer. The festival is a food-lovers paradise!

Mother Nature should be providing quite a show of her own during the weekend. Fall colors should be peaking and park guests can also enjoy the scheduled Beavers Bend State Park activities, like nature center programs, hayrides and train rides.

The Beavers Bend Folk Festival & Craft Show is made possible by Oklahoma Forestry Services, the Forest Heritage Center Advisory Board and staff, Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the McCurtain County Tourism Authority, Oklahoma Humanities Council and the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department. Festival hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

For more info, please contact:
Forest Heritage Center at (580) 494-6497 or [email protected]