Celebrate our place on Earth this week at the Millwald Theatre in Wytheville.
Apple Atcha Fest is coming to the Millwald on Sept. 21 to 23, featuring artists, authors, live music and the best of Appalachian culture.
Apple Atcha Fest is a celebration of the creative people and ideas that shape the fabric of life in our region. This festival focuses on the arts – written, visual and performance – as a medium to bring people from diverse backgrounds together to celebrate the past, present and future of what makes Appalachia unique.
Best of all? It’s all free, thanks to a grant from the Wythe-Bland Foundation.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, Jim Lloyd and Carl Johnson will lead the JAM Kids at 6 p.m. followed by a community jam at 7 p.m., featuring Chase Altizer. Jam venues include Petals, Seven Sister, Formato Fine Arts, Seven Dogs and Oracle Books. Thom Moore will serve as emcee.
On Friday, Sept. 22, storyteller Bil Llepp will present a school program at fifth-graders from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Author Silas House will present a program to 11th-graders from 10;45 to 11:45 a.m.
At 6 p.m., House will join John Johnson and Julia Resil for an authors panel moderated by Theresa Burriss. Llepp will perform at 7:30 p.m., followed by show closer Lisa Bella Donna at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Art at the Crossroads will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A humor/storytelling workshop with Bil Lepp is set for 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lepp will emcee events on Saturday night, starting with Silas House at 5 p.m. and Sam Gleaves at 6:15 p.m. Closing out the night is a performance by Bill and the Belles.
House is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Duggins Prize, the largest award for an LGBTQ writer in the nation. The same year he was named Appalachian of the Year in a nationwide poll. In 2023 he was inducted as the Poet Laureate of Kentucky for 2023-2025.
Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. He’s the host of the History Channel’s Man Vs History series, the occasional host of NPR’s internationally syndicated Mountain Stage, and a contributing columnist to the West Virginia Gazette-Mail.
He is also the recipient of the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folk honor.
Gleaves was born and raised in Wytheville, where he began playing music as a teenager with the help of local mentor and fellow Apple Atcha Fest Artist, Jim Lloyd, a multi-instrumentalist, storyteller and barber. Lloyd introduced Gleaves to nationally recognized ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams who shared with Gleaves the old “love songs” of her community tradition. Rooted in Appalachian sounds, Gleaves’ songwriting sings of contemporary rural life and social issues. While earning a degree in Folklore at Berea College, Gleaves performed with the Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble directed by Al White. In 2015, Gleaves collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Cathy Fink and released a debut record of original songs, titled “Ain’t We Brothers,” which has been featured by The Guardian, National Public Radio, and No Depression. Gleaves tours extensively in the U.S. and he has performed in Ireland, England, Canada, Japan and Italy.
Donna is an internationally acclaimed recording artist, composer, modular synthesist, sound designer, educator, and clinician. She has decades of experience as a multi-instrumentalist session musician, educator, as well as developing extensive techniques with musique concreté, modular synthesis, analog recording & mixing techniques, microtonal music, orchestration and film composition.
