Meads

SHEPHERDSTOWN — When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the Appalachian Heritage Festival had to be indefinitely canceled at Shepherd University.

However, after four years without it, the festival will be returning to Shepherdstown on Sept. 12-14.

“The Appalachian Heritage Festival at Shepherd University is now celebrating its 29th year,” Shepherd Assistant Director of Student Engagement Rachael Meads said. “Over that time, thousands of community members, schoolchildren and students have been introduced to the diverse culture of Appalachia and our state, through workshops, lectures and concert performances by our region’s most outstanding artists, historians and cultural ambassadors.”

According to Meads, the decision to bring the festival back to life was driven by an extensive amount of encouragement from the Experience Shepherdstown community events organization.

“We owe a lot to Experience Shepherdstown,” Meads said. “They are responsible for bringing it back, because I was really ready to walk away.”

She said this was largely due to funding issues, which she knew from experience would make it difficult to create a festival of the same caliber as had been previously done in the past.

“I’ve done this event before,” Meads said, noting funding was more available prior to the pandemic, after which an increasing number of high school graduates began deciding not to pursue a college education. “Because Shepherd is in a financial state that all higher education institutions are in right now, with a low drop in enrollment, we were asking ourselves what we could do. I really was thinking we would have to throw in the towel, because we don’t have a lot of funding to do this.”

She credited Shepherdstown Town Council member Shannon Thomas and Alma Bea restaurant owner Mary Ellen Diaz as the Experience Shepherdstown members who particularly assisted her with bringing back the festival for its 29th year.

“Shannon and Mary Ellen and other community members stepped up and said they don’t want it to see it go away. Adam Booth said something like, ‘You cannot let this die until it’s at least reached 30,'” Meads said, referring to Booth, the Speak Story Series founder and 2022 West Virginia Folk Artist of the Year. “So, I feel much better, because I have got a lot of community support and people who have said, ‘We’re going to step up and help you.’ I’ve gotten a lot of outside private funding, to match my funding within the student activities realm.”

Along with financial support and volunteering from the community, the festival will also benefit from a partnership with the Jefferson County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which will be advertising the Appalachian Heritage Festival outside of the immediate area and hopefully ensuring the festival’s longevity for many years to come.

To see the festival’s full schedule of events, visit https://www.shepherd.edu/studentleadership/appalachian-heritage-festival-2025.