“Best Festival/Event” with a budget > $75,000, along with additional recognitions. Congrats!

High endorsement of the National Banana Pudding Festival arrived in late February from the Southeast Festival and Events Association, which declared the Centerville event the Best Festival among those with an operating budget of less than $75,000.

 “We were pretty excited,” said festival board chair John Blackburn, “and pretty shocked at the same time.”

 Blackburn and Puddin’ Path chair and board member Jeanne Beasley attended the association’s annual awards event in Alburn, AL, and brought home four more distinctions:

Puddin’ Pot by Greg Pace of Pace Pottery limited edition

* First place for Best Other Merchandise, for the Puddin’ Pot, created each of the last two years by local potter Greg Pace.

* Second place for Best Vendor Supplier, in recognition of the contributions of Wood and Strings Puppet Theatre, the national touring troupe that presents entertainment during the October festival and is operated by Clarissa and Leon Fuller of Centerville. Clarissa is a festival board member

* Second place for Best Marketing Campaign, an effort led by festival board members Jeannetta Hitt and Peggy Owen. The distinction is for rack cards, posters, media publicity, giveaways and its website. It includes the festival’s National Banana Pudding Cook-off and Auction and, this past year, its Miss Banana Pudding and Banana Boat Float events.

* Third place for Best Sponsor, which is Community First Bank and Trust. Blackburn said the bank volunteered to work at the admission gate every year; Centerville manager Sheila Bettini is a festival board member.

Community First Bank Volunteers 2012

 “They’re the first ones they (visitors) meet,” said Blackburn. “They establish the Southern hospitality and welcoming.”

 Also serving on the Banana Pudding Festival board are Sarah Hinson, Uta Colwell, Glenn and Pug Lapham, Joyce Boyd, Kathy Nunes and Lynne Wheeless. 

 Blackburn said the 2012 season was the first time the local festival was eligible to compete for awards from the association, which has hundreds of members from the Southeast states: Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia , Kentucky and Tennessee.

  Last year, the Shrimp and Grits Festival of the Jekyll Island Authority won the top award for festivals with a budget less than $75,000.

 “It’s going to help with marketing and sponsors,” said Blackburn. “If you go to your sponsors and say, ‘Our festival was chosen . . .’ it shows that you, compared to all of the other festivals –we’re doing something right.

 “From the very beginning, though, we have been a solid, fairly well organized operation.”

 It’s the second regional recognition for the festival, after selection last year as one of the 20 top events in the Southeast United States during the fourth quarter of 2012.

 The Centerville event was joined by top winner  Clarksville’s River and Spires Festival, which won Best Festival for events with a budget of more than $75,000.

 The 2013 National Banana Pudding Festival will be on October 5 and 6 – its first two-day presentation in Centerville.

Article provided by Hickman County Times

Congratulations to our winner and top 10 finalist of the Seven County Banana Pudding Cook-Off!

Reba Winters won 1^st place with Ree’s Old Fashion Banana Pudding.  This was her second year to win the cook-off but with a new recipe in a very competitive field.  This year’s completion was open to seven counties Dickson, Hickman, Humphreys, Lewis, Maury, Perry, and Williamson. Her pudding must have been good because she also one the people’s Taster’s Choice award.  Everyone that tasted the puddings got to vote.

Cindy Vaughn came in 2^nd with Cindy’s Banana Pudding and helped Pam Lynn entertain us with her beautiful voice while the judges sampled the delights.

This year’s finalist included June Harris of Dickson, Mandy Harrison of Lyles, Fay Henson of Lyles, Pamela Huey of Lyles, Carolyn Mowbray of Lyles, Debbie Pickard of Centerville , Carolyn Shanes of Lobelville, and Kay Zittlow of Centerville.

Philip Jacobs, Janie McClanahan, Faye Rogers, and Maria Casto shared their expertise as judges for the event.

The event took place at the Bon Aqua United Methodist Church and the ladies of the church had lunch available and sold bake goods to support their local mission work.  We had a lot of folks of all ages that came out to enjoy the entertainment, cheer on their favorite finalist, and enjoy one of the South’s favorite comfort foods, banana pudding.

Besides her $500 prize, Reba Winters, the 1^st place winner will be one of 10 competitors in the National Banana Pudding Cook-Off, scheduled for October 6 at the National Banana Pudding Festival in Centerville, TN. Make plans to come and watch as they prepare their puddings in front of a live audience.  Come hungry and enjoy the day!

NBPF Poster Contest

 2012

Winners

Place

School

Grade

Teacher

Prizes

Its that time again…..Poster Contest…..if you are a student at Hickman County Schools Elementary or Intermediate….get your pens and pencils ready.  This years theme is “How can we make Hickman Co. more Welcoming?”  You have great ideas and we want to hear them or see them…..Starting April 30th and all Posters are due at the schools by May 4, 2012.

Thank you to our 2012 sponsors Sonic in Centerville and H&L Printing.

We greatly appreciate all of our volunteers and your hard work!!  We would like to thank you and ask for your comments.

Please fill out our volunteer survey:

Thank you and please mark you calendars for October 6, 2012.

We are glad you came and hope to see you again next year, October 6, 2012!

Baby’s First Birthday

Performing on Mabel’s Family Stage at 2:00pm and 4:00pm. You will also see the company’s walkabout characters, “Escape from the Zoo” and interactive strolling performance in the morning from 10:30 to 12:00noon

Wood & Strings Theatre has a brand new production. Baby! is a study in the dance of a toddler from crawl to first step and his first escapade into the world of fantasy. This 25 minute performance with two giant characters amazes people of all ages with the perfection of scale achieved through mask and puppet.

Wood & Strings Theatre* is a national touring company that produces and performs traditional folktales from around the world with classic forms of puppetry. The cast is made up of highly trained artists that transform the stage with artistic scenic elements, mask and puppetry bringing exquisite visual art to a concert of sights and movement. This company has performed at National Geographic Live in Washington DC, Tribeca PAC in NY and the Detroit Institute of Art on multiple occasions. Visit www.woodandstrings.net for more details on the productions and see videos of the company in performance. The work consistently delivers an inspiring view of the power of visual arts, in conjunction with theatre, to deliver a story.

*A Tennessee based touring company and accepted artist on the TN Arts Commission Roster with a 23 year history of serving over 1000 Tennessee schools in rural and urban areas with outstanding results. Artistree, Inc. and Wood & Strings are based in Centerville, TN.

Stories from Far & Near

Narrated and accompanied on violin by Marilyn Thornton

This amazing program will be performed on Ms. Mabel’s Family stage from 1-1:40 and at 3-3:40pm.

Marilyn Thornton is back for the second year by popular demand. Her prowess at delivering a tall tale or any story from folklore can make you stand up and pay attention. Better yet, playing along with her violin she shapes the heart of the story with blues rhythms that make you feel the pulse and smell the heat of the tale.

 Marilyn E. Thornton is a musician, storyteller, educator, and preacher/pastor, who loves to tell the stories, using various media. Originally from Washington, DC, Marilyn is the Lead Editor of African American Resources at the United Methodist Publishing House and the Pastor of Christian Education at South End United Methodist Church, both in Nashville TN. She has a Bachelor of Music History from Howard University (Washington DC), a Master of Violin from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD), and a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN).

   Grady Jones:

 Grady Jones brings the heart of warrior & the soul of the flute in his stories and  performance.

 Native American storyteller and flute resident of Lyles has enchanted groups in schools with his talent.

Dan, Joan & the Stinky Shoes-

Daniel Bey & Joan Jacobs interpret hilarious songs inspired by children & written for the young at heart.

See schedule here

The Flat Rascals consist of 7 members:

     Greg McCord     Matthew Skelton     Philip Jacobs

     Darin Cochran     Jeff Breece     Joel Breece     Randy Prince

This group graces our community with their daily work where we find them in the schools, in the shops, and businesses all around town. And when they hit the stage they certainly generate some musical fun performing for events that span fundraisers for the Humane Society, Grinders Switch Art Show and many others. Humbly they describe themselves, “We are just a group of local guys that enjoy music and we play anything from bluegrass to country to southern rock.” And the crowds love them!

Next up at 2:00 and again at 5:30 Come see Tessitura

The four voices of Tessitura Quartet are also members of Metro Nashville Chorus and Sweet Adelines International.  We sing four-part a cappella harmony in the barbershop style.  Barbershop, like jazz, is a uniquely American art form that has its roots in the African American traditional of close, a cappella harmonies.  Barbershop refers to the arrangement of the song, and almost any song can be arranged in the barbershop style.

Whether barbershop is sung by men or women, the four harmony parts are referred to as Tenor, Bass, Baritone, and Lead.  The Tenor sings the high harmonies that soar above the melody line; Kat Greene is Tessitura’s Tenor.  Deborah Miller is our Bass; she creates the foundation of the barbershop chord with rich, low harmonies.  Paulette Hatalosky sings the challenging Baritone line, which creates the distinctive barbershop sound as it weaves over and under the melody line.  Jennifer Palus is our lead and usually has the melody, though some songs or portions of songs shift the melody to another part.

Tessitura has competed four times at Sweet Adelines International Regional Contest.  We were very proud to be awarded 2008 Novice Quartet, 2009 Most Improved Quartet, 2011 Most Improved Quartet and also in 2011 we earned 5^th Place Quartet medals.  We plan to continue our journey together and will compete again in March 2012.

Barbershop harmonies are a joy to sing, and we encourage any interested women to check out the Metro Nashville Chorus at www.metronashvillechorus.org …or just ask us and we’ll be happy to share more about our favorite pastime: singing!

At 3:00 pm See our very own Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell: Will be playing on the main stage from 3-3:40pm. He is a young man with talent apparent from the time he was 7 playing classical compositions like a professional. You will hear an assortment of music from his keyboard since he excels in all musical sounds.

Michael Campbell is a senior in high school.  He has been playing the piano for 11 years.  He enjoys playing pretty much all kinds of music from country to jazz, top 40, etc.  He has been a member of the Grinder’s Switch Ensemble for the past three years and plays each Saturday morning from 10 – 11:30 a.m. live at the Chamber of Commerce in Centerville and can also be heard on Kix 96.

Debuting at 4:15 on the Main Stage is the Puddin’ Players

The girls are on a road trip and are looking for another great “Meat & Three” restaurant. But this time, Thora has a special “mission”. She is looking for the best banana pudding recipe she can find, and she will go to any lengths to get it!  A caravan trip via interstate runs into a traffic jam and hilarity ensues!  Please join the fun when the Puddin’ Players take the stage at 4:00 p.m. with the one act play, “Driving Us Bananas.”

As a special treat for the evening join us to  hear the wonderful music of In His Image at 6:00 pm

  In His Image will perform on the Main Stage for the Grand Closing of the evening starting a 6:00pm and  later joining Steve Turner and Angie Laster for the Grand Finale of the Festival until 8pm.

This group can make the rafters ring to their harmony and powerful singing. They recently were featured at the Williamson County Fair. Their web site is www.inhisimagequartet.com for more about the group.

Then at 7:00 pm Angie Laster graces us with her beautiful music with Steve Turner and his heartful song….

An·gie [an-jee] – noun – messenger, a person who carries a message

 Destined to perform from age five, Angie Laster would tiptoe into the Pleasantville Pentecostal Church where her father ministered and climb onto the piano bench.  With Angie at the keyboard, that baby grand echoed throughout the sanctuary with refrains from Dolly Parton to James Taylor.  Even though Angie was often caught mimicking those “worldly” tunes, it never dampened her spirit.   During those formative years in that little church, along with her musicianship, Angie developed a strong faith that can still be heard in her music.

At the age of twelve, while mastering the guitar, bass, piano and accordion, Angie’s songwriting skills emerged.  Properly, her inaugural recording, Angie Laster Gospel, included one of her own creations.  This collection of hymns compiled for her greatest inspiration, her grandmother, reflects Angie’s faith, family and musical flair.

Encompassed by a supportive family, Angie set her sights on Music Row.  After all, her writing, performing, and recording are like breathing.  Her style is reminiscent of her small town roots, “down to earth and pure.”  Whether interpreting a classic tune or a self-penned ballad, Angie’s soulful voice wraps itself around every syllable capturing the deepest emotion imaginable, as demonstrated on her sophomore project, Angie Laster Old School.

Angie characterizes herself as “country in an educated way.”  Fusing her rural roots with life’s seasoning and enduring faith lends her music a familiar ring yet maintaining a distinctive sound.  At the forefront of inspiration are her two daughters, who give her plenty of reasons to take up pen and paper.  Additionally, her melodies reflect romance, heartache and conviction.

Also an entrepreneur, Angie manages Terrell Branch Music Group, a publishing company, record label and recording studio.  With two CDs and one in production, live appearances, exposure on WSM and the internet, Angie’s music is touching more and more lives every day.

When asked what she wants fans to know about her, she comments, “I am as passionate about music as I am my family.  It is a gift from God that I do not take for granted. “

Continuing to write, perform and record, Angie’s goal is to “impact as many people as I can through my music.”  And with that, Angie has only just begun, because Angie Laster is a messenger.

angielaster.com                 myspace.com/angielaster

You may have heard Steve Turner on the Grinder’s Switch Hour every Sat.     morning with the Grinder’s Switch Ensemble at the Hickman County Chamber of Commerce on KIX96 or maybe at the church on Sunday morning.  He’s been playing guitar and singing since age 11.  He is a pillar in the community by actively working to make our community a place we all want to live.  He owns KIX96 radio station and is gracing us with his heartfelt country twang…a treat for us all.

At 8:00 pm In His Image will join Steve Turner and Angie Laster to bring us all home!

Wow!  What an awesome day of incredible music and theater right here in Hickman County TN.  We’ll see you there!

Schedule here

NBPF on Talk of the Town w/Moon Pie Banana Pudding