Boone Festival

Boone (Daniel) Festival

First full week in October

Held annually since 1948 in Barbourville, Kentucky, this week-long festival honors the frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820), who in 1775 was the first to carve a trail through the Appalachian Mountains from eastern Tennessee all the way to the Ohio River. For 50 years Boone's "Wilderness Road" was the major route for settlers heading west.
An important part of the festival is the signing of the Cherokee Cane Treaty. Descendants of the original Cherokees who hid in the Smoky Mountains to avoid being forced to move to Oklahoma in 1838-39 sign a treaty each year that provides them with cane, which still grows along the Cumberland River, that they can use to make baskets. Other festival events include an old-fashioned barbecue featuring pioneer and American Indian foods, traditional Indian dances, a long-rifle shoot, and competitions in such activities as hog-calling, wood-chopping, and fiddling.

CONTACTS:
Knox County Chamber of Commerce
196 Daniel Boone Dr., Ste. 205
Barbourville, KY 40906
606-546-4300; fax: 606-546-4300
www.knoxcochamber.com

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 427

Celebration days:
2011: Oct 2 - Oct 8
2012: Oct 7 - Oct 13
2013: Oct 6 - Oct 12
2014: Oct 5 - Oct 11
2015: Oct 4 - Oct 10