Celebrating Our Appalachian Heritage
Our guest this week is Cristy Dunn, Executive Director of the Johnson County Center for the Arts, who joins Sheila to talk about Long Journey Home, Johnson County’s annual celebration of Appalachian music, heritage and traditions.
Long Journey Home is more than a weekend of music. It is an opportunity to celebrate the musicians, stories and traditions that have been handed down through generations — and to recognize the role Johnson County has played in the musical heritage of our region.
Cristy gives us a preview of what’s planned for this year’s celebration and talks about the work that goes into keeping those traditions alive while sharing them with a new generation.
What Are You Saying About Education?
We also turn our attention to the latest Johnson County Line Community Opinion Poll, this time focusing on education.
Education ranked near the top of the concerns identified by residents in our original community poll, so we wanted to dig a little deeper.
Dan and Sheila take a look at the early results and talk about what residents are telling us about Johnson County schools, the challenges they see and the issues they believe deserve more attention.
As we always remind our readers and viewers, these are non-scientific community opinion polls. They aren’t intended to predict elections or represent every resident of Johnson County. They’re designed to do something much simpler: start a conversation — and keep it going.
If you haven’t participated yet, we’d love to hear from you.
A Big Labor Day Weekend Around Town
And if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, you shouldn’t have to look very far.
Along with Long Journey Home, Labor Day weekend brings the return of Ribfest, which has grown into one of the county’s largest annual events.
After our conversation last week about Ribfest and the concerns raised by some of Johnson County’s volunteer fire departments, we take another look at the event as everyone gets ready for this year’s festivities.
And that’s not all.
We go Around Town with a look at Ribfest, Long Journey Home and other events and activities happening throughout Johnson County over the holiday weekend.
It’s a weekend that offers a little bit of everything — and plenty of reasons to get out, support our community and enjoy the place we call home.
Watch This Week’s Episode
Join Dan and Sheila for another conversation about the people, places, issues and stories shaping Johnson County — and our visit with Cristy Dunn about a celebration that reminds us just how rich our own story really is.
Then get out there and enjoy Labor Day weekend Around Town.
The Johnson County Line
Local Voices. Local Stories. Local Conversations.
The Johnson County Line is an independently produced public affairs podcast by Dan Cullinane and Sheila Stout Caldwell.
