True Nature Country Fair

It's been a while since IT covered a fair or festival—too many light displays, art installations, sand castles, and huhu grubs last season, we suppose. However, after writer Kathryn O'Shea-Evans introduced us to this sustainable fest, our obsession was renewed. In her own words:

I'm all for funnel cake and roller coasters, but the Organic Growers School has come up with a different end-of-summer fair. Modeled after Maine’s all-organic Common Ground Fair, the first annual True Nature Country Fair (September 28-30 in Mills River, North Carolina) makes sustainability the issue of the hour. On 940 acres of wilderness, just 20 minutes south of Asheville, you can hear lectures on homesteading, buy from Southern Appalachia’s most sustainable vendors, and take workshops on everything from biodiesel to producing your own herbal remedies in your backyard. Eight bluegrass bands take the stage throughout the weekend, including mesmerizing folk croonster Ian Thomas. Look for me up front, dancing my own version of the tilt-a-whirl.