Tennessee State Jamboree and Crafts Festival

Filed for intro on 02/04/97

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 24
By Buck

A RESOLUTION to designate the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival as the official jamboree and crafts festival of the State of Tennessee.

WHEREAS, it is fitting that this General Assembly should honor and congratulate those institutions and events that have been sources of great civic pride to their community and that seek to make the community a better place to live; and

WHEREAS, July 5, 1996, marked the 25th Anniversary of the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival; and

WHEREAS, the late Congressman Joe L. Evins, conceived of a gathering of a group of area musicians to stage an Old-Time Appalachian Country Music Show in Smithville, Tennessee and suggested the same to the late Barry C. Williams; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Evins, Barry C. Williams along with the late J.G. "Bobo" Driver, the late Charles Gentry, Ralph Vaughn, Neil Dudney, and Linda Pack formed a committee to organize such an event; and

WHEREAS, on July 1, 1972, 714 musicians representing sixteen states delighted an audience of 8,000 people; and

WHEREAS, this exemplary event has grown so that it is now estimated that 110,000 people attended the two day event in 1996, with over 650 contestants representing forty-four states and four foreign countries; and

WHEREAS, the 1996 Jamboree lived up to the high standard of excellence that the event has established for music, crafts, hospitality and fellowship; and

WHEREAS, the event is televised each year and broadcast worldwide and has been featured in the National Geographic Traveler, Southern Living, as well as numerous other nationally known publications; and

WHEREAS, news of the Smithville Jamboree's accomplished musicians and inspiring music, skilled artisans and authentic crafts and overall excitement has reached the four corners of the globe, and videos of this exemplary event have been distributed all around the world; and

WHEREAS, in 1974, as a tribute to the Appalachian art and culture, 100 artisans and craftsmen were invited to sell and display authentic pioneer and contemporary crafts; and

WHEREAS, this aspect of the Jamboree has grown to over two hundred fifty participants; and

WHEREAS, the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival is dedicated to the furtherance and preservation of Old-Time Appalachian country music, dance, and authentic Appalachian art and culture and this body wishes to take the opportunity to recognize the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival organizers, committees, volunteers and the people of Smithville and DeKalb County, Tennessee; and

WHEREAS, the growing popularity and prominence of this outstanding event suggests to this General Assembly that it should be designated as an official function of the State of Tennessee; now, therefore,

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3, is amended by adding the following language as a new, appropriately designated section:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, That we hereby designate the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival as the official jamboree and crafts festival of the State of Tennessee.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That an appropriate copy of this resolution be prepared for presentation to the Board of Directors of the Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival with this final clause omitted from such copy.