Gates open at 8 a.m. Saturday for the second annual Tri-County Jamboree Family Fun Day Music and Craft Festival outside Dayton, Tenn.
The day will include homemade crafts, fine arts, food vendors and foot-stomping music, according to organizers.
The goal is to raise money for the restoration and maintenance of the Judge David Campbell Memorial Park. Campbell was a major in the Revolutionary War who settled in Rhea County before his death in 1812.
Shade-tree musicians are invited to bring their instruments and a chair “and pick till you can’t pick anymore.” Jamming with “some of the area’s bluegrass faithful” starts around 10. The musical portion of the day is a memorial tribute to Harley “Pop” Revis.
Arts and crafts vendors will have their wares for sale, and one item from each will be included in a fundraising auction.
Admission is by donation. Donations may be made in memory of loved ones or as tributes to family, organizations and businesses at the Registration and Information Booth.
Directions: From Highway 27 in Dayton, turn onto Highway 30 East and follow 6.75 miles to the Old Washington community. From Highway 58 in Decatur, Tenn., turn onto Highway 30 West and follow 7 miles. The park is about a mile past the Washington Ferry Bridge. Signs will be posted.
For more information, call 423-637-6177 or e-mail tdcmp.admnstrtr@yahoo.com or stickNtwigs@charter.net.
DID YOU KNOW?
Washington was established as the Rhea County seat in 1812. In addition to being the center of political life, Washington was a thriving marketplace, with 10 stores, three taverns or hotels, a branch of the state bank, a newspaper, several blacksmiths and cabinetmaker shops, a lathe operator, several saddlery and harness shops, a tannery and three large cotton gins. The town’s population began to decline with the formation of Meigs County and the founding of Chattanooga several years later. The construction of the Cincinnati Southern Railway along the west side of the Tennessee River in the mid-1880s, bypassing Washington, further led to its decline. Today it is only a small country village.
Source: State records