Special to The T&D

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina's traditions of mouth-watering barbecue, home-grown bluegrass musicians and backcountry arts and crafts are all celebrated at the South Carolina State Museum's annual Fall Heritage Festival and Pickin' Party on Saturday, Oct. 13.

An old-fashioned pig pickin' will offer festival-goers four styles of South Carolina barbecue prepared by award-winning cookers. Barbecue sampler plates with all four styles (vinegar and pepper, mustard, light tomato and Cheerwine-flavored) plus fixin's are $10. A plate with one style with fixin's is $7, and sandwiches and chips are $5.

More "pickin'" continues with the sounds of fiddles, guitars, mandolins and banjos on the museum's front grounds. At 10 a.m., silhouette artist Clay Rice reveals his musical side with songs of the Lowcountry, followed at 11:30 a.m. by the "funky newgrass honk" sounds of Papa String Band.

At 1 p.m., guests will be entertained by a bluegrass band that has been pleasing audiences since 1979, the Carolina Rebels. Popular local bluegrass musicians Bill Wells and the Blue Ridge Mountain Grass will take the stage at 2 p.m., and acclaimed roots rocker Danielle Howle brings her unique Southern voice to the closing performance at 3 p.m.

Aside from great music and food, guests will also get the chance to purchase folk art and traditional handcrafted items and see craft demonstrations from artists across the state. Nearly 20 artists will display and sell their creations in pottery, jewelry, soaps, hand-carved wooden bowls, paintings, gourd art, broom-making, blacksmithing, Native American beadwork and more.

Plus, folk lifeways group Common Knowledge will demonstrate early Carolina survival skills, and living history re-enactors Robert and Phillip Blackwell (the Carolina Indian Traders) will explain the trading system that developed between 17th- and 18th-century Charleston merchants and the Native American tribes.

The Fall Heritage Festival and Pickin' Party begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Events inside the museum are included with museum admission or membership.

For more information, call 803-898-4952 or 803-898-4989.

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