As a young boy, I remember that sometime around Thanksgiving my dad would reserve a day for killing and dressing a hog or two. I remember the weather was always cold. He would build a nice fire and would place a large barrel of water over it. After everything was ready he would kill the hog. We would all pitch in. Using the hot water and a sharp knife we would scrape all the hair off the hog. Then he would proceed to cut it up as a butcher would do. This is the way we were to have meat on the table for months to come.

John Fugate and Linda Baxter come from different backgrounds, but when it comes to agriculture education at Union County High School, their philosophy is the same. They want to prepare students for the reality of today's careers while preserving the rich legacy of Union County agriculture.

"We don't just grow plants and animals," said Fugate. "We grow kids."

Baxter is originally from Colorado, but she attended high school in California, and her family later moved to Memphis. She attended UT Knoxville for pre-vet and changed to agriculture education.

I first knew him when I was about three or four years old as my father’s friend and co-worker. One Christmas when my family lived in one of Jessie Buckner’s rental houses on Academy Street in downtown Maynardville, he sent me a Tonka™ truck. He sent me scraps of wood from his carpentry to play with. When one of the small schoolhouses closed down upon its consolidation into one of the county’s larger elementary schools, he sent me a canvas bag of building blocks. He never knew the countless hours of joy playing with those blocks gave me.

Folks have been gathering for "jam sessions" at Rush Strong School in Sharps Chapel for so long that Lea Ogle can't tell you precisely when they started, but it's been years and years. And it's easy to see why. The warm, wood walls of the old schoolrooms have perfect acoustics for the bluegrass and gospel played there. Plus, there's just something musical in the blood of so many Union Countians that the jam sessions are as much for fellowship as they are for music.

"Some really good pickers have played here," said Ogle, who himself plays mandolin.

I recently came across a newspaper article relating a story from the 1860s about a Union County man reminiscing about almost getting “churched” for gambling! A Mr. Brock owned a store at Hogskin or Blackfox and people were there on a Saturday morning with Mr. Brock organizing a “beef shoot.”

I like chicken. When I was growing up, chicken was for special occasions. When we needed one for a meal, Mother went to the chicken coop and selected a non-laying hen. How did she know which was which? Easy. She would catch one and lay two fingers between the hip bones just below the tail. If that space was wide, she was a lying hen. If it was narrow, her laying days were over. She would be the star of that Sunday dinner.

What a great time we had at the Fall Festival of Fellowship Christian Church on Saturday, October 14, 2017. This year the festival featured gospel singing on the front porch, antique cars, trucks, and tractors, crafts and games, a photo booth, bounce house, face painting, delicious food and lots of fun and fellowshipping.

If things were different in your life, what would you do?

We often think about what we could do if we were millionaires? What would we do if we found our self in extreme poverty? In either situation, what would we do? The fact is, we are who we are and happiness is not about being wealthy. Happiness comes from being who you are, being content with yourself and treating your friends and neighbors the same way you would like to be treated.

Celeste Giordano, daughter of Union County Business and Professional Association's (UCBPA) founding member Emily Link, spoke at the association's October 2017 meeting. Celeste, a mentor and master sales strategist, is in the business of helping others realize their dreams of running a successful business. She spent 36 years in the direct sales market and about four years ago she reinvented herself and went into business coaching. She normally hosts workshops for business entrepreneurs, corporations and direct sales teams.

The Union County Heritage Festival Committee thanks all of our sponsors and hopes that you will shop local.