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If the Hat Fits, Wear it
By Rich Steck
Over in Boone, North Carolina, up in that state's High Country, the folks take their town's namesake pretty seriously. So seriously that they've decided, after all these years, to hold a festival in his honor. They're going to call it Daniel Boone Days and this inaugural heritage festival debuts Sept. 4-6, setting a foundation for what they hope will be an exciting annual event.
They're aiming high, too, with the goal of setting a world record (probably the first of its kind) for having a gathering of the most people simultaneously wearing Daniel Boone coonskin hats. Even the French with all their long history of fancy dress never ever thought of having everybody wear a feathered tricorn all at the same time. Well, as you can imagine, this high goal has created what they're calling "a first-year buzz." If you don't live too far from Boone you've probably heard the hum yourself.
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Fess Parker championed the comeback of the coon skin cap as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV. Now he's championing his own Fess Parker wines. |
They've imported some unbiased judges, members of the World Record Academy of Miami, Florida. The gathering's planned for 11 a.m. on Depot Street the last day of the festival (giving everybody a couple of days to get their coonskin caps gussied up for the big competition (well, it's hardly a competition since nobody's ever gathered an official "wearing of the coon-tailed caps" before - which sort of gives the town a leg up in the record-setting category). That also gives them a couple of days to sell a bunch of hats to hatless folks attending the festival. Piles of 'em (hats, not attendees) will be available for $10 at either Mast General Store or Daniel Boone Headquarters at 130 North Depot Street.
In addition to coonskin caps, the festival's got a really nice mix of educational and cultural events, plus live music and arts & crafts at the Horn in the West amphitheater.
With some degree of gravity and pride, festival co-founder Sam Calhoun says, "Daniel Boone Days addresses the need for a unifying celebration for the Town of Boone - a celebration that highlights the town's namesake." And caps it all off with a unifying world record triumph.
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The real Daniel Boone posed for this portrait, the only one made from real life, at age 85 just months before his death. |
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