CONTRIBUTED

It's festival time again at the historic Malcolm Blue Farm in Aberdeen.

This is not a regular festival, but a traditional crafts and farmskills festival that depicts life in the 1800s and has become known as one of the finest intergenerational events in North Carolina. It pays tribute to the farm heritage and Scottish culture of the Sandhills.

The festival opens Friday, Sept. 23, and continues through Sunday, Sept. 25. Hours of operation are from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday (open for schoolchildren until 2 p.m.); 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The festival is sponsored by the Malcolm Blue Historical Society, whose goal is to educate by creating a farm atmosphere for visitors.

The farm complex includes an 1825 farmhouse furnished with period furniture, a tobacco pack house, a stable, corn crib, pig pen, a working grist and hammer mill, a windmill, an outhouse, and a two-story museum that was established in 1986.

In the nearby meadow, guests will see border collies herding sheep. Civil War re-enactors will set up camp and await visitors in the far meadow.

Additional activities include watching corn being ground into cornmeal at the gristmill, visiting the animals in the stable and pig pen, watching the blacksmith forging with red hot metal, and watching a steam engine which produces power to run a shingle mill making roofing for homes.

Children can try stilt walking, children's folk games and corn shuck doll-making.

Watch traditional crafters demonstrate pine needle basket making, spinning, weaving, quilting, potting, tatting, tobacco tying, woodworking and caning.

A three-day music program is planned at the main stage.

Adult admission is $5, children are admitted for $3 and preschoolers are admitted free, as are active duty military families.

The Malcolm Blue Farm is located at 1177 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen, within sight of Old Bethesda Church and the early Scottish cemetery.

Just watch for the signs on N.C. 5 South.

For information, call (910) 944-7558.