Bert Coffer, director of the Moore County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, has announced that banjo picker/fiddler Marvin Gaster will provide entertainment for the Farm-City Week banquet to be held Monday, Nov. 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the Agriculture Center in Carthage.
The Farm-City Week banquet will also feature the presentation of awards to the county’s Outstanding Young Farmer, Outstanding Farm Business Family, Outstanding ECA Woman, the 4-H Leadership Award and Conservation Farm Family of the Year.
Those attending will dine on a traditional dinner featuring roast beef and gravy, grilled chicken, potatoes, green beans, slaw and baked apples, to be served with homemade desserts, rolls, tea and coffee.
Another highlight will be the drawing for door prizes, including a grand prize that will be a gift card to Wal-Mart. Farmers and businesses provide the other door prizes.
In the farm box will be gifts of such things as sweet potatoes, honey, peach or strawberry certificates (to be redeemed in season), collards, salad onions, country ham and turnips. The urban gift box will contain such things as dinner for two, shirts, health and fitness certificates, car wash, savings bond, certificate to a nursery or farm supply store.
Coffer describes Gaster as “the last in a line” of Lee County two-finger banjo pickers.
The Gaster family has a long history with music and dancing, dating back at least to Marvin’s great-grandfather, “Fiddlin’ John Morris Francis Gaster (1853-1942). He was raised by a great-aunt and uncle in the farm culture.
Gaster, with his banjo and fiddle in tow, is a familiar sight at southern fiddlers’ conventions. He finished in the money at the prestigious Clifftop competition in the summer of 1995 and has also taken home awards from Fiddlers Grove.
Gaster is remembered in Moore County for the years, 1963-1993, when he taught in the public schools here.
At their Nov. 3 meeting, the Moore County commissioners adopted a proclamation designating Nov. 22-28 as Farm-City Week.
The proclamation says, in part, that “the growth and development of the county and the well-being of all its citizens are dependent upon cooperation and exchange between the two essential environments of our society, farmers and city people.”
It adds that “the complexities of their individual problems and the divergence of their activities may lead to a widening gap of misunderstanding” and that “Farm-City Week provides an unparalleled experience for farm and city people to become better acquainted.”
Commissioner Virginia Saunders read the proclamation, which was accepted by Coffer during the meeting. Commissioner David Cummings joined Saunders in making the presentation. Saunders and Cummings represent distinctly rural areas of the county.
Coffer said the banquet is open to everyone, including children. Tickets are $12 apiece and may be obtained from any member of the Farm-City Week Committee or at the Extension office (947-3188) in Carthage or at the Sandhills Area Chamber of Commerce in Southern Pines (692-3926).
The Chamber of Commerce and the Extension Center jointly sponsor farm-City Week.
