This weekend’s Festival of the Hills promises crafts and shows with a hometown flair, especially from Mildred and John Kubilis.

Tuesday, September 05, 2000

This weekend’s Festival of the Hills promises crafts and shows with a hometown flair, especially from Mildred and John Kubilis.

Although they live in Mississippi, the couple has Ironton ties and will bring their painting, drawing and photography back home to exhibit Saturday and Sunday, festival chair Dott Mayne said.

Mrs. Kubilis is a noted porcelain artist, having practiced the delicate art since she retired in the 1970s.

Porcelain painting is not china decorated with decals and a hand-gilded rim, it’s finely detailed painting on the hard porcelain surface. The porcelain is then "fired" in a kiln and the paint adheres.

Mrs. Kubilis’s art will make a wonderful addition to the many crafters at the festival, Mrs. Mayne said.

Her husband, a cartoonist and former photographer, will also exhibit this weekend.

Other crafters include basketmaker Becky Rogers of Kitts Hill, potter Dee Rath of Ironton, dollmaker Peggy Day of Ironton, wood carver Charles Cook, wreaths by Marcella Delong and many others. The Rock Hill Garden Club will show plants and dried flowers. The Ironton Garden Club will show plants and sell bluebird houses.

There are 39 exhibitors and demonstrators listed so far, festival officials said.

The festival committee will also exhibit more than 200 posters entered this spring in a pioneer poster contest among middle school students, Mrs. Mayne said. Prizes will be awarded during the festival.

Magicians, clowns, a conestoga wagon, face painting, beans and cornbread by Guy and Reni Fulks, apple butter from First Baptist Church, Civil War exhibits and many other demonstrations and entertainment with an Appalachian flair will also come together for the festival, the area’s 14th such event.

This year’s festival also features a quilt exhibit, with quilts from Jill Dean, Phyllis Walton and Rosy Sinnott of Ironton, Dave Milem of Burlington and many others from the Tri-State. Quilts will be displayed in the lobby of the Collins Center during festival hours.

Entertainment on Sunday will begin with The Advance Four, a gospel quartet from the Advance methodist Church of Flatwoods, Ky. From Tiffin, Ohio, will come The Heritage Minstrels to sing old-time music. The Porter Creek Cloggers will demonstrate their footwork and the Brass Band of the Tri-State will complete the afternoon, Mrs. Mayne said.

Sunday’s Appalachian church service will begin at 11 a.m. Dave Lucas will give an Appalachian sermon, accompanied by Jim Wilson on the guitar, Mrs. Mayne said. The event also features area gospel singing.

The Festival of the Hills takes place Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the festival is $1 for adults. Children 12 and under are admitted free.