The goal of the Whippoorwill Festival is to promote sustainable living in Appalachia by sharing earth-friendly living skills with one another in a positive, healthy, family-friendly atmosphere.
The Whippoorwill Festival celebrates our Appalachian heritage while helping prepare our minds and bodies for a future world of climate change and a diminished supply of fossil fuels. The festival is an all-volunteer, multi-day, low-cost event with simultaneous workshops, tent camping, healthy, home-cooked meals, well-known guest speakers, plus old-time and mountain music, dancing, and story-telling in the evenings.
Many Whippoorwill workshops are led by experts with years of skills and knowledge in technical and complex fields such as beekeeping, cob construction, and solar energy. In order to encourage leadership development in Appalachia, other workshops such as composting toilets, fermentation, and bicycle maintenance are led by young people and relative novices. Discussion groups allow participants to share their thoughts and experiences with each other in a less formal atmosphere.
