Sara Fitzsimmons and Amy Metheny
This 10th annual chestnut festival was held Sunday, October 8 in Rowlesburg, WV, a tiny town on the scenic, big bend of the Cheat River. Afternoon activities included music, displays about the history of the American chestnut, vendors selling crafts, books and chestnut-related items, food, beverages and of course, hot roasted chestnuts. The WV TACF Chapter Meeting, presided by President Robert Sypolt, was held from noon until 2:00pm in the historic Szilagyi Center. The afternoon scientific session, held from 4:00-5:00pm featured two excellent speakers. Sara Fitzsimmons, Director of Restoration for TACF, made her way from the national meeting in Portland, ME to talk about “Conservation of Wild American Chestnut Populations.” Sara was followed by Amy Metheny, graduate student at West Virginia University, who spoke on “The Super Donor: Does Chestnut Blight have a Kryptonite?” The room for the afternoon session was packed with a very diverse audience—from those who know a lot about chestnut to first-time attendees. Sara and Amy’s talks elicited many questions and made for good information exchange.
The afternoon session was followed by a gala banquet that included the madrigal singers from Preston County High School, under the direction of Deborah Westbrook. Sam Muncy and his fiancée Sharon Reeves Cottrill were crowned Mr. and Mrs. Chestnut for 2017. Sam and Sharon were instrumental in organizing the TACF booth at the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree, held at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean, WV that was attended by more than 25,000 scouts. Sam and Sharon not only organized the volunteers who worked the booth, but they cut and stamped 5,000 tokens from American chestnut stems that were made available to scouts who stopped by the TACF booth. Sam and Sharon worked nearly every day of the 2-week event, making them worthy of the title of Mr. and Mrs. Chestnut for their extraordinary efforts.
A dinner of turkey, potatoes, chestnut stuffing, coleslaw and a chestnut mousse roulade glacée was served by members of the Challenge Academy. Wine for dinner was donated by Dominick and Sandra Marrara. Dinner was followed by a second talk from Sara Fitzsimmons. Sara delighted the audience with a talk on “Natural Regeneration of American Chestnut.” The evening closed with items donated for a silent auction.
The little town of Rowlesburg has been host to the chestnut festival for 10 consecutive years. The festival was an idea by Dr. N. Joseph Nassif, who received TACF’s mid-Atlantic volunteer award winner at the 2016 Annual Meeting. Nassif is a native of Rowlesburg, and with the help of many co-chairs and volunteers, Nassif created a successful one-day festival for both the public at-large and the scientific community.