On Sunday, October 13, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) presented three North Country Heritage Awards at the annual Salute to North Country Legends. The 2013 awards were presented to the annual Wadhams Strawberry Festival, dance fiddler Leon W. Boyea of Burke, and St. Lawrence University’s Gunnison Memorial Chapel bell ringers. The Salute included entertainment, an audiovisual profile of each Heritage Award recipient, and a Meet the Masters reception following the ceremony.

Every year residents of Wadhams and the surrounding communities look forward to the strawberry festival sponsored by the United Church of Christ. Now in its 147^th year, the event is held in the parish hall and on the church grounds. There is music and festivities, but the highlight of the festival is the strawberry shortcake. Wadhams Strawberry Festival representatives, Evelyn Brant and Barbara Lambert, were presented with a crystal plate and a certificate. A photograph of the strawberry festival will be added to TAUNY’s North Country Wall of Fame gallery.

The TAUNY award recognizes individuals, families, or community groups who have mastered traditional arts or customs identified with our region and remain committed to passing them on to future generations. Each year the folklife organization with headquarters in Canton presents Heritage Awards to “masters of North Country arts and traditions.”

TAUNY is a nonprofit organization dedicated to showcasing the folk culture and living traditions of the North Country. For more information about the North Country Heritage Award and TAUNY visit www.TAUNY.org.

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