Presented by the Town of Sylva, the 27th annual Greening Up the Mountains festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26, along Main Street and Bridge Park in Sylva. 

This year’s Greening Up the Mountains, scheduled for Saturday, April 26, celebrates the 27th anniversary of the spring festival. True to its roots in the celebration of Earth Day and Appalachian heritage, the event continues to focus on local environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Presented by the Town of Sylva, the 26th annual Greening Up the Mountains festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Saturday, April 27, in downtown Sylva. 

Though Oct. 17 was just seven months ago chronologically, it feels like seven years emotionally with all of the social, political and economic chaos and strife in this current era of Covid-19. 

Every year, Sylva’s population quadruples on the last Saturday in April as more than 10,000 people flock to the tiny town for Greening Up the Mountains, a long-running festival featuring live music on two stages, a 5K run and more than 125 vendors offering crafts, food and information about local nonprofits. 

Planning the event is a year-round endeavor for town staff, and as this year’s April 27 date drew closer, all the ducks seemed to be sorting themselves into their respective rows — until a different kind of bird threw a wrench in the plans. 

The 21st annual Greening Up the Mountains Festival is Saturday, April 28, in downtown Sylva. The festival includes more than 200 vendors who will be spread throughout two locations — on Main Street and Railroad Avenue.

The proud communities that make up Western North Carolina were once mountain towns that played host to several successful blue-collar industries. We’re talking about logging, furniture, paper products, auto parts, beverages, textiles, and so on. The country needed things, and needed them fast, and folks here made those products with their bare hands.

These companies found a crucial, much-needed balance alongside the serene beauty and endless natural resources of our forests, rivers and wildlife.

It’s about finding your center. 

Though they’re hundreds of miles from the closest ocean, the members of Sylva-based Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) have concocted a formula of reggae soul unique to the mountains of Western North Carolina. It’s more about an uplifting and relaxed state of mind rather than actual sandy toes and salt water. 

Drawing thousands of visitors each year, the 19th annual Greening Up The Mountains Spring Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in downtown Sylva. 

The daylong event is a celebration of renewal, of revitalization, and a time of reconnecting with friends, relatives and neighbors. Browse the more than 190 vendors, representing arts, crafts, demonstrators, culinary delights, local schools, business, community, environmental, health, safety, children’s activities, and more.

The 18th annual Greening Up the Mountains spring kickoff street festival will be held Saturday, April 25, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Sylva.

The third annual Beer Garden will return to McGuire Gardens with craft beer offerings from Heinzelmannchen and Innovation breweries. The two businesses will also release a Heinz-Syl-Vation Collaboration Ale (blackberry spring wheat ale). Live music at the garden will include Alma Russ, Ian Moore and Dr. Pockets. Entry to the garden is $5, with craft beer and prepackaged treats from the Evolution Wine Kitchen sold separately.