40th Anniversary Celebration at Westmoore Pottery’s Heritage Day
Posted on 10/18/17Seagrove, NC - On Friday, October 27th and Saturday, October 28th, Westmoore Pottery will celebrate a milestone in its history with a two-day event, “Heritage Day: 40th Anniversary.” The event will be a day for Westmoore Pottery to show appreciation to customers both old and new as well as a chance to reminisce with visitors about everything that has happened in those forty years. Westmoore Pottery will be open 9 am – 5 pm both days for this Heritage Day.
“I’m hoping to see both old friends and newcomers,” says potter Mary Farrell, “and I’d be especially thrilled to see anyone who has been coming here since I opened!”
Westmoore Pottery opened in the fall of 1977 in the Seagrove, NC pottery area at a time when there were only six open pottery shops. Updated scrapbooks detailing Westmoore Pottery’s own forty-year heritage will be on display for the first time in ten years.
Over the two days, all visitors will be encouraged to sign the large poster that will be on display in the pottery shop and to indicate the year they first visited Westmoore Pottery, whether it was forty years ago or 2017. Bring small snapshots of any Westmoore pots you own to place around the border of that poster.
Homemade refreshments will be served on both days, and there will be drawings for door prizes. Demos of making pottery will be held throughout the event. “I’m hoping everyone will have a lot of fun!” adds Mary.
Westmoore Pottery’s Heritage Days are held as a time to celebrate both Westmoore Pottery’s own heritage as well as the greater historical pottery heritage of the past, and this year’s expanded two-day event is no different. Mary Farrell views herself as a part potter and part hands-on preservationist and specializes in historical wares which are used as furnishings and in education programs at museums and historic sites in many areas of the country. Because of Mary’s interests, Westmoore Pottery’s special events usually include an educational component. During this year’s “Heritage Day: 40th Anniversary” there will be informational displays placed around the shop about the historical pottery traditions on which some of Westmoore’s work is based.
A kiln load of pottery will be opened on Friday for the event and at 2 pm on Saturday the large 40th Anniversary commemorative plate will be unveiled.
In addition, on Saturday, Westmoore Pottery will host a small encampment by members of the New Amstel Militia, a 17th century (the 1600s) reenactment group. Visitors may wander among the encamped soldiers, who will be happy to give information and answer questions.
Westmoore Pottery’s next-door-neighbor blacksmith Jerry Darnell of Mill Creek Forge will also be hosting an “Open Forge” on the Saturday in conjunction with this Heritage Day, allowing those interested to try their hands at blacksmithing.
The pottery shop is located at 4622 Busbee Road, just off Highway 705 halfway between the small towns of Seagrove and Robbins, in North Carolina. There is no charge to the public for this event.
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