Greening Up the Mountains Festival

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The Greening Up the Mountains Festival, now in its 28th year, is a heritage arts festival that celebrates the arrival of Spring and Earth Day through both traditional and contemporary forms of Appalachian art, music, food, and beverage which honor our community and local artisans. The festival is sponsored by both the Town of Sylva and the Main Street Sylva Association and will be held in Historic Downtown Sylva, North Carolina. The Greening Up the Mountains Festival enjoys crowds of upwards of 12,000 attendees and has 150 vendor booth spaces. In addition to a variety of arts, crafts, and food vendors, attendees can enjoy a 5k run, beverage arts featuring local craft breweries, and live music throughout the day.

​Be sure to visit both Main Street and Bridge Park to enjoy all the festival has to offer.  Like us on Facebook to receive festival updates and information.  

VOLUNTEER: The festival requires all of the staff, law enforcement and numerous volunteers to make it happen.  If you would like to volunteer, click HERE to fill out the form.  You get a free t-shirt!

The annual Greening Up the Mountains festival in Sylva, NC, began as a celebration of Appalachian heritage arts around Earth Day.  Its namesake reflects the gradual progression of spring green moving up the mountains. Local residents and business owners organized the original festival in partnership with the Sylva downtown Main Street program, which is now called Main Street Sylva Association.  2,500 people were in attendance and now the festival has grown to 12-14,000 people.  Early festivals featured talent shows, farm and kitchen demonstrations, nature education, plus costume, essay and baking contests -- and even cake walks!

The festival has evolved into a larger event showcasing heritage arts and locally crafted items for purchase, live music, demonstrations, and food/beverages ... all while continuing to emphasize environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Several years ago, the organizing committee wanted to increase the event’s environmental practices.  Over a 3-year period festival requirements were added to eliminate single-use plastics, plastic bottled water, and plastic shopping bags.  Tuckasegee Water and Sewer Authority created water filling stations so that attendees could refill their water bottles throughout the day.  Baxley’s Chocolates also offered to provide festival signage to help people understand the county’s trash and recycling practices, complementing the Jackson County Solid Waste’s educational offerings at the event. Demonstration organizations also share their strategies with the public at the festival.   Western North Carolina’s “Feed Me Foam” truck was added to the festival, demonstrating how they distill a truck load of foam into a solid brick that can be used in other ways.  The Styrofoam recycler picks up Styrofoam each month at Mark Watson Park.