Special to The Leader

SAN ANTONIO – Since the Texas Folklife Festival began 45 years ago, festival organizers and supporters have watched time take its toll. Skilled artisans, cooks following old family traditions, and people who keep alive the spirit and life ways of Texas pioneers have slowly passed away. The festival is looking to preserve some of these skills and put them on display for the 2017 festival.

The 2017 Texas Folklife Festival is June 9 – 11 at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio. The festival is seeking talented individuals who are willing to show and demonstrate their skills at the three-day event: wood workers, leather workers, blacksmiths, potters, weavers, jelly makers, candy makers, jerky makers, vintners, cheese makers, hoe cake cooks, brewers, chuck wagon cooks, curanderos, antique rifle gunsmiths, antique instrument makers and musicians, furniture makers, hatters, and any Texan with unique artisan skills.

The festival organizing committee requests that you send a brief description of the craft, how long you have practiced this craft, sample pictures of items produced and/or video of a demonstration. Details should be submitted to Texas Folklife Festival, 801 E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd, San Antonio, TX  78205 or email to texasfolklifefestival@utsa.edu (large files, please use a dropbox link).

The Texas Folklife Festival has sought to celebrate and share the state’s diversity and preserve the skills of the Texas pioneers. Craftsmen would demonstrate their skills and invite festival goers to get hands-on, learning the classic skill, so it could be preserved for another generation. The festival calls on all Texans to search their communities and small towns for the people who keep these classic skills alive.

The Texas Folklife Festival is an annual production of the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio. The museum is a component of The University of Texas at San Antonio and a Smithsonian Affiliate. It is located on the UTSA Hemisfair Campus in downtown, 801 E. César E. Chávez Blvd., a short distance from the Alamo and the River Walk. For more information, call 210-458-2300 or visit TexanCultures.com.