Updated 07/10/2008 07:36 AM
Potters drop out of Seagrove festival
The annual Seagrove Pottery Festival was recently named one of the top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.
SEAGROVE, N.C. -- This year's Seagrove Pottery Festival will, for the first time in 26 years, face serious competition.
"Seem to me to be moving toward eliminating or doing away with local potters," said one local potter of the problem.
More than 60 potters along Highway 705, known as “pottery highway,” say they've had enough and have pulled out of the well-known event. It's the result of a brewing dispute between those potters and the organization that hosts the November event: the Museum of North Carolina Traditional Pottery.
"[A concern is] how money is being spent in an organization that represents a body of potters in the Seagrove area," said Ben Owen III, who is leading the effort called a Celebration of Seagrove Potters.
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Dissenters say the museum lacks transparency and potters have no say in how their clay works are publicized. "They want to see it preserved and nurtured in the right direction," Owen said of their work.
But museum officials disagree.
"They have never once come to us with any concerns, no concerns," said Linda Loggains, president of the Museum of North Carolina Traditional Pottery.
She says the potters’ exit has divided the community.
"It’s gonna hurt the community, it's gonna hurt the potters," Loggains said.
Leaders of the group of potters that have dropped out of the original festival scheduled their festival for the exact same dates, something they say was not done in retaliation.
"We need to have a sense of voice and purpose in this future of our tradition and heritage," Owens said.
And with so many potters breaking ranks, Loggains says she's not worried about the future of the event she leads.
"We're going ahead with our festival. We expect our festival to be just as strong as it's ever been in the past."
The annual Seagrove Pottery Festival was recently named one of the top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society. Both pottery festivals are scheduled for November 23-24.
For more information on both the 27th Annual Pottery Festival and Celebration of Seagrove Potters Festival, click SEAGROVE POTTERY FESTIVAL or CELEBRATION OF SEAGROVE POTTERS