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TAUNY in Canton celebrates 25 years of North Country Heritage Awards; gets $10,000 grant for improvements

Posted 11/1/18

B CANTON — Traditional Arts of Upstate New York (TAUNY) held TAUNY Folklife Fair this past weekend which celebrated 25 years of North Country Heritage Awards. TAUNY has presented awards to …

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TAUNY in Canton celebrates 25 years of North Country Heritage Awards; gets $10,000 grant for improvements

Posted

B

CANTON — Traditional Arts of Upstate New York (TAUNY) held TAUNY Folklife Fair this past weekend which celebrated 25 years of North Country Heritage Awards.

TAUNY has presented awards to recipients for their mastery of local traditions and commitment to the conservation of community spaces since 1993.

TAUNY has held an event each fall for the past 25 years, now known as the Salute to North Country Heritage, to recognize masters of their crafts, as well as places and organizations that make the region special. TAUNY has handed out 129 Heritage Awards since 1993.

Varick Chittenden, the founding director of TAUNY, said the North Country Heritage Awards are meant to honor the women and men who've devoted themselves to keeping important traditions alive and inspiring others to pursue them in the future.

The categories for the Heritage Awards include inherited traditions, adopted traditions and very special places.

The final category – evergreen – recognizes individuals, groups, businesses and programs for their continued interest in and support of traditional cultures, arts and artists; their active facilitation of skill-learning and sharing across generations; and their efforts to increase public understanding and appreciation of living traditions in the region.

North Country Assemblywoman Addie Jenne, D-Theresa, said a walk through the TAUNY building was a walk back through time in the North Country.

Jenne recently announced she secured $10,000 in state funding to assist TAUNY make improvements to its demonstration kitchen.

The assemblywoman was on hand for Sunday's TAUNY Folklife Fair. The event featured demonstrations, music and regional foods.

"I start a lot of my speeches with I'm the seventh generation of my family to call the North Country home so having a place like this, that celebrates the heritage of my ancestors and your ancestors, is pretty special," Jenne said. ""It was literally a walk through my own family's history as I had a chance to see so many of the traditional arts that have been part of our North Country's history. TAUNY truly is a North Country treasure," Jenne said.