Dan Emmett Dedication Ceremony
Saturday August 15th 
5:30 pm on the First-Knox Main Stage

The 9th annual “Eleanor Wright Unsung Hero Award” will be presented during the 2009 Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival. The Award will honor one of the many local unsung heroes, those volunteers behind the scenes, who give their time and hard work without any public recognition of their efforts.

For over 35 years, Eleanor Wright has cared for the grave of Dan Emmett.  Due to Eleanor’s loving dedication, the gravesite area was cleaned, flowers planted, and needed maintenance performed to keep up the grave of the author of “Dixie”, “Old Dan Tucker” and “Blue Tail Fly.” Eleanor felt the grave of this important Mount Vernon resident deserved so much more, and this “unsung hero” did something about it.  Eleanor started the ceremony at the gravesite, which she ran until 2001, as another tribute to the man for whom the music and arts festival is named, a man who had written two of Abraham Lincoln’s all time favorite songs.

The ceremony will open with a song written in honor of Emmett, called "Dan Emmett (A Hero in This Town)" written by Mike Petee and performed by the musical trio Elixir [who will perform a full set of their award winning music immediately after the ceremony] and The Knox Choraliers, a group of talented grade school age singers under the direction of Diane Dingler. The invocation will then be presented by Ted Dingler. Mike Petee will present "The Story Behind the Name" an historical look at the man for whom the Festival is named. A sing-a-long of Dan Emmett's most recognized song, "Dixie's Land" will then be sung. The ceremony will conclude with the presentation of this year's recipient of the Eleanor Wright "Unsung Hero Award", presented by the Honorable Mayor of Mount Vernon, Richard K. Mavis.

The “Eleanor Wright Unsung Hero Award” will be presented at the ceremony, to be held at 5:30 pm on Saturday August 15th from the First-Knox Main Stage on the Square in downtown Mount Vernon. Previous honorees are Eleanor Wright, Curt Cree, Jim Ingerham, M. E. Carpenter, Sally Nelson, John Nixon, Carol Kilkenny, and Julie Chester.

Note: All schedules and events are subject to change without notice. Please continue to check our website for all the latest updates.

For more information, call 740-392-FEST (3378) or e-mail: [email protected]

For travel and visitor information, visit the Knox County Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.VisitKnoxOhio.org or call 1-800-837-5282 or (740) 392-6102