Last weekend, new-age warriors crawled and screamed their way through a barbed wire, wood and water test of modern endurance and absurdity. This weekend, a relaxed fall tradition as old as cornstalks, hide-and-seek and apple cider takes center stage. And both fit perfectly at rejuvenated, reinvigorated and rediscovered Historic Rural Hill.
The 265-acre historic farm off Neck Road in western Huntersville, an often overlooked player in the Mecklenburg Park and Recreation roster of things to do and places to see, is emerging from centuries-old shadows and growing in popularity as a destination and host location for a wide variety of activities.
Jeff Fissel, in his first year at Rural Hill’s executive director, estimates that more than 50,000 people have visited Rural Hill so far this year, with the longest-running event on the 2011 calendar opening this weekend. The Amazing Maize Maze, a seven-acre cornstalk puzzle that opens Saturday and operates for the next 10 weekends, is annually the primary money-maker for Rural Hill, and is the event that finances farm operations throughout the year. But the venue’s expanding list of activities, and the subsequent increase in exposure has Fissel encouraged about what the future holds for the local farm with deep ties to the past.
Rural Hill is a working, carefully preserved farm built in the 1780s by the Davidson family. The pastoral setting, restored cabins and general ancient atmosphere have attracted school groups, historians and researchers for decades. It is the home of the Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games, a celebration of Scottish heritage staged with haunting bagpipe music and exhibitions of centuries-old traditions, that has long been the event most affiliated with the farm.
But this spring, the day after local high schoolers rocked the hills and dales with the first Trifecta Battle of the Bands, the North Carolina Brewers and Music Festival awoke the sleepy pastures of Rural Hill with modern bluegrass and samplings of the state’s wide assortment of craft-made beers. And last weekend, more than 13,000 outrageous runners, most accompanied by at least one curious guest or stand-by medic, descended upon the quiet countryside to battle a 5K course designed to test the limits of their physical ability and psychological stability.
These events seem to have found a new home.
“The Brewers Festival is coming back,” Fissel says, announcing May 12, 2012, as the date beer and music lovers should circle, “and all indications are that the Warrior Dash folks would like to come back, too.”
The only sticking point on immediate renewal of Warrior Dash plans, Fissel says, is a review of how the grounds recover from the beating delivered by competitors, onlookers and the various temporary construction projects required to create the obstacles.
“Preservation of the farm is always the number one issue,” Fissel says. “When we consider events and plan for activities, it’s understood that there will be no permanent impact on the grounds.”
The enduring, undisturbed nature of the surroundings, after all, is Rural Hill’s calling card and the characteristic that enhances its allure as host of the Scottish Festival, the annual “First Footing” traditional property-line walk on New Year’s Day, an Easter egg hunt and the sheepdog trials coming up in November. It is also a main reason this spring’s one-day Bark in the Park, a
gathering billed as a “festival for dogs and the people they own,” attracted more than 15,000 participants.
“That was amazing,” Fissel says. “We weren’t sure how many people to expect, but everything went great. I think that’s something else we can count on being an annual event.” And Rural Hill is constantly generating interest from organizers of first-time events, such as
the Oct. 15 “Seven & Seven” race, a 7k run combined with a timed successful navigation of the seven-acre maze.
“More people are finding out about us and more people are calling us,” says Fissel, one of four full-time employees at Rural Hill. “I think that’s because they have been out here for other activities and learned what the place is about. I think they realize if we have it here, it will be a quality event.”
And while a big part of Fissel’s job is to make event organizers more aware of Rural Hill, it’s also part of his job to determine which events fit and which ones don’t.
The Soul Food Festival held earlier this summer, for example, has been scratched off Fissel’s list, not because of the event itself, but because organizers fell short of their obligations and commitment to the premises.
“The event itself was great,” Fissel says. “There were a lot of people here, more than the organizers expected, and once folks got here they had a great time. But the planners didn’t do their part and they didn’t take care of the property.”
And protecting the property at Rural Hill is even more important than promoting it.
“This is a working, historic farm,” Fissel says. “That is and will remain the primary focus.”
The facility is a popular field trip destination for school groups from across Mecklenburg County and throughout the region. Zac Vinson, Rural Hill’s education director, organizes an assortment of programs that provide illustrations and hands-on demonstrations of the everyday farm life of generations ago.
“We are a classroom, and a lot of schools have already started scheduling their trips for this year,” Fissel says, adding that plans for a summer camp are also on Rural Hill’s long-range agenda.
He says that maintaining everything Rural Hill offers while urging others to give it a try is a tough balancing act.
“We don’t want to get to the point where one event is diluting something we already have,” he
says.
So quality, not necessarily quantity, remains the motto. But as word spreads, Fissel and his staff may have a tougher time choosing which events get to be a part of Rural Hill’s revival.
