A brand new event will make its debut in Tuscumbia, AL this year. The Shoals Cottagecore Festival is a festival based on the popular cottagecore aesthetic. The aesthetic is originally based on rural European life and was later coined as cottagecore in 2018 on the social media blog website Tumblr.
Dr. Mary Margaret Holmes, a functional medicine pharmacist and the host of the Shoals Cottagecore Festival, explained that the purpose of the Shoals Cottagecore Festival is to encourage people to return to a simpler time.
“It's kind of a vibe that was came about a couple of years ago, that really was connecting people back to their roots, to self-sufficiency, back to how our ancestors kind of lived,” Holmes said. “So it also incorporates wholesome pastimes, the joy of whimsical and living and, learning how to use your hands to make and create.”
The Shoals Cottagecore Festival has been in the works for many years and this year happened to be the year that Holmes finally got to host it.
“This is something that I had been wanting to do for many years, just a specific festival that really got back to the people who use their hands to create and make things instead of mass produced kind of stuff,” Holmes said. “It just didn't work out time wise over the last couple of years and this year, I said ‘there's no perfect time for anything.’ So sometimes you just got to jump off that ledge and do it and made the decision to go forward,”
She also said the vendors for the event are experts in their craft and everything the vendors has is handmade.
“These vendors will be anything from skilled artists and artisans that use their hands to create we've got woodworkers we've got blade Smith, we've got a lot of cottage baked bakery goods that will be there,” Holmes said.
Among the artisans, the festival will also have homesteads and apothecary that festivalgoers can shop.
“We've even got farms and homesteads that will bring their products that they handmade. We've got some apothecary that do natural medicine. I mean just anything you can think of,” Holmes said.
She said the festival will also highlight local music artists such as Cowgirl Up Bluegrass and Christian Turner.
Holmes said she expects a number of young people to attend the festival because of the piqued interest in the cottagecore aesthetic and because the younger people are interested in getting back to a simpler time away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
“There are going to be I think a lot of young people, especially in the teens and 20s group that are really into getting back to their roots and kind of detaching themselves from the hustle and bustle of modern life,” Holmes said. “We're all so busy and go, go, go all the time and cottagecore really is about taking time for yourself, self-care, pastimes that that are enjoyable, that make you happy.”
The Shoals Cottagecore Festival will take place Saturday, May 11 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Downtown Tuscumbia. Admission to the festival is free. For more information, visit the event Facebook page here.
