Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Leona Hayes with performers

  • wcu_picturing-2859.jp2
  • This 1965 photograph shows Leona Hayes and performers in the 1965 Mountain Youth Jamboree in Hubert Hayes Memorial Log Cabin. Children identified in this photograph are Betty, Diane, Bruce, Dennis, Linda Penland, Maria Cristina Arellana, Georgina Estevez, Laura Tobie, Gil Michel, Nick Rogers, Mark Blount, Hal Easter, Carolyn Walton, and Karen Easter. Founder and director of the Mountain Youth Jamboree, Hubert H. Hayes (1901-1964) auditioned and directed youth to perform in folk dance, music, and folk and ballad singing. The jamboree was held in the Asheville City Auditorium (now known as Thomas Wolfe Auditorium) from 1948 to 1973, and Hayes’ wife, Leona Trantham Hayes (1913-1989) continued to direct the program after his death in 1964. Hubert Hayes was an author, playwright, and alumni of Duke University.