Fire on the Mountain Blacksmithing Festival

04/29/2026

The forges may have cooled, but the shop is still open. 🔥

If you missed Fire on the Mountain, got rained out, or something sold out before you could grab it, we've got you covered.

👉 discoversprucepine.store

Thank you for showing up for us, whether in person or from your home.

04/24/2026

Tomorrow, Saturday the 25th, is the day!! Excited to see everyone in Downtown Spruce Pine from 10-4!

04/20/2026

Have you signed up for the Forge Off? We still have spots left:

Youth and Adult Forge-Off Competitions
Participants are provided with iron stock, minimal tools, and a limited timeframe to complete their best work.
● The Adult Challenge (18 and older) will be a team Snake Off! Each team will get a 1" round bar, and have access
to a small gas forge, anvil, forging hammer, sledgehammer and leg vise. They will have 55 minutes to make their
snake! Participants are able to bring any other hand tools they want to use during their time slot. Judges will
choose the longest and best formed snake as the winner.
● The Youth Challenge (12 to 17 years old) will be forging arrow/spear heads out of 3/8 or 1/2 round stock (about
1 foot long), and will be hosted by Arthur Morgan School. A guardian must be present for youth to participate,
and they must sign a waiver. Youth must have adequate experience to work independently without coaching.
Slots are 55 minutes long. Each participant will be provided with the round stock, a hammer, an anvil, and access
to a small gas forge. Participants are able to bring any other hand tools they want to use during their time slot.
● The public is invited to watch as participants forge. At the end of the day a jury of blacksmiths chooses the
winners.
● To sign up in advance, e-mail [email protected], and indicate your name, age, a cell number
where you can be contacted on the day of the festival, and preferred email. We will hold a few spaces for same
day signup, too.
● Awards for each category will be announced at 3:30pm next to the forge off area.

04/06/2026

Sign up for our 2026 Youth and Adult Forge-Off Competitions!
Participants are provided with iron stock, minimal tools, and a limited timeframe to complete their best work.

The Adult Challenge (18 and older) will be a Snake Off! Each participant will get a 1" round bar, and have access to a small gas forge, anvil, forging hammer, sledgehammer and leg vise. They will have 55 minutes to make their snake! Participants are able to bring any other hand tools they want to use during their time slot. Judges will choose the longest and best formed snake as the winner.

The Youth Challenge (12 to 17 years old) will be forging arrow/spear heads out of 3/8 or 1/2 round stock (about 1 foot long), and will be hosted by Arthur Morgan School. A guardian must be present for youth to participate, and they must sign a waiver. Youth must have adequate experience to work independently without coaching. Slots are 55 minutes long. Each participant will be provided with the round stock, a hammer, an anvil, and access to a small gas forge. Participants are able to bring any other hand tools they want to use during their time slot.

The public is invited to watch as participants forge. At the end of the day a jury of blacksmiths chooses the winners.

To sign up in advance, e-mail [email protected], and indicate your name, age, a cell number where you can be contacted on the day of the festival, and preferred email. We will hold a few spaces for same day signup, too.

Awards for each category will be announced at 3:30pm next to the forge off area.

03/18/2026

Our 2026 Festival Overview is available - check it out to plan your visit. Want to sign up for the Team Forging Challenge? Info in the overview. See you April 25th!

03/14/2026

Registration is open for Elizabeth Brim's Friday Demonstration Workshop. This is the only event at Fire on the Mountain that requires registration, and space is limited. To apply, follow this link. This is a special opportunity to learn with Elizabeth in her very own studio!

The Town of Spruce Pine and Penland School of Craft present a Demonstration Workshop with Elizabeth Brim, Featured Artist Blacksmith, on Friday, April 24th, 2025 from 9:30am to 4:00pm in Elizabeth’s studio, Penland, NC The workshop will focus on traditional methods of blacksmithing, forging hot st...

02/23/2026

Don't miss Andrew Meers demonstration at the 2026 Festival!

Andrew is a bladesmith, engraver, and metalsmith. Andrew grew up outside of Boston, and attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he received his BFA, and went on to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he received his MFA. Andrew earned his Journeymansmith rating from the American Bladesmithing Society in 2013. In 2015, he earned his Mastersmith rating, also receiving the B.R Hughes Award, which is awarded for the best piece submitted by a Mastersmith applicant. Andrew has been a resident at The National Ornamental Metal Museum and a Resident Artist at Penland School of Craft.

Andrew will demonstrate chasing and repousse. Chasing and repousse is a technique where sheet metal is formed into a small relief or sculptural object. Andrew will demonstrate the tools and techniques and processes used to form the sheet metal and turn it into a small relief or raised in embossed form.

02/23/2026

Kat Cole will join us as a demonstrator in the Close Up area at Fire on the Mountain 2026!

Kat Cole is a metal and enamel artist whose work bridges sculpture and adornment. Cole holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from East Carolina University. Her pieces are included in major collections such as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Racine Art Museum, and she co-founded the project Jewelry Edition to promote contemporary jewelry practice.

Kat will demonstrate techniques for vitreous enamel on steel.

02/05/2026

We are thrilled to welcome John Winer as a demonstrator at the 2026 festival. John will be demonstrating the 'Fluid use of Line'. He will be slitting some flat bar, and wrapping it improvisationally with traditional tools into a contemporary shape focusing on the plasticity of heated steel.

John Winer’s road to blacksmithing started with a radio show at the University of South Carolina at seventeen and as a street musician on the streets of New Orleans. By twenty-one he was performing in bars, festivals, on street corners and in prisons in almost forty states. In his thirties he took up organic market farming in the mountains of East Tennessee (where he resides today). Unable to make a living selling produce and needing tools and contraptions for the farm John became an itinerant Millwright and welder thus paving his way to blacksmithing.

Today, as a professional artist and blacksmith he produces high end architectural work as well as furniture designs for a leading iron furniture company. His work can be seen in magazines such as the Anvil’s Ring, The Hammer’s Blow, Furniture Style Magazine, High Country Magazine and Kitchen Trends Magazine. His work also graces the pages of books including: From Fire to Form, Ironworks Today 3 and The Art of Community, the Janet Jim Ayres Collection.

As well as demonstrating at regional events around the USA, John has participated in international festivals such as Ivano-Frankovsk Ukraine2013, twice in Buenos Aires Argentina 2016 and 2020 ,and was the sole American smith invited to participate in Ryzan Russia as well as The Axe Festival of the Masters, Tomsk Russia, invited in 2019 by the Russian Ministry of Culture.

John Winer runs a blacksmithing shop on his farm near Johnson County, Tennessee. His approach to design is much like his musical endeavors, improvisational and concentrating on the fluidity and motion of line.

johnwinerforge.com

02/02/2026

We are thrilled that Vu Nguyen (The Dustworks) will be a featured demonstrator at our 2026 festival!

Vu Nguyen is a metalworker based in Crozet, Virginia, specializing in handcrafted culinary tools. A former chef and restaurateur, he brings a deep understanding of the kitchen to his craft. Working with steel, non-ferrous metals, and wood, Vu creates tools that are both functional and artful. His work reflects a commitment to utility, tactile beauty, and lasting quality—designed to elevate everyday cooking through thoughtful, handmade design.

Vu will demonstrate creating three bar tools from the same flat stock; a cocktail spoon, a bottle opener and ice tongs. It will showcase shouldering, tapering, punching, drifting, hot cutting, and decorative chiseling