Michelle Smith, Texas Blueberry Festival chair

Blueberry Festival Chair Michelle Smith speaks with The Daily Sentinel about the upcoming festival and gives out some intereseting facts about herself.

The Daily Sentinel

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Texas Blueberry Festival chairwoman Michelle Smith believes next Saturday's festival "epitomizes how Nacogdoches maintains its small town roots.""Our town still caters to family values," she said, "and this is one of those events that is soundly devoted to families.Smith is the owner of Wolf Creek Kitchen, a small catering business in Nacogdoches. But most of her time this week will be spent gearing up for the festival.
"As the chair of the festival I get to watch all of the volunteers and chamber staff execute the event beautifully," she said. "This year we wanted to strengthen our team of volunteers and offer some new events."And the benefits of the festival are more than just fun and games, according to Smith.The economic impact of the Blueberry Festival is huge," she said. "If you calculate all of the out-of-town guests staying overnight, eating out and shopping ... we estimate the impact to be well over $1 million dollars to our community."
A new feature this year is a visit from Cowboy Max."Don't miss out on Cowboy Max and his amazing whip-cracking (and joke cracking), trick roping good time," Smith said. "Cowboy Max will also be helping out during the 'Cookin' up the Blues' blueberry cooking demonstration in the CBTx lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m."For more information about the Texas Blueberry Festival or to view a festival schedule of events, go to http://www.texasblueberryfestival.com/.

Here's a closer look at festival chairwoman Michelle Smith.

What is your favorite book, TV show, movie and song?

Favorite book has to be "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." TV show is "Top Chef." Movie is "Steel Magnolias." And song is "When You Walk Through A Storm" or "Stairway to Heaven."

What magazines do you read? O, The Economist.

What book are you reading now? "The Emancipators Wife" by Barbara Hambly.

Hobbies? Volunteering for CASA and the chamber, gardening, reading, sewing, jewelry crafts, riding my Harley, walking my dogs Abbey and Gracie Mae.

What are your pet peeves? Traffic jams.

Family background? My husband Craig works for a medical manufacturer and works from home. Our daughter, Jacqui, lives in Austin and is getting her nursing degree, and our son, Travis, lives in Austin and loves to cook.

Most influential person(s) in your life? My family.

Personal goals? Graduate from SFA with a major in history (I think!).

Second choice for a career? Why? I would have been a teacher, a lawyer or maybe a politician. I am a talker and those professions fit that ability.

If you could sit down to dinner with the four people you admire most, who would they be, and what would you eat? It would be my grandparents who have all passed on. We would eat roast beef with roasted vegetables, salad and milk and French vanilla ice cream for dessert!

The most common thing people say about me is? I know you're busy!