Making Music and Molasses: Sticky Business

Since 1978, Cecil and Julie Gurganus have made molasses in Watauga County, North Carolina. Each fall, the cane harvest becomes a communal celebration, bringing together friends, neighbors, and musicians to process the cane while fiddle tunes and songs fill the air as the juice slowly boils into sorghum molasses. Through presentation, conversation, and music, Cecil and Julie share their lived experience within this tradition and the embodied knowledge it carries, offering meaningful perspectives on sound, environment, and community.

After moving to Watauga County in 1976, Cecil Gurganus became deeply involved in the region's old-time music and dance community, learning from elder musicians such as fiddler Ora Watson (1911-2008). He has spent decades passing on these traditions through school presentations, musical gatherings, and square dances. Cecil has been an instructor with the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program in Boone since its founding in 2005, and performed with former students at festivals including IBMA's World of Bluegrass, the National Folk Festival, and MerleFest. He also organizes a monthly square dance in Todd, North Carolina.

Cecil's career as a woodworker began with building traditional Appalachian dulcimers and evolved into a 35-year cabinet and furniture business. Introduced to molasses-making through Julie's Valle Crucis community, Cecil learned the craft from older farmers who invited the young couple to grow and cook cane. Today, Cecil continues to share this knowledge, using tradition to bring people together in community.

Julie Gurganus earned a degree in social work from Florida State University in 1975 and soon moved to Valle Crucis, North Carolina, where she became immersed in the traditions of mountain life. She learned gardening, food preservation, farming, and music-making, and enthusiastically joined older farmers in growing cane with her husband Cecil.

After raising a family, Julie earned a degree in elementary education from Appalachian State University and spent most of her teaching career with third graders. In retirement, she remains active through gardening, yoga, pickleball, hiking, and community volunteer work.