2026 Gourd Gathering in Waynesville, NC | Classes, Vendors & Gourd Art Inspiration

The 2026 Gourd Gathering brings five days of classes, vendors, demonstrations, and creative community to the Smoky Mountain Event Center in Waynesville, North Carolina. For basket makers, fiber artists, and gourd enthusiasts, this event offers fresh ideas, strong instruction, and a welcoming mountain setting.

Event details

• Event: 2026 Gourd Gathering

• Dates: May 27–31, 2026

• Location: Smoky Mountain Event Center, 758 Crabtree Rd, Waynesville, NC

• Registration: Available through the event’s registration link on the official site

• Why it matters: Multi-day learning, vendor shopping, surface design, sculpting, basket-inspired projects, and community fellowship in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

If you love basketry, fiber art, gourds, surface design, and creative learning, the 2026 Gourd Gathering is an event worth watching. Scheduled for May 27–31, 2026 at the Smoky Mountain Event Center in Waynesville, North Carolina, this long-running gathering brings together instructors, vendors, students, and makers for several days of hands-on classes and creative inspiration.

For readers of North Georgia Basketry, this event is especially appealing because it blends techniques that often overlap with basket making and mixed-media fiber work. The current class lineup includes projects involving coiling, altered gourds, beads, pine needles, paper strand, cord, and woven vessel construction. Examples include Danish Cord & Beads Mini Altered Basket with Vickie Echols, Mini Melon Baskets with Tonya Cubeta, Twisty Handle with Extended Rim & Beads, and Everything But The Kitchen Sink, an undulating woven vessel workshop led by Suzi Nonn.

The event also offers wide creative variety beyond basket-focused techniques. Current listings show classes in sculpting, carving, painting, resin work, embellishment, tool education, and decorative gourd design. Featured instructors and projects on the site include Leslie Meier’s Cuban Pete: The Polymita Picta snail, Sue Haberer’s How to Make a Mold & then fill it, Candi Rawlins’ Create Your Beaded Kumihimo Necklace/Wrap Bracelet, and Judi Fleming’s All About Tools. That mix makes the gathering attractive for both dedicated gourd artists and makers who want to expand their materials and surface techniques.

Another strength of the Gourd Gathering is its community atmosphere. The organizers describe it as more than a gourd event: a reunion, a tradition, a destination, and an experience. Vendors, classes, and the maker community are central to the weekend, and the event’s vendor information emphasizes student participation, supplies, classes, and early promotion to help build a strong turnout.

The Waynesville setting adds another layer of appeal. For visitors from Georgia, North Carolina, and the broader Southeast, the mountain location makes this an easy event to pair with a spring creative getaway. A late-May event in the Smokies offers a strong combination of arts education, scenic travel, and shopping for gourds, tools, embellishments, and related supplies.

For basket makers searching terms like North Carolina basketry events, Southeast fiber art workshops, gourd art classes, basket weaving inspiration, and creative retreats near Georgia, the Gourd Gathering stands out as a cross-disciplinary event with real value. Its schedule includes multiple class windows from Wednesday through Sunday, and the instructor information notes a broad selection of class formats, including all-day, morning, afternoon, and make-and-take opportunities.

North Georgia Basketry readers who enjoy learning across traditions should keep this event on their radar. Whether you are looking for embellishment ideas, rim treatments, sculptural forms, mixed-media techniques, pine needle applications, or basket-inspired projects built on gourd forms, the 2026 Gourd Gathering offers plenty of reasons to attend.