Mitchell Community College is the host location for the NC Thumbpickers Convention. Mitchell Community College, founded in 1852, is a comprehensive, open-admissions community college dedicated to meeting the post-secondary education and training needs of the citizens of Iredell County and surrounding areas. The college provides an array of high quality programs at low cost in an historically rich environment. Mitchell is a student-centered institution where all persons are encouraged to develop their abilities in a community that respects diversity and is supportive of individual achievement. Concerned with the social, civic, cultural, and economic development of the community as a whole, instructional programs are focused on meeting the educational and training needs of all persons over eighteen years of age and persons sixteen years of age and older with special needs.