Enjoy music, arts, crafts, food and wine to cel­e­brate 75 years of the Parkway

In honor of the 75th anniver­sary of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia’s small towns and com­mu­ni­ties along “America’s Favorite Drive,” are cel­e­brat­ing with spe­cial events and fes­ti­vals all sum­mer long.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is an iconic travel des­ti­na­tion, stretch­ing 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains.  Reconnect with loved ones and nature in this pris­tine part of Virginia where music fes­ti­vals, arts and crafts fairs, and food and wine events show­case the tra­di­tions and hos­pi­tal­ity of Virginia’s Blue Ridge region.

Details on select spe­cial events are below.  Visit www.Virginia.org/brp for more events, travel pack­ages, trip itin­er­aries and a chance to win a seven-night, six-day fam­ily vaca­tion for four along Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway region.

Crafts in the Meadow/Meet the Authors – Meadows of Dan, July 3–4, 2010

The sixth annual Arts and Crafts Fair will fea­ture regional arti­sans and tra­di­tional arts — local Blue Ridge his­to­ri­ans and regional authors will be avail­able for book dis­cus­sion, book sign­ings and sales. FREE.

Floyd Fandango Beer and Wine Festival – Floyd, July 3–4, 2010

An annual Fourth of July fes­ti­val fea­tur­ing the finest in Virginia wines and regional craft beers, plus art ven­dors, overnight camp­ing and main stage music. The Floyd Fandango takes place on a beau­ti­ful 80-acre Blue Ridge Parkway plateau. Attendees can relax under two giant tents – one fea­tur­ing all-day wine tast­ings and the other offer­ing sam­plings of craft beers – all while enjoy­ing head­lin­ing acts on the gor­geous timber-framed main stage.  Go for the week­end, and enjoy free overnight camp­ing on-site.  Admission Fee: $25 in advance and $30 at the gate.

Wooden Canoe Building Workshop – Floyd, July 4–9, 2010

Torben Hanson, instruc­tor of wood­craft at the Danish School of Craft in Copenhagen, Denmark, will be teach­ing this wooden canoe build­ing work­shop at Ambrosia Farm Bed and Breakfast and Pottery in Floyd — a com­mu­nity that encour­ages and there­fore cel­e­brates its artis­tic diver­sity, through music, visual art, tra­di­tional craft and the­ater.  Admission Fee: $1350 per couple.

Chateau Morrisette Wine & Music Festival – Floyd, July 10, 2010 and August 14, 2010

Enjoy a pris­tine set­ting where local area artists, advo­cates and youth are encour­aged to par­tic­i­pate in the fes­ti­val. Celebrating 30 years of suc­cess­ful wine­mak­ing in 2010, Chateau Morrisette advo­cates con­ser­va­tion of the Parkway’s nat­ural set­ting, and par­tial pro­ceeds of sales of Mile Marker 000 and Mile Marker 469 wines are con­tributed to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. Admission Fee: $15 in advance and $20 at the gate.

FloydFest 9 – Floyd, July 22–25, 2010

FloydFest is a four-day cel­e­bra­tion of music and arts in the beau­ti­ful Blue Ridge Mountains.  Featuring seven stages of blue­grass, old-time, folk, world music and more, as well as a children’s uni­verse, heal­ing arts, dance tent, Appalachian work­shop porch and more than 100 local and regional arti­sans. FloydFest is an annual epi­cen­ter for music, cul­ture and art in Southwest Virginia and beyond.  Admission Fee: $145 for the week­end or $60 for a day.

Microfestivus – Roanoke, August 14

The Square Society presents the 13th annual MicroFestivus, a micro and craft beer fes­ti­val. Taste from a selec­tion of over 50 beers from 20 micro and craft brew­eries from the Mid-Atlantic region. Admission Fee: $5.

Galax Moose Lodge Old Fiddler’s Convention – Galax, August 9–14, 2010

The Galax Fiddler’s Convention will be cel­e­brat­ing its 75th anniver­sary in 2010. Musicians and fans from around the world travel to Galax to per­form and hear the music that defines the sound of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Galax, a venue of The Crooked Road, has been des­ig­nated the world’s cap­i­tal of old-time moun­tain music and is proud to be iden­ti­fied as host­ing the world’s old­est and largest fid­dlers con­ven­tion, which has taken place con­sis­tently since 1935.  Admission Fee: $5 — $8.

Fries Fiddlers Convention – Fries, August 20–22, 2010

The Fries Fiddlers Convention pro­motes the music of the area’s her­itage and hope­fully intro­duces a new gen­er­a­tion to tra­di­tional old-time music.  Besides the nor­mal var­i­ous instru­ment com­pe­ti­tions and band com­pe­ti­tions, there is also a youth com­pe­ti­tion and a flat­foot com­pe­ti­tion for young and old. $.

Virginia State Peach Festival – Stuart, August 19 – 21, 2010

The Virginia State Peach Festival is Virginia’s cel­e­bra­tion of one of its star fruits – the peach. The fes­ti­val tra­di­tion­ally holds a tick­eted Saturday night music con­cert with major bands and a bar­beque din­ner. The fes­ti­val has now grown to cover a week­end of cel­e­bra­tion and includes a Thursday night gospel sing at Patrick Springs, the Virginia State Peach Pageant on Friday and a Saturday Folk Fair cel­e­bra­tion at Meadows of Dan.  Admission Fee: $12 in advance.

5th Annual Blue Ridge Mountain Music Fest – Wintergreen, August 21, 2010

Wintergreen Performing Arts will present the voices of the Blue Ridge through its fifth annual Blue Ridge Mountain Music Fest. The 2010 pro­gram fea­tures tra­di­tional blue­grass bands, gospel, blues and rock and roll.  Admission Fee: Adults $20.

Chinquapin Festival – Meadows of Dan, September 4–6, 2010

The sixth annual Chinquapin Festival cel­e­brates the soon-to-ripen Chinquapins, a nut-bearing shrub indige­nous to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Craft ven­dors will be on-site sell­ing their goods and locally-grown pro­duce will be avail­able.  Live old-time and blue­grass music and a hay bale maze are also there for people’s enjoy­ment. FREE.

Parkway’s 75th Anniversary Weekend Festival – September 10 –12, 2010

The offi­cial 75th anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion — a multi-day, multi-venue fes­ti­val staged along the Virginia, North Carolina shared bor­der where Parkway con­struc­tion began on September 11, 1935. The fes­ti­val will include a for­mal cer­e­mony fea­tur­ing local, state and fed­eral offi­cials, regional music and crafts, antique car and travel trailer vehi­cle exhibits, inter­pre­tive and envi­ron­men­tal pro­grams, sto­ry­telling, children’s activ­i­ties and local foods.  FREE.

Virginia cel­e­brates the 75th anniver­sary of the Blue Ridge Parkway through­out 2010 with spe­cial events, travel deals and pro­mo­tions up and down the park­way. Complete details are avail­able at www.Virginia.org/BRP.

Photo by Tom Stanley

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4. Reconnect with Family and Friends at Virginia’s Heartwarming “Togethering” Spots for Winter Getaways
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