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Blue Ridge Folklife Festival
OCTOBER 23, 2010
A Major Venue on the Crooked Road Music Trail
“Thoroughly authentic.”
—The New York Times
Looking for real roots? On October 23, 2010, the 37th annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival will bring together musicians and moonshiners, craftspeople and cooks, hot rodders and horse handlers, and much more in a celebration of the Blue Ridge lifestyle on the campus of Ferrum College. Our festival participants are the real thing, sharing folk traditions they have known since kids. In short, the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival is a full day of entertainment like none other.
(The festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children and senior citizens. For advance ticket orders, call 540-365-4412. Parking is free.)
Music
(Click the link to the right for artist details.) From gospel to blues, with a world of string band and old-style bluegrass picking in between, the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival highlights the authentic regional musicians who have played Southwest Virginia’s music nearly all of their lives. Three music stages running continuously throughout the day.
Along with the older unamplified music of the Blue Ridge, the 2010 festival will include duclimer workshops and performances, and the exhibition "The Virginia Dulcimer: 200 Years of Bowing, Strumming, and Plucking."
Old-Time Crafts
The Blue Ridge Folklife Festival offers an unmatched market of mountain folk crafts. Nearly 50 artisans will be demonstrating old-time hand skills from tatting and basket making to blacksmithing and dough tray carving. The festival is known for presenting the hard-to-find artisans who make and sell crafts not found on the regular craft show circuit.
Antique Iron
The sights and sounds of vintage power equipment bring smiles to the engine-loving festival-goers. Demonstrations include rock crushing, wheat threshing, and grain milling. Hit-and-miss engines and restored tractors abound. In the car show hot rodders, muscle car owners, and stock car racers fire up their big block motors, and the chrome shines on a host of restored classics. Past Blue Ridge Folklife Festivals have attracted 200+ restored antique cars.
Working Animal Competitions
Farm animals have literally pulled their weight in Blue Ridge history. In the festival animal ring draft horses compete in pulling contests, jumping mules test their leaping skills, and herding dogs match wits with wandering sheep. Racoon hunters bring their coon dogs to race across the campus pond and compete in treeing competitions.
Blue Ridge Foods
When hunger strikes, visitors to the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival can choose from nearly two dozen old-time Blue Ridge foods prepared by local families and civic groups. This is the place for country foods such as ham biscuits, black pot chicken, funnel cakes, and fried apple pies—no hamburgers and hot dogs here.
Children’s Games
Children can spend hours playing many of the games that entertained their parents, grandparents, and earlier generations—tug-of-war, sack races, wheel-barrow races, three-legged races, ring toss, needle-in-a-haystack, and many more. The Blue Ridge Folklife Festival gives youngsters a taste of what outside play is all about.
For more information: 540-365-4416 or bri@ferrum.edu. Order advance tickets at 540-365-4412.
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