| 116th Year, 49th Issue | Thursday, July 14, 2005 | Sparta, North Carolina |
GALAX, Va.—Two decades in the making, construction of the Blue Ridge Music Center will be complete Saturday, July 16, when Congressman Rick Boucher (D-9th District, Virginia), joined by representatives from the National Council for the Traditional Arts and the National Park Service, cut a ribbon that marks the opening of a new 17,000-square-foot interpretive center. The park is located just over the Virginia line near milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. with remarks by the Boucher, NCTA Chair Joe Wilson, National Park Service Regional Director Patricia Hooks, Parkway Superintendent Dan Brown and Galax Mayor C.M. Mitchell, and presentations by Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The ceremony will be preceded and followed by mountain music by local and regional performers, including Wayne Henderson, Steve Barr, Montana Young, No Speed Limit, the Wolfe Brothers, Deborah and Randy Sheets, the Galax Little Leaves and Kirk Sutphin. Informal tours of the new center will be offered throughout the afternoon. The evening concert begins at 6 p.m. at the outdoor stage and amphitheater and features No Speed Limit with Billy Hawks and The New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters.
There is no charge for the concert or any of the day’s events. Brown said that the center will eventually house high-tech interactive exhibits, but for now, temporary exhibits will be the focus of the 2,300-square-foot exhibit gallery.
The inaugural display, “Hometown Stars,” was developed by the Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College and features posters, photos and other memorabilia associated with the many musicians and singers from southwest Virginia who recorded in the 1920s, ‘30s and early ‘40s.
The new center also houses a book and music store, indoor auditorium,
and a classroom for visiting students.
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