The Hotel Floyd Open House Party
1. The Hotel Floyd is an eco-friendly building in downtown Floyd that began construction this past spring and opened on October 1st. The owners wanted to showcase Floyd art, furniture, music, and culture, so they called on local groups and businesses to design fourteen themed rooms. Since the beginning I’ve been working on a Writer’s Room with other members of Writer’s Circle I belong to. Other rooms are: The Crooked Road Room, Blue Ridge Parkway Room, Country Store Room, Jacksonville Center Room, Floyd Artist Room, Floyd Fest Room, Harvest Moon Room, Winter Sun Room, Jeanie O’Neil Room, The Malawi Room, Bell Gallery Room, Old Church Gallery Room and the Chateau Morrisette Bridal Suite. On Oct 7 the hotel owners hosted an open house party to thank all the groups for their work. The following photos were taken then.
2. Writer Circle member, ceremonialist, herbalist, and one of the Harvest Moon’s managers, Katherine Chantal made the first entry in the Writer’s Room journal on the desk that she and I picked out last spring. In it she welcomed guests and invited them to leave a journal entry of their own. The first writing in the journal was our version of a champagne bottle breaking dedication.
3. Another Writer’s Circle member, Jayn Avery, is resting on the bed in one of the two bedrooms in the suite, below Fred First’s framed “January Tree.” She deserves to. The day before the party I read on Blue Ridge Muse that the hotel was booked to capacity for the weekend. I didn’t even know it was open! Jayn was down the mountain selling pottery at the Roanoke Market, so I called another friend involved to find out more. When I learned that it was indeed open and full of guests, I asked, “Did you see if the doily ever got put on the back of our loveseat?” I was there the day furniture and art got moved into the rooms on September 24, the same day Jayn and I found the doily. She took it home to wash and I headed for the beach with Joe for a vacation. The doily seemed like an important finishing touch detail. “Yes,” my friend reported. She had seen the doily.
4. Rick Cooley is looking through the writer’s scrapbook on the credenza built by local furniture maker, Sam Hancock. This photo was taken minutes before I learned that Rick had designed the hotel’s logo art for their webpage, postcards, and other advertising. He’s a member of the Floyd Artist Group with a themed room next to ours. Notice the high definition flat screen TV in this photo. All the rooms have them, as well as wireless hook-up capability. That’s Lora Geissler’s “Shell Ginger” behind Rick.
5. Yes, we spent a lot of time in the Writer’s Suite. It took awhile before we could break away to see some of the rooms that other local groups had decorated. In this photo Jack Wall, one of the hotel owners, is talking with two people from the Wall Residence Community. Wall Residences is a Floyd agency, which Jack is the director of, that provides foster care placements for adults with disabilities. It’s the agency I worked for (and am still involved with part-time) for nine years as a foster care provider. Notice the lamp set on a base of books that designer Jeanie O’Neill found for us.
Post note: Part Two with photos of other rooms and more will be posted tomorrow. Update: Part II is HERE.
October 9th, 2007 11:23 am
Cool. It is finally open. You guys have been working on this for awhile. The room looks great!
October 9th, 2007 12:14 pm
Good reading Colleen.
How can I link to this page?
I want visitors that come to Hotelfloyd.com be able to access your writings.
October 9th, 2007 12:26 pm
Hi Luis, It was great to see you and meet your wife at the party Sunday. Sorry I was so distracted. I’m going to email you with the permanent links to these pages. Did you see the one where you are carrying Katherine and my pocketbooks down from the ladder? Here:
http://looseleafnotes.com/notes/2007/05/have_weddings_will_travel_the.html
October 9th, 2007 12:59 pm
No…
I didn’t read the posting thanks – brought me back to the moment. I do remember quite vividly Katherine scarf and the walk up the ladder. I found the link I was looking for and already posted it on Hotel Floyd.
October 9th, 2007 1:35 pm
yay Red Sox Beautiful place
October 9th, 2007 3:21 pm
This looks like one of the most wonderful places to experience…I hope to make the drive an’ soak all of this in. Congratulations are in order!!!
October 9th, 2007 3:32 pm
The more I see, the more I like! While this is not specifically related to the Hotel Floyd, I wanted to mention my suggestion for the side wall of the building (Mama Lazardo’s) adjacent to the new parking area – and visible to the hotel. I think a local artist or artists should paint a Friday Night Jamboree themed mural. That would flavor it up!
October 9th, 2007 5:02 pm
That hotel is really a group effort, isn’t it? Good for all of you!
October 9th, 2007 9:19 pm
I had quite a bit of catching up to do! I am hoping Martin and I can sneak up for one of Villa Appalacia’s weekday lunch events and maybe I can go explore the hotel! How exciting that it is open and what a great idea to decorate using their own local artists. I like that. You guys have such a great town!
For some reason in the pictures below with you it seems to me your hair has changed…is it longer or did you style it differently?
October 9th, 2007 9:50 pm
Same old same old hair. It’s just that I’m wearing it down.
October 10th, 2007 6:26 am
This sounds like the most amazing community project. Very cool! Hope it’s a huge success, Colleen – especially in that writer’s room!
June 17th, 2011 10:14 am
[…] note: Some photos of the Hotel Floyd original open house in 2007 are HERE and […]
July 21st, 2011 10:50 am
[…] Notes: Coming soon – a photo journal accounting of the Hotel Floyd open house private party on Sunday. The photos above are of the Hotel Floyd on moving day, September 24th; Jayn and the […]
July 22nd, 2011 9:52 am
[…] Read more about the creation of the Writers Suite HERE and HERE. See photos of the rooms at the Hotel Floyd website […]