Loose Leaf Notes

1. In the Global Village at Floydfest I went from a talk on the teachings of Buddha to petting a milking cow named Primrose.  I met a young boy who was carving a bowl out of stone in the primitive arts camp, danced in my bare feet on the grass to the music of a surprisingly good band, and then laid in a hammock to wait for the full moon.  Video HERE.

2. At Hill Holler stage Grace Potter closed the show doing jumping jacks in silver jogging shorts and singing Gracie Slick’s Feed Your Head.  See a brief video of that HERE.

3. I had some time to wander by myself Saturday afternoon, taking in the sights and sounds and being drawn by a gypsy wagon selling paper parasols.

4. Half my clothes come from the Winter Sun Outlet Store in downtown Floyd and half the vendors at Floydfest are Floyd  friends of mine.  Here’s my friend Susan working at the Winter Sun booth. Her beautiful Winter Sun jacket drew me in.

5. The Virginia Folklife Workshop Porch is one of my favorite stages even when no one is performing there.

6. I had four staff/performers/workshop leaders staying at my house for the long Floydfest weekend, including master drummer Whit (far right), along with Charisse, who did Spoken Word with teens in the Performance Arts tent.   Watch Whit in action HERE.

7. An HAV Chair Massage (for a dollar a minute) is a favorite festival pit stop that draws the curious, as well as a wide variety of people in need of a healing boost of energy.  “There are 3 or 4 going at the same time,” Tiebout said. That’s an excerpt from a story on Floydfest’s Healing Arts Village for our regional Natural Awakenings Magazine. And that’s Jeff Tiebout (smiling), whose Blue Ridge School of Massage and Yoga hosts the village,

8. The theme for this year’s Floydfest was Breaking Ground. In the Children’s Universe Tent I saw the seeds being planted in an open mic for blossoming children who were inspired by the festival’s musical climate to perform.  Watch a video HERE.

9. I was impressed with hand washing stations, all the recycling and composting, and the plant based utensils and plates used for eating.  There was even an ATM station, a cyber café and a tent for playing board games, not to mention an aerial dance by a clown on stilts hanging from balloons 100 feet in the air – video of that is HERE.

10. Living about 6 miles from the site, I appreciated that I could go home to sleep each night, but I also appreciated walking behind the main drag in amongst the trees and seeing the elaborate and homey campsites there.

11. There were mindful moments of ringing Tibetan Singing bowls on various stages throughout the 4 days.   Here is my husband Joe, from Inward Bound Mindfulness Education who helped run the Imagine Tent, asking a crowd in front of the Dreaming Creek stage to take a moment to be still, listen to the sounds around them and feel the ground beneath their feet.

12. After Grace Potter rocked the house down all the staff came up on the stage.  Floydfest co-founder Erika thanked everyone and her partner Kris bid us Peace Out. See that HERE

Post notes: Part one of my Floydfest  photo/video journal is HERE.  Part two is HERE. You can read about and see photos of  past festivals in my archives HERE.