Loose Leaf Notes

~The following was published in The Floyd Press on August 23.

At the last installment of the town’s 2012 Jubilee celebrations (August 18), children enjoyed free face painting, bounce house jumping, sliding down a giant bounce slide and getting wet in a dunking pool.  Random games in-between scheduled activities included an egg race, a three-legged race and a water balloon toss game.

With a “Kids Day in the Park” theme, the five-hour event, held at the Warren Lineberry Community Park, also included workshops in hula hooping and drumming and dance performances by Back Porch Studio’s young students.

Rhiannon Giddens, a founding member of the Grammy winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, performed with Greg C. Adams, musician and banjo researcher.  Their performance included some American history about the banjo.

“It was known only as a black instrument for about a hundred years,” Giddens said. She explained that in the mid 1800’s the banjo’s popularity spread and it became a national craze during the time of minstrel shows.

“There were more banjos sold during the height of the banjo mania than guitars were sold during the height of rock and roll,” said Giddens, holding up a replica of an old-time gourd banjo.

Giddens guided attendees in an interactive song that included body percussion.  Her nephew demonstrated how to play the bones, a folk instrument manipulated by the hand to make clicking sounds.  As Giddens, her nephew and Adams played, the Good Foot Dance Company showed off their stylized footwork on a wooden platform in front of the stage, incorporating flat footing, tap and contemporary urban dance into their routines. 

Following her performance workshop, Giddens led Jubilee attendees in a kazoo parade, concluding the day of fun and celebration and the end of this year’s summer Jubilee series.

Post notes: The first photo show is The Sand Hill Crane puppet made an appearance at the Jubilee.  It was created by Ian Gammarino, his mother Caroline Thomas and others as part of an Ambrosia Farm and B&B Art Camp and is one puppet in the World of Good Puppets, a fledgling puppet troupe.

The three-legged race line-up.

Kids work as a team in a water balloon toss game.

Happy fans enjoy a stage performance.

Lotus Yard and Alena Lynch show off their matching face paintings.

~ Watch a video clip of Good Foot performance and a hooping workshop with Ilima Ursormarso HERE and HERE.   Colleen Redman