Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following appeared in the Floyd Press on September 5, 2013 with a larger spread of photos.

Performing tonight in Floyd Virgina! Great Place, Great Vibe, Great People. Much Love – MC Yogi

“I’ve been to yoga festivals all over the country and this one is top notch,” said Joshua Canter, a Yoga Jam attendee from Asheville, North Carolina.  Canter’s positive feedback about the festival’s setting, infrastructure and organization was echoed by other attendees, vendors, musicians and teachers.

Yoga enthusiasts Louise and Doug Ruth saw a Yoga Jam ad in the Yoga Journal magazine and traveled from Pennsylvania to attend.  They were glad they did.  The couple said they had heard about Floyd and wanted to support the fledgling festival.  “We like what Floyd stands for,” said Doug Ruth.  Louise Ruth noted that she liked the variety of activities offered at the festival and appreciated that the music and meditative practice areas were separated.

With a focus on healthy living, the Labor Day weekend festival is a family friendly event that features a variety of regional and national yoga teachers and bands performing dance and devotional music, along with wellness workshops, children’s activities and creative and performance arts.  

Festival check-in was smooth, despite a 2 mile re-route around a detoured Indian Valley Road.  Campers enjoyed fresh county water and meadow or creek-side campsites.  A couple of short-lived rain showers did not put a damper on the mostly sunny weather.

License plates spotted on vehicles in the festival’s on-site parking revealed that attendees came from as far as Wisconsin, New Mexico and California.  Mixed within many Virginia plates were those from Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

Festival co-founder Shirleyann Burgess estimated that festival attendance was up approximately 25% from last year’s inaugural festival, which drew 1,250 people.   She remarked that growth would be guided in a way that keeps the heart of the festival intact.  “We look at the children.  If the kids are happy, the parents are happy,” she said.

 Colleen Redman

Read a pre-festival YogaJam 2013 feature story that also appeared in the Floyd Press HERE.  Video clips are HERE.