Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in the magazine Discover, inserted in the March 28, 2019 issue of The Floyd Press and other regional newspapers.

When asked what brings people to Floyd, Pat Sharkey answered, “Honestly, it’s a feeling.  People feel Floyd. There’s a sense of community here.”  Six years ago, Sharkey was hired as the Floyd County Tourism Director, but the town was becoming a destination location long before that.

By the early 2000’s Floyd was already well known for its old-time, gospel, and bluegrass music scene, largely because of The Floyd Country Store, a popular stop on the 330-mile Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.

The Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree was one of town’s earliest draws, and it still is.  On Friday evenings, the downtown sidewalks and alleyways overflow with musicians and friendly people, some of whom flatfoot along the walkways.  The Jamboree –  which started with friends playing tunes around the woodstove when the building was a farmer’s supply store (1910) –  features live Appalachian music on stage and multi-generational dancing.

Over the years, the Country Store has grown to include a general store and café, Americana Afternoons, the Floyd Radio Show (modeled after the Prairie Home Companion), music lessons and more. Locals and visitors alike know it as a gathering place where they can purchase ice cream and penny candy, and maybe play a game of checkers.

People come from all over the world for the Friday Night Jamboree, Sharkey said, and it’s been written about in major news outlets, like The Washington Post, New York Times and The Smithsonian Magazine.  “Every Friday night the Country Store gives away a hat to the person who came the longest distance.  It’s rarely even Europe. It’s Africa, Asia and so on.”

But in Floyd, you’re just as likely to see free-style, flower child twirling on dance floors as you are to see flatfooting and clogging.   At Dogtown Roadhouse, you can catch local musicians and special guest bands playing rock, blues, Americana, reggae and more, Friday through Sunday.

Located in one of Floyd’s repurposed buildings, The Roadhouse features a menu that specializes in wood-fired pizza, and a sports bar that serves craft beer on tap and mixed drinks. Along with the local, regional and national bands that play onstage, the Roadhouse is host to open mics, costume balls, community fundraisers, CD release parties, the Floyd Mardi Gras, weddings and more. On warm nights, Dogtown attendees spill out onto the Roadhouse deck to watch the sunset, or into the adjacent Warren Lineberry Park, the site of Floyd Small Town Summer, a free-to-the-public summer event series of outdoor concerts and family activities.

Floydfest Music Festival, held off the Blue Ridge Parkway (milepost 170.5) in July (24-28), is another event that has put Floyd on the map.  Since it was founded in 2002, the festival has grown to be one of the most highly rated boutique music festivals in the region. This year, Grammy winners Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile are among those set to headline Floydfest 19 – Voyage Home. Attended by approximately 12,000+ each year, the eco-friendly festival also features outdoor adventures, art and food vending, performance arts, a children’s universe and On-the-Rise, a patron-voted competition that spotlights cutting-edge bands and awards prizes to the winner.

Building on the success of Floydfest, other annual music festivals have taken hold in the county. They include The Chantilly Farm Bluegrass & BBQ Festival (May 24 – 25), Floyd Yoga Jam (August 19 – September 1), The Little River Poetry Festival (June 14 – 16) and Replenish Festival, which blends faith, family and fun, along with chart-topping quality music. Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival hosts chamber orchestra and ensemble performances at the Floyd Eco-Village Event Center and at other venues throughout the county.

Music events are also held just outside of town at the at the Pine Tavern Pavilion, the Zion Lutheran Church’s Oak Grove Pavilion and Chateau Morrisette Winery.  On the south side of Floyd’s one traffic light, Wildwood Farms and General Store hosts live bluegrass and old-time music every Saturday night. They put on an Old-Time Fall Festival (the third Saturday in October) with live music, crafts, a vintage vehicle cruise-in, pumpkins, apple butter demonstrations and attract visitors when the daylilies in their extensive gardens (600 varieties) are in bloom.

Within walking distance from downtown, Hotel Floyd offers a free music series at the hotel amphitheater on Thursday evenings from May – October.  They accommodate overnight visitors in their Green-Lodging boutique hotel, where the Floyd-themed rooms have been decorated by members of the community.  Floyd is also home to a number of B &B’s, cabins and several motels, as well as restaurants, several of which incorporate locally produced foods in their menus. The Sunday Brunch spread at the Parkway Grille is a popular local hot spot.  A bustling Farmers Market at the Community Pavilion runs from May to November every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and offers an array of sights, scents and flavors.

Along with music, Floyd is known for its arts and crafts culture.  Visitors to the county can check out Floyd’s galleries, specialty shops and the showcase of talent at the Friday Night Artisan Market at the Pavilion.  They might catch an art opening in a renovated dairy barn, known as the Floyd Center for the Arts, take a historic walking tour or an artisan studio tour, check out Cocoa Mia’s chocolate lounge, pet animals at a local farm, kayak down the Little River, or plan for a hike up Buffalo Mountain, Floyd’s highest elevation of nearly 4,000 feet.

They can sample wine from one of the county wineries, enjoy an award-winning espresso at Red Rooster Café, or a home-crafted beer from the Buffalo Mountain Brewery pub. They can even sample craft moonshine made from old recipes at the Five Mile Mountain Distillery, or see a prohibition-era moonshine still at The Old Church Gallery, a venue that blends contemporary art exhibits with the showcasing and preservation of heritage art, oral histories, and mountain culture (note: now located at the Floyd County Historical Society Museum).

Spoken Word Open Mics, storytelling and hollering contests, Livestock County Fairs (September 14) and the Floyd County Arts and Crafts Festival (first weekend in October) have been a part of Floyd over the decades.  Seed saving exchanges, a guild of quilters, bee-keeping, horse logging, antique shopping, a Tour de Floyd bicycle fundraiser and a yearly Tractor Fun Run through town are all part of the mix.

Tourism director Sharkey said she doesn’t even like the word “tourist.” “We see family, friends, visitors and international travelers who are looking for a real place,” she said.  They find it in Floyd, where “people live deep lives” close to the land, where the pace of life is slower and people are friendly. “We have a lot to share,” she said.   – Colleen Redman

Note: Visit the tourism website at http://visitfloydva.com for more information and details on events.