Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993 TAG: 9310070129
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
invisible fingers will slide down your backbone to the base of your spine.
You'll shiver.
Suddenly you'll be back at summer camp . . . sitting around a campfire . . . telling ghost stories.
"Ghost Stories" is the next show in the Virginia Tech Union's Entertainment Series. Troupe America, Inc., a national touring company based in Minneapolis, will bring it to Burruss Hall Wednesday evening for one performance at 7:30.
Adapted by Robert Pridham from the stories of Stephen King, "Ghost Stories" is done in story theater style using only a few props and a sparse set. Special effects are achieved with creaking floorboards, drifting fog and colored lights.
An ensemble of five actors tells the tales.
There's the "Story of Timmy Baterman" from King's "Pet Sematary," a tale of zombies who move through an imagined spirit field.
There's "Strawberry Spring," a ghoulish yarn about a campus serial killer.
There's "The Boogeyman," a chiller about the child-killing monster who lives in the closet.
There's more.
But let's stop before we go too far.
Tickets for "Ghost Stories" are on sale now at the box office in Squires Student Center. Prices are $14 for adults, $7 for kids under 12, $11 for Virginia Tech faculty and staff or $4 for Virginia Tech students. To reserve them, call 231-5615 . . . you dare.
\ FEST QUEST: If you're looking for a festival this weekend, look to Newbern.
Newbern is the only village in Virginia on the National Historic Register. It's in Pulaski County.
The little village is having its big arts and crafts festival, starting today and continuing through Sunday. The celebration officially gets under way with a parade at 6 p.m. today on the Old Wilderness Road.
On Saturday, the events start with a country breakfast at the Newbern Church of God. The meal will be served from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Hot air balloon rides commence at 8 a.m. Dr. Dee Danner, the Christiansburg dentist who's also an airship ace, will provide the uplifting experience at P.J.'s Park in Newbern.
Shops and crafts booths open at 9 a.m. Saturday. Lunch starts at 11 a.m. with offerings such as turkey dinners, Polish sausages, barbecue plates and more.
There's gospel music all day, free tours of the Wilderness Road Regional Museum and other historic buildings, livestock exhibits and afternoon square dancing.
Then there's more food. Dinners will be served from 3 to 6 p.m.
It's more of the same Sunday. Events run from noon to 6 p.m.
To get to Newbern from Interstate 81, take Exit 98 and follow the museum signs.
\ FEST QUEST II: It's at Floyd County High School Saturday and Sunday.
The 27th annual Floyd County Arts and Crafts Festival features 180 vendors displaying a wide variety of handmade items. As always, the Floyd County Woman's Club is the sponsor.
Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free both days.
A highlight of this festival is the award-winning quilt show and competition put on by the Old Church Gallery's Quilters Guild. It will be set up in the band room at the school.
Members of the Floyd County Rescue Squad will have food concessions in the school cafeteria.
\ DANCING SHOES: Get 'em out, dust 'em off, put 'em on!
You're going dancing Saturday night.
If you like traditional mountain square dancing, check out the monthly dance put on by the Blacksburg Old-Time Music and Dance Group. It starts at 8 p.m. at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School.
Tim Donley and The Part-Time Pickers, a band from Virginia Tech, will play while Tom Hinds of Arlington calls the steps. Best of all, you don't have to be an experienced dancer to join in the fun.
Baby-sitting will be available at the school. The cost is $1 per hour for each child. Admission to the dance is $4.
If you prefer clogging or free-style dancing, head for the New River Valley Fairgrounds in Dublin. New River Community College's Fiddle, Banjo and Dance Club is having its monthly jamboree Saturday.
It starts with jam sessions at 5 p.m. Live performances run from 7 to 10 p.m.
The Original Orchard Grass Band, The Farmer's Daughters and Branching Out are featured this Saturday. Admission is free but donations are accepted to help pay traveling expenses for the bands.
You might even win some money. Cash prizes are awarded each month to winners of the dance contest.
\ WELCOME, FRIENDS: Smithfield Plantation's gift shop will have an open house Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. The plantation house is on the edge of the Virginia Tech campus off the U.S. 460 bypass in Blacksburg.
If you haven't seen the gift shop lately, you're in for a treat. It's been spruced up and it's filled with all kinds of original gift items, including brass from Virginia Metalcrafters, stoneware from Williamsburg Pottery and handblown glass from Blenko.
Six local artisans will be at the site Saturday to demonstrate other crafts at the shop. Helen Bryant's cloth weaving and basketry, Gwen Evans' jewelry and Trisha Landen's dried flower arrangements are some of the offerings. In addition, Lila Prittie will show you how to decorate stationery, Kevin Riley will make pottery and Ann Reardon will demonstrate quilting and jewelry making.
All of the work will be for sale. Likewise, the shop has a big selection of books for children and adults, Early American toys and local souvenirs.
Also Saturday, Smithfield Plantation will take part in the observance of "Archaeology Month." Clifford Boyd, a professor of anthropology at Radford University, will be there at 2 p.m. to show artifacts found at a dig near the house.
Boyd and some of his students conducted the dig last July. They unearthed artifacts from the miller's house on the plantation and at the mill site behind the house.
While you're there, you can tour the plantation. The regular $4 fee will be reduced to $3 for Saturday's tour.
Smithfield Plantation is open for tours Thursday through Sunday through Nov. 1. This year, the gift shop will be open extended hours during November on Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m. It also will be open during Smithfield's Christmas Celebration the first weekend in December.
Proceeds from sales at the gift shop are used for the upkeep and restoration of the plantation.
by CNB