Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994                   TAG: 9405010091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY BELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VINTON PUTS ON THE DOG FOR 39TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL

Gary Miller's miniature prop planes, made of beer and soda cans, also were selling.

In a nearby trailer, Judy Grubb was busy rolling blue and pink cotton candy around paper cones.

"I've been spinning cotton candy since 7:30 this morning - been doin' it all day," said Grubb. She has been working with the sugary concoction for about four years.

"This is my job here. I don't want anything to do with making snow cones."

Vinton's 39th annual Dogwood Festival attracted more craftspeople than usual, said festival President Joe Bush Jr. And from the looks of the crowd weaving through displays on the lawn of Vinton's War Memorial, it also attracted more people.

"It's going great," Bush said, relieved that the weather cooperated.

"Considering the size of the event and the complexity of what is offered here, we're all extremely pleased."

Bush, a CPA and member of Vinton's Town Council, volunteered the staff of his accounting practice to work out many of the details of the festival. One of their goals was to provide more activities for children.

Outside Vinton's public library, children scrambled for coins buried under piles of hay. Veterans of Foreign Wars volunteer Jack Lipscomb was amazed the attraction was so popular. By 2 p.m. he had closed up.

"They gave me 40 bucks, but I ended up emptying my own pockets near the end," he laughed.

Toddlers wearing sun hats and plenty of sunscreen dipped fluorescent plastic fishing rods into a pool of bobbing fish.

Others scribbled on two coloring walls, unable to resist the temptation of brightly colored markers and a smooth, white surface.

Sporting a straw hat, dark sunglasses and sunburned arms, Roanoke County librarian Carol Dixon sat at a picnic table painting children's faces.

By late afternoon she said she had painted "oh, about 3,000."

Robert Glass of Vinton visited the festival for the opportunity to meet George Lindsey, "Goober" from the Andy Griffith Show.

Lindsey was grand marshal of a 2:30 parade which also featured Wendi Crouch, Miss Vinton Dogwood Festival.

Others came for the antique car and Corvette shows and the musical entertainment.

"We never dreamed it would come to this," said 87-year-old O. Goode, one of the festival's early organizers. Goode was a William Byrd High School band booster when the festival started out as a band competition and high school beauty pageant.

"This festival is our chance to say, `Look what we've got in this valley.'"