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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 28, 1994                   TAG: 9406020044
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FESTIVAL TIME IN ROANOKE

IT WASN'T exactly like the old Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movies, where somebody shouts, "Hey, kids, let's put on a show!" - and next thing you know a little amateur production in somebody's back yard becomes an extravaganza with a cast of thousands.

But from such humble beginnings, way back in the 1950s, has grown Roanoke's annual Festival in the Park - one of the longest-running and most successful events of its type in the state and nation.

In Virginia, actually, it's a granddaddy of the genre - preceding and inspiring Richmond's June Jubilee and other urban festivals.

Did those who started it as a nice little sidewalk show for local artists imagine that it would grow from a stroll-and-browse weekend in downtown Roanoke to an 11-day entertainment spectacle spread throughout the city, with an auxiliary event in Salem?

Could they have guessed that it would someday attract some 375,000 participants - many times more, incidentally, than Richmond's June Jubilee?

Probably not. If they did, let's find those visionaries and put them in charge of tourism development for the entire state.

The best thing, though, about this extravaganza is that it's not just a tourism attraction. In its 25 years as Festival in the Park, as in its earlier formative years, it has remained a community get-together - not as homey perhaps as a neighborhood pot-luck supper, but certainly an opportunity for locals to mingle in a relaxed setting, as well as to show visitors a good time in one of the Earth's most pleasant cities.

Sure it's a Big Gig, with top-notch musicians, magicians, sporting events, parades, arts, crafts, fireworks, food - an event that this year features everything from a children's dog contest to the rock group Three Dog Night, and that annually fills Roanoke Valley hotels and motels.

It is also, however, a family affair, a celebration of this community's distinctive character and spirit and talent, including the considerable talent it takes to organize and sustain a festival of this size, and to keep it growing year after year.

Do come and enjoy it. Roanoke is putting on its best, most-festive smile for the Silver Anniversary Festival in The Park. Once again, it's show time.

by CNB