Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408270019
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Plant Plant in Christiansburg is having its annual New River Valley Herb Festival this weekend, and the stage is set for a Renaissance celebration.
Now in its sixth year, the festival offers two days of live entertainment, crafts and art displays, educational seminars and delicious food and drink made from all kinds of sweet and spicy herbs.
It's sponsored by the New River Valley Herb Growers Association, and it's happening this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Vendors will come from several states to sell hard-to-find goodies such as candied flowers, herbal dream pillows and dream catchers, moth repellants, herbal honey, vinegars, garden sculptures, tinctures, bird houses, herbal body oils and fragrant potpourri. You'll even find topiaries, those pretty shrubs trimmed in unusual, ornamental shapes.
Other attractions include daily jousting performances by knights from the Society for Creative Anachronism, dancing by Amira Bedford and comedy by Keri Ringrose, who calls herself "The Divine Fool."
Live entertainment featuring a variety of folk and Celtic musicians is part of the fun, too.
Here's the schedule for concerts and seminars this weekend:
Saturday
9 a.m. - Scottish bagpipe music
9:30 a.m. - Music by Gracenote
10 a.m. - "Cooking with Herbs" presented by Sally and Bo from Capers
11 a.m. - Performance by Folk Salad
11:30 a.m. - "A Basic Herbal Medicine Chest - Herbal Food and Medicine" presented by Katherine Chantal
1 p.m. - Original folk and country music by Barb Martin, children's puppet show by Patty Goldammer and seminar on container herb gardening by Alice Hanawalt
2:30 p.m. - Christine Byrd presentation on how to combine herbs, oils and other natural ingredients into low-cost body care products
3 p.m. - "Everlastings - Harvesting, Preserving and Creating an Object of Beauty," a seminar by Ed Fisher and music by Folk Salad
Sunday
10 a.m. - Scottish bagpipe music and presentation by Elissa Steeves, "Landscaping with Herbs"
10:30 a.m. - Acoustic guitar music by Jon Benfield and seminar by Brian Scott, "Living Sculpture You Can Create"
Noon - Folk Salad concert, presentation by Portia Meares, "The ACE's (Antioxidant Vitamins) of Herbs," and storytelling by Otter Woman
1:30 p.m. - For the Birds seminar, "Hummingbirds: Fact and Fiction," and Jacqueline Hayward seminar, "Drying Herbs and Flowers for Decoration"
1:45 p.m. - The McKenzies, original music, folk songs and children's songs
3 p.m. - "Garlic: The Stinking Rose" presented by Nancy Golden Gripp and Sally Santmyer
Expect bright colors at this festival as lords and ladies don their medieval costumes. You're invited to dress up, too.
Admission is $5 for adults, $1.50 for children under 12 and free for children under 2.
The Plant Plant is on Barringer Mountain Road off U.S. 11 between Radford and Christiansburg.
FAMILY FUN ON THE RIVER: That's the subtitle for the Twin States Sportsman's Fair happening this Saturday and Sunday at Glen Lyn Park just west of Pearisburg on U.S. 460 in Giles County.
The fair draws people from Virginia and West Virginia for two days of recreation and fun. Events get under way early Saturday with a bass tournament on the New River. Registration runs from 6:15 to 6:45 a.m., and the tournament starts promptly at 7 a.m.
Other events Saturday include a "Big Buck" taxidermy contest, a bowshoot sanctioned by the International Bow Hunting Organization, a display and competition by the Mountain Heritage Woodcarvers Guild and a horseshoe tournament.
All-day events include pony rides for the kids, softball and volleyball tournaments, an all-terrain vehicle mud bog obstacle course and lots of activities for children. A scuba diving demonstration will be held Saturday, and if the weather is good, there will be hot air balloon rides.
From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., vendors will sell food for every taste, and merchants will display sporting goods and equipment, hunting and fishing supplies, boats, campers, four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and more.
Events continue Sunday, starting at noon with registration for the bow shoot competition. Highlights Sunday include canoe rides on the New River from noon to 5 p.m., gospel music concerts from 2 to 4 p.m. and a "Bossy Bingo" contest at 3 p.m.
Advance tickets, available from volunteer fire departments in Giles County and Mercer County, are $4 for one day or $7.50 for both days. Tickets at the gate are $5 for one day or $8 for both days. Children under 12 get in free.
For more information, call the Giles County Chamber of Commerce at 921-5200 or the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce at (304) 487-1502.
ACTING UP: Children do that sometimes. Especially if they're the children involved in the DiscoveryWorks Stage Door Workshop.
The workshop recently gave local kids a chance to learn about acting, music, theater movement, sets and costumes. It was the last camp in a series of three summer camps sponsored by DiscoveryWorks...a children's museum.
Kids who participated in the workshop will perform a short, original musical tonight at 7 at Radford's Grove United Methodist Church. The play, "Clean Up Our Planet," is directed by Nancy Bondurant Couch and Phyllis Underwood.
Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The church is on Tyler Avenue.
For more information about the programs offered by DiscoveryWorks, call Dianna Pickering at 633-2233.
CHURCH AND ALL THAT JAZZ: According to the Rev. Paul Pingel, they do mix.
Pingel is minister at Zion Lutheran Church in Floyd, where several church members are also members of musical groups. The congregation recently decided to build an outdoor amphitheater to provide a place for performances, as well as a place for people to come and enjoy a variety of entertainment.
"We did this as a means of reaching out to the community," Pingel said.
The church plans to sponsor concerts, plays and other performances at the site. The first is a concert by the Ferrum College Jazz Combo at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Pingel said future plans include staging a melodrama, "The Chicken Count of Floyd," Sept. 23-24, and offering an evening worship service with jazz music in October.
Saturday's concert is open to the public, and refreshments will be served. Donations will be accepted.
To get to Zion Lutheran Church, take U.S. 221 north from the stoplight in Floyd. Turn left on Virginia 615 across from the post office, go 0.6 mile and turn left on Virginia 693 across from the APCO power station. The church is on the right.
by CNB