Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Just follow the river to the spot where it narrows.
The Narrows Fiddle and Banjo Christmas Festival is Saturday at the Old Narrows High School. The festival draws several first-rate bluegrass bands and dance groups from the two-state region.
The Original Orchard Grass of Salem and The Virginia Barn Dance String Band from Glade Spring will be joined by the West Virginia Bluegrass Connection from Ronceverte, W.Va. Each group will play two 30-minute sets of old-time and bluegrass tunes, as well as a few Christmas favorites.
Tina Hicks will bring her Wilderness Trail Junior Cloggers for some fancy flat-footing, clogging, square dancing and line dancing. The 25 dancers are students at the Tina Hicks Dance Studio in Christiansburg.
Santa will make a special appearance Saturday, too. He'll be passing out candy canes and joining Hicks' cloggers on the dance floor.
Al Harmon and Joe Lively of WAEY in Princeton, W.Va., will be masters of ceremony for the evening.
The music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to help pay for staging the shows. Progress in Narrows Now, sponsor of the event, will auction two hams at the festival.
The group puts on the fiddle and banjo festivals the third Saturday of each month at the Old Narrows High School. Organizers say regulars in the audience come from Beckley, Hinton, Salem, Mount Airy, Hillsville, Roanoke and Greensboro, so the festivals are a great way to say, "Howdy, neighbor!"
MAKING TRACKS: They had names like the Zephyr, the Super Chief and the Comet.
They were the diesel-electric locomotives that powered the streamlined passenger trains of 50 years ago.
W. David Hoover, Pulaski County's own railroad buff, will take you back to those times. Hoover has a collection of 15 sets of toy trains on display through December at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern. The exhibit, "Collectible Toy Trains: 1905-1992," features vintage and modern sets.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.
If you haven't finished your holiday shopping yet, you can wrap things up at the museum. Homemade candies, seasonal wreaths, gift items and hand-dipped beeswax candles are on sale. You'll also find local history books by New River Valley authors, cookbooks, photographs and cards.
To get to the museum from Interstate 81, take exit 98. The brown signs will direct you to the historic district in Newbern.
For more information on this month's exhibit, call the museum at 674-4835 or Hoover at 674-8119.
TO MONTGOMERY COUNTY WITH LOVE: The Chancel Choir of Main Street Baptist Church in Christiansburg has a gift for the community.
"The Gift of Christmas," a cantata written by Claire Cloninger and Gary Rhodes, will be presented at the church Saturday at 7 p.m.
The musical includes congregational singing, children's choirs, narration and personal testimony from members of the church. Charlotte Smith is the music director.
Smith said those attending the cantata are asked to bring canned food to be donated to local food banks.
"In return," Smith noted, "our choir has a gift to share with your family at the conclusion of the service."
Admission is free, and nursery care will be available for preschool children.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! The Jessie Peterman Memorial branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library is the place for families to gather Tuesday. The library in downtown Floyd has a "Family Holiday Night" planned with goodies for all ages.
Songs, stories and other holiday activities are guaranteed to put you in the season's spirit.
The library staff will serve refreshments. The event runs from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
HOT FLASH! If you haven't made it over to New River Valley Mall for the art exhibit at the Center for Women's Health Education, you still have time. It continues through Dec. 31.
"Six Women Artists - Their Menopause Stories" is the title of this distinctive display of paintings, graphic designs and sculptures. The show features works by Helen Graeff of Chicago, as well as by local artists JoAnn Underwood, Rosalie Kilper, Kathy Pinkerton, Darcy Meeker and Peggy Ann Turner.
The women have expressed their experiences with menopause in touching - and sometimes humorous - ways.
Painter (and grandmother) Underwood said her change of life brought a mixture of sadness, relief, loneliness and peace that inspired her paintings.
"The joys of leaving much foolishness behind is up against the joy of memories, of toys, of beloved babies, of furry things that gave comfort," she said. "Barbie is not one of these, by the way. I say goodbye, Barbie, and good riddance. No one needs her harsh message of too thin, too artificial, too shallow, too inhuman. Did you ever imagine Barbie in a shelter for the homeless helping someone out?"
The exhibit is open weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the center next to Charley's restaurant in the mall. It's sponsored by Montgomery Regional Hospital, and admission is free.
by CNB