Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508150081
SECTION: DISCOVER ROANOKE VALLEY PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
\ Forget the first snowflakes as a marker for when winter begins. For my money, a more reliable indicator that winter has arrived is when they flip the switch at the Elks National Home in Bedford and the landscape becomes illuminated, not with the luster of a fresh snowfall, but with the wired glow of 18,000 Christmas lights.
Apparently, I'm not alone in this theory.
There's a notion in these parts that the holiday season doesn't really get under way until the lights are turned on at the Elks Home, which usually occurs around the middle of December. This, of course, flies in the face of conventional holiday thinking, which puts the start of the shopping season, at least, around the Fourth of July.
That is one of the nice things about the lights display. The Elks have always waited until about two weeks before Christmas to plug in. This year, the official lighting will be Dec. 15. I have to say here that I don't blame the Elks for waiting. If I had to hang that many lights, I'd put it off, too.
Then again, I'd never hang that many lights. Who could? Sure, there are some folks in my neighborhood who try, but mere residential attempts pale by comparison to what the Elks have taken 42 years to perfect. It helps also to have a four- or five-man maintenance crew to handle the work involved.
The display hasn't always been so extensive.
In 1953, it started out simply enough with one strand of lights along the roof line, plus a reindeer and sleigh display.
Today, it takes six weeks to erect the display, which features lights on everything, from the Greco-Roman pillars on the main building to the shrubbery, the trees, and even the life-size bronze elk that stands proudly on the front lawn.
What's more impressive is the astounding number of visitors the display attracts each year. They seem to flock to Bedford like bugs to a light bulb. Last year, a record 36,887 vehicles passed through the Elks Home gate to view the lights, eclipsing the previous record of 24,653 in 1992. Keep in mind, too, that some of those vehicles were chartered buses.
All in all, the Elks estimate that as many as 150,000 people visit the display annually.
What's most impressive perhaps about this seasonal rite, however, is the price. Much like a winter's first snow, it's absolutely free.
By contrast, I give you The Homestead in Hot Springs.
It's not free.
It's not even close. But for those who can afford it, or who start saving ahead of time, it's a great place to beat the winter doldrums (or spend some of your lottery winnings). Opened in 1766, The Homestead, with its natural mineral springs, first earned its reputation as a summer resort. Later, it became a golfing destination, as well.
It is said that VIPs ranging from Robert E. Lee to Henry Ford to Thomas Edison to John D. Rockefeller Sr. all stayed at The Homestead. Woodrow Wilson spent a portion of his honeymoon there, and 12 other presidents, starting with William McKinley and ending with Lyndon Johnson, have visited the resort.
In 1959, however, the hotel entered the fray of winter sports by developing the South's first ski area and an Olympic-sized ice-skating rink. Today, the holiday and ski seasons rank as some of the resort's busiest times of the year.
The ice-skating rink opens on Thanksgiving Day for day and night skating. The ski slopes open in mid-December. The resort has nine downhill ski runs, night skiing, a cross-country course, a snowboard park, ski lessons and all the other related amenities.
Accommodations packages start at $109 per person.
While in the Hot Springs neighborhood, another destination worth visiting is the Garth Newel Music Center just five miles up the road, which the late Roanoke Times columnist Paxton Davis once called ``one of the stellar cultural institutions within easy driving distance'' from Roanoke ``in a setting of extraordinary pastoral beauty that richly enhances the music itself.''
That may be overstating the point a little, but certainly the center is one of the region's best assets, particularly among lovers of classical music. And although summer is really the center's prime season, other programs are offered throughout the year.
These often are smaller, more intimate affairs called Music Holiday Weekend Retreats, which are limited to about 50 people. They begin in October. There is one at Thanksgiving, another at Christmas, another on New Year's Eve and two more in February. They continue into the spring, as well. They run two or three days.
Naturally, the big names are well represented.
Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Dvorak.
Otherwise, the music is anchored by the co-founders of the center, Luca and Arlene Di Cecco, who play cello and violin, and the third member of the Garth Newel Trio, Paul Nitsch on piano. They often are joined by guest musicians and former students of the summer music workshop and camp.
The center has 12 guest rooms. Prices for the weekends are reasonable, too: $85 per person per day for those staying overnight; $55 for others. But that includes the music, cocktails, dinner, everything.
Now, if your musical tastes run less highbrow and more toward bluegrass or old-time mountain music, or if you are just looking for a more homespun atmosphere, I recommend a trip to what I like to affectionately call Tofu Central.
Better known as Floyd.
Unlike The Homestead or the Garth Newel Center, in Floyd, you don't have to worry about pretensions. It's pretty much come up the mountain, and come as you are. Just bring your own granola.
Floyd is an odd little oasis. Traditionally, it is a farming community, populated by country people of rugged, churchgoing stock. But more recently, it also has become a settling spot for hippies and hippie-wannabe's and other newcomers who co-exist with the natives about as well as can be expected.
It's this combination that also makes Floyd so interesting.
On the one hand, for good home cooking, there is the Blue Ridge Restaurant, the eats of choice for Floyd natives and others who aren't looking for their daily dose of wheat germ. The cobblers and fresh pies come highly recommended.
The Blue Ridge Restaurant once was a bank. In fact, the old vault is used as a walk-in cooler. But since the 1930s, the building has been an eatery of some kind or another. The current owners have been in business for nine years.
If home cooking isn't to your liking, then try the Pine Tavern Inn. It's a little more upscale and caters more to the earthy set. The chef is a vegetarian, after all. And with its rustic atmosphere, it's a nice place to experience the neo-bohemian side of Floyd.
Or if that isn't enough, try Tofu Central's headquarters, the Harvest Moon health food store. The real attraction to Floyd, however, is Cockram's General Store.
This is where the musical element comes in. Since 1986, Cockram's has become well known for its Friday Night Jamborees, which have been written up by National Geographic, The Washington Post, German television and others. The jamborees are casual affairs, bluegrass jam sessions that begin in the store with a prayer and spill over onto the streets outside.
A typical Friday night will draw as many as 500 people. They give away a ham. Admission is free, unless you want to drop a few bucks for support in the basket they pass around each night. But that's optional. Dancing and flatfooting are encouraged.
Last, we have the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is relegated here to the winter season, frankly, because it's an indoor activity. But the Barter operates essentially all year long, so you can go any time.
And you should.
The Barter is rich with history and tradition and boasts quite an impressive list of alumni, including Gregory Peck, Hume Cronyn, Patricia Neal, Ned Beatty, Ernest Borgnine and others. It also stages some pretty decent plays.
The 1995 season finishes with the musical comedy ``Forever Plaid'' in September, the mystery ``Dangerous Corner'' in October, the Tony Award-winning ``Amadeus'' in November, and finally the holiday musical ``An O. Henry Christmas'' in December. And unlike in years past, the Barter plans to stage plays in January and throughout the winter as well.
But to really appreciate the Barter is to know something about its history and reputation. The Barter is the oldest regional theater in the country, established in 1933, and remains an important regional theater in the thespian community.
It was started by Robert Porterfield, an actor from Washington County who was struggling in New York during the Great Depression. Porterfield knew a lot of other struggling, out-of-work or hungry actors, too. And he knew that many farmers in his home state had a surplus of produce.
So, he left New York and returned to Virginia with a troupe of 22 fellow actors ready to trade entertainment for fruits and vegetables. Their motto: ``With vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh.''
Thus, the aptly chosen name, the Barter Theatre.
The concept of trading ham for Hamlet caught on quickly. As legend goes, by the end of its first season, the company cleared $4.35 in cash, plus two barrels of jelly, and collectively the actors had gained more than 300 pounds.
Today, the theater still accepts barter, although it doesn't encourage it anymore. Indeed, the theater now asks that you call ahead to discuss your proposed trade. The only exceptions are the Barter's two annual bartering nights for charity.
The Barter features big-city actors, mostly Equity actors from New York. Its current artistic director is Richard Rose, who came to the Barter in 1992 from the American Stage Festival in New Hampshire. Under his leadership, attendance has doubled. The theater also stages more adventurous productions and new works in its smaller Playhouse across the street from the main building, and it offers children's plays, as well.
Tickets typically range from $13 to $17.
It's money well spent.
Who knows? Maybe you'll even get an early peek at the next Gregory Peck.
by CNB