Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070095
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This was the first Labor Day weekend since I got my Social Security card that I haven't had to go in to work somewhere. Instead, I wallpapered the bathroom. I don't want to talk about it. And, because of the rain on Friday, I also spent Monday mowing.
But Friday was a pretty good day, all in all. Thanks for asking.
The countdown to a long weekend is always a gas. I was downtown during an attempted cloudburst. Two kids wrestling in the way-back of a station wagon stopped long enough to point at the raindrops collecting like little miracles on the rear windshield. There were the makeshift umbrellas of a populace caught off guard: newspapers and plastic bags, or the nearest awning.
It was my day to drive "the old car," the one with the permanently intermittent wipers. It's kind of like the flume ride at Busch Gardens. Once the water starts hitting you, you're not sure you'll ever see again. Honking the horn seems to get the blades moving. I don't know why.
So there I was for the few wet moments tooting and squinting and waving to the strangers I've just tooted at. Meanwhile, I was hoping the rain would somehow render my lawn less like a bed of Shredded Wheat.
The valley was a little cooler on Friday, too. And there was a neat-o sky thing going on with ribbons of clouds in unnatural colors stretched side by side. And in the evening, as the neighborhoods darkened, the sky was up there doing these ingots of red and orange, glowing like the last campfire of summer.
It was that way when I drove up to the lake Friday evening, already turning winter on me. I went up to the Bridge Club at Hales Ford Bridge. They've bought up the last days of summer, and you have to go there to get them.
"No shirt, no shoes, no problem!" says Tom Crowe, co-owner of The Bridge Club, Smith Mountain Lake's night spot. "It's kind of our motto."
When you arrive the very first thing that hits your eye is the huge television screen showing Charlie Chaplin movies. It's very surreal: the placid lake with a few lolling boats as a backdrop to silent movies.
The Bridge Club is possibly the best place in the area to postpone autumn. With an alarming array of decks and open-air wining and dining (or beering and leering in the later evening) you can hang with a group or find a corner to yourself. There's water everywhere, plenty to drink, a beach with real sand, live music, disco nights and food galore.
Deck chairs litter one end of the place.
"This is really the best view you've got of the lake," says waitress Elizabeth Farina. And she may be right.
There is an ample stage for a host of local favorite bands. They've got lights and those mirrored disco balls, a huge dance floor, just in case.
And it's all outside.
"You can come by boat," says Crowe. "Most people that do are regulars."
There are places to dock and climb aboard. There are breaks in the railing for the purpose, although it seems like the perfect place to fall into the lake.
"No one's ever fallen off accidentally" Crowe says. "We've had a few people thrown off, you know, by friends."
Crowe has seen nights where all four decks were shoulder-to-shoulder with people.
"The crowds are basically young to middle-aged," he says. "We get more of a younger, rowdy bunch when the alternative bands like Load play."
Even with that many people, however, Crowe says things don't get out of hand.
"We're real good at keeping trouble out," he says. "Our bouncers are some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but they're big." Brent, one of the bigger bouncers, has a large, industrial-strength flashlight with a sticker on it that says "Mean People Suck."
The Bridge Club opens for dinner every day at between 4 and 5. Though they have a diverse menu, seafood is the big draw.
"Pete Menard, our new chef, has brought some great food in," says Crowe. "Everything is fresh. We're becoming well-known for our shrimp." For $7 you can buy a half-pound of it boiled. "We sold a hundred pounds of shrimp last weekend."
That, of course, was a summer weekend, and Labor Day will have an effect.
"Business will drop off after that," Crowe says. "But you can still come out and have a great time. Things will be a little calmer."
The party is not over, however. Not yet.
Those wacky Yams From Outer Space will bring their rock 'n' roll shenanigans to the Bridge Club on Friday night. Red Weather will play Saturday. The bands start around 8 p.m.
Sunday has a special treat lined up. The reggae band Baaba Seth will fire up the Caribbean flavor starting at 2 in the afternoon. The Bridge Club is also open for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays at noon.
So. If you made it past Labor Day without gluing your hands together (I don't want to talk about it), and you're not going to let summer go, not without some kicking and screaming, you owe it to yourself to drive up to the Bridge Club. Hit the deck chairs and listen to the shrimp boiling. Fall will seem like a long way off. At least a 30-minute drive.
by CNB