ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607050036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: out & about
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS
We ate watermelon. We hummed along as the band played "America." We ooohed and aaahed when the fireworks exploded in a rush of color.
We Americans celebrated our freedom yesterday.
Some among us will remember and observe a special celebration of freedom this weekend.
Juneteenth - the time-honored African-American freedom festival - is commonly celebrated on June 19. In recent years, however, some communities have observed the festival over the Independence Day weekend.
The local Juneteenth celebration gets under way Saturday and continues Sunday at 770 West Rock Road in Radford. Paul and Brenda Hendricks are hosting the event.
Brenda Hendricks said the festival commemorates the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although Abraham Lincoln issued the decree on Jan. 1, 1863, the news did not spread to Southern plantations for several months. When word finally reached slaves in Texas on June 19, the revelry that followed became known as the first "Juneteenth."
"We've tied the celebration with the Fourth of July," Hendricks said. "We're going to have something for everyone!"
Events run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. All kids are invited to come claim their own (free!) goldfish and enjoy a full day of fun - hayrides, face painting and storytelling with Cat White.
Entertainment for the big kids includes fashion shows, dancing, African drumming and a musical melange of reggae, jazz and gospel tunes.
Sample some cultural foods and check out the vendors and their wares, too.
Sunday's celebration is called "Reggae Heyday!" It's a nonstop jam from 1 to 8 p.m., featuring some of the best reggae bands from this part of the country.
Admission each day is $8 for adults or $2 for children ages 6 to 12. Kids 5 and under get in free.
Money raised will be used to support African-American tutoring programs and scholarships in the area, as well as the Christiansburg Institute African-American Museum Fund.
To get to the festival site from Interstate 81, take Exit 109 to Virginia 177 north. Turn left at the first stoplight and go 2.2 miles.
Questions? Call Paul or Brenda Hendricks at 639-1342.
THREE'S COMPANY: Especially if the three are Jack Hinshelwood, Olen Gardner and Dave Wilson.
The local musicians will get together Tuesday for a concert in Radford's Bisset Park. They'll play some good traditional bluegrass and folk tunes on banjo, fiddle, guitar and bass.
The concert is free and open to all. It starts at 7 p.m. at the park gazebo (or at shelter 1, if it rains).
Bring your lawn chair or your blanket and leave your shoes behind. You'll want to do some toe tappin' at this one.
ZINGY TUNES: The Riverboat Ramblers will be belting out the Dixieland jazz tonight in Pulaski's Jackson Park. The outdoor concert runs from 6:30 to 8:30 and, best of all, it's free!
Pack yourself a nice picnic or bring some pocket change for the concession stand. Music lovers are invited to enjoy a dinner on the lawn while they enjoy the summertime sounds.
The concerts in Jackson Park will continue every other Friday through Aug. 30. Sierra, a popular local country band, plays July 19.
SHHHHH! Listen to the night.
Hear the drumming of the woodpecker? The who-whooing of the hoot owl? The whisper of geese gliding on water?
Bird man Jerry Via (ornithologist extraordinaire) will guide you as you decipher the sounds of the night. You're invited to join him under the stars Thursday at the Virginia Tech Amphitheatre on Duck Pond Drive.
Via's program is sponsored by the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History. It's free and open to all ages.
Slides and sound effects are part of the presentation. It starts at 8:30.
If you're driving, you may park behind Price and Wallace halls or in the overflow lot at the Duck Pond.
NEED A LAUGH? Head for Virginia Tech's Squires Studio Theatre. The university's theater department is putting on a final run of "It's All in the Timing," a knee-slapping collection of five short plays by David Ives. Greg Justice and Charles Dudley are the directors.
The first play in the series, "Sure Thing," follows Bill (a "regular guy") as he tries repeatedly to strike up a conversation with a member of the opposite sex.
The second play, "Words, Words, Words," is about three chimpanzees with typewriters. The comical anthropoids are involved in an experiment to see if they can randomly write "Hamlet."
Other plays include "The Philadelphia," a look at what happens when nothing goes your way, and "The Universal Language," a spoof on gibberish. In the last play, "Variations on the Death of Trotsky," the audience meets Mr. and Mrs. Trotsky as they discuss his coming death according to the description found in an encyclopedia.
"It's All in the Timing" shows at 8 tonight and Saturday. It's part of the Summer Arts Festival put on by Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg and admission is free.
The next show, "French Farce Club," reopens for its second run Tuesday and continues through July 13. Curtain time each night in Squires Studio Theatre is at 8.
For more information on the summer theater productions, call 231-5200 or 231-5921.
LENGTH: Long : 104 linesby CNB