THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610270338
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 75 lines
A red, steaming crawfish perched on a paper plate was a gastronomical first for Georganne Fischer, a Virginia Beach resident who had ventured to Suffolk for the Driver Days festival.
While Fischer gingerly took the small lobster-like critter in hand, a Driver volunteer firefighter-turned-Cajun cook demonstrated how to remove the crawfish's tail, break off its head, pull out the meat and ``suck out the juices just like a real Louisiana woman.''
Crawfish, barbeque, apple pie and down-home hospitality helped draw record crowds to Driver, a small hamlet less than five miles from the Chesapeake Square Mall area.
Started three years ago to lure shoppers to local businesses, the Driver Days promotion has grown into a community festival, bringing together Driver natives and newcomers from the subdivisions blossoming around the crossroads at Driver Lane and Kings Highway.
Cindy Griggs stood on the roadside for hours, patiently directing visitors to parking areas. She had volunteered to help with Driver Days in June when she moved from Norfolk into Driver Station, a new residential area within a stroll of the crossroads, which has been the mercantile center of rural eastern Suffolk since before the Civil War.
``This place is so rich in character, and we feel perfectly safe here,'' Griggs said. ``My husband bought himself a cowboy hat here, put on his John Wayne belt buckle, and he is in heaven out here.''
Standing next to Griggs was her father, Dan Stephens, a retired sales executive visiting from Winston-Salem, N.C. Stephens puffed on his corncob pipe and helped direct traffic.
With costumed re-enactors from Civil War military units firing off cannons, buckskinned frontier scouts riding by on horseback and wild-west gunslingers shooting it out in the streets, it was easy to drop back in time and visualize Driver as it was more than 200 years ago. Then, it was called Persimmon Tree Orchard and was visited by Revolutionary War figures Benedict Arnold and British General Charles Cornwallis.
``Driver has not changed, and it is good to see some small-town happenings in the metropolitan area,'' said Brenda DeJarnette of Chesapeake. ``It is like a county fair, bake sale and craft sale all wrapped into one.''
DeJarnette and two of her friends walked the short blocks of the festival, laden with bargains they had found in the local shops and from vendors.
``Look at this honey loaf bread, risen up at least seven or eight inches,'' Connie Reid of Virginia Beach said as she delved into her bag of homemade baked goods.
Connie Parker and Bobby Bishoff, both from Norfolk, came back for the festival after stopping in the Driver Variety store a few weeks ago and being invited back by one of the owners.
This time, when Parker returned to buy a pecan cracker, she was well out the door before she realized she had not been given a bag.
``They told me, `This is Driver, you can walk out with anything here,' '' she said, amazed at such old-fashioned trust.
Folks streamed into Driver to shop, chat and wonder at the crowds rarely seen in this area.
``This may replace Harbor Fest,'' Tom Jones predicted.
Jones, who lives in nearby Bennett's Harbor, stared at the traffic jam on the usually sleepy crossroads and announced, ``Today this is the Times Square of the South.''
``Driver,'' a country-western band named for the village, had fest-goers dancing and tapping their feet as they rested on hay bales.
``I may not get back to Virginia Beach until late tonight,'' Fischer said as she lunched on she-crab soup and considered more shopping. Parking is free at Driver Elementary School. MEMO: Driver Days continues today from noon until 5 p.m. with more music
from Driver and Southern Exposure, a Southern rock and country band;
country line dancing; and cake walks. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot
Cain Hughes of Richmond hangs a candle he just made on a rack to
harden; the historical demonstration is part of the Civil War
activites offered at the annual Suffolk Driver Days festival. by CNB